On the 1st of October 2020, the YPACK project successfully held its final conference. In total, over 150 people from different fields attended the online meeting to discover the results of the project and discuss the challenges of bio-based food packaging.
David Newman, keynote speaker and Managing Director of Bio-based and Biodegradable Industries Association (BBIA) opened the conference by giving the overall context and the challenges innovative bio-based packaging must face. He warned about the importance of the biosphere in the circular economy, mentioning that biowaste should be rightly returned to the biosphere avoiding any presence of microplastics.
“The biosphere is the sphere of life support systems, health, food, water and air, our natural capital”
The YPACK project coordinator, Jose María Lagarón, introduced the sustainable YPACK solutions and explained how they fit into circular bioeconomy. “From waste, to value, to waste”, the YPACK packaging uses food industry by-products and ensures the biodegradability as well as the compostability of the packaging.
The key parts of the project were presented by the different YPACK partners: upscaling of the YPACK technology, bringing YPACK to market and consumer acceptance.
The conference ended with a panel discussion between David Newman, Jose María Lagarón, Chiara Pocaterra, coordinator of the EU-funded project Biovoices which provides a platform for the bioeconomy stakeholders, and Werner Bosmans, Policy Officer for the circular economy in the sustainable production, products and consumption Unit in the DG Environment at the European Commission. The panel discussion and the whole YPACK final conference was adeptly moderated by Jacki Davis, from Meade Davis Communications.
Some of the discussion points brought up during the panel were the limitations of recycling, how compostability fits into the circular economy, the challenge of collecting compost and process it, avoiding the presence of microplastics, and the role of legislation. The panellists also touched on consumer’s confusion around the definitions “biodegradable” and “compostable” and the difficulty of correctly discarding different food packaging. The panellists concluded that education and communication would be the key to ensure the right behaviour. Questions posed by participants were included in the panel discussion, e.g. an attendee asked about the volume of the YPACK packaging production.
The panellists closed the discussion by sharing their priorities for the upcoming years in terms of bio-based products. These were for example the adoption of a systemic approach, the consideration of the biosphere, the circular economy and consumer behaviour.
“The YPACK project is wonderful, especially as it focuses on implementation in real industry (scale-up) ».
During the event, the participants engaged actively with questions and comments. And after the event the participants reported that they enjoyed the conference stating it was a “clear, pragmatic, interesting” conference that showed the “validation of the YPACK biobased in a real context”. The attendees of the event represented different fields, but most worked in research and the food or packaging industry.
The YPACK project was due to end in October, however, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some delays of the final results. Therefore, the end date of the YPACK project has been extended until April 2021.
Video
In case you were not able to attend the YPACK final conference, watch this video of the event:
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Website: ypack.eu
Twitter: #YPACK @SciFoodHealth
