Project: REDYSIGN – Resource-efficient processes for the production and circularization of innovative RECYclable-by-DeSIGN fresh meat smart packaging from wood
Start: 01/10/2023 End:30/09/2027
Project website: https://redysign.eu/
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme under Grant Agreement No. 101112521.
DESCRIPTION: Thanks to the development and implementation of several innovative technologies that focus strongly on the efficient use of energy, water, and chemicals, a ubiquitous complex multi-material product, the fresh meat packaging consumed by millions every day, will be thoroughly redesigned to make it fully biobased, smart, and recyclable at conventional paper recycling mills. To achieve such a remarkable goal, every intermediate product contained in that complex product, i.e., the tray, the barrier coating, the absorbing pad, and the transparent film, will be made almost exclusively of wood constituents (fibres, micro-nanofibres, lignin, and sugars, which have been chemically or enzymatically modified) and integrated with two food-quality sensors (rotting and cold-chain). Finally, several innovations will be brought to the existing recycling stages, both oriented to increase the overall efficiency of the process: incorporation of specific identification markers to allow precise sorting of the bio-contaminated products; advanced oxidation treatments to both sanitise and decrease the energy consumption of the process; and chemo-enzymatic revalorization of the recalcitrant fractions.