SVARNISH · SVARNISH: varnish development with antimicrobial, oxygen and water vapour barrier properties and improved physic-mechanical properties, to be used in food industry

The project summaryThe SVARNISH project objective is the development of a varnish with antimicrobial oxygen and water vapour barrier properties and improved physic-mechanical properties, to be used in food industry.The SVARNISH project aims to overcome the flexible packaging limitations related with the traditional food plastic materials, competitive costs, the chemical properties (antimicrobial, oxygen and water vapor), physic-mechanical properties (simplifying the multilayer structures, and improving the simples ones), environmental and sustainable development. We aim to reduce the price of the food packaging around 20% and reduce waste material 8-10%, decreasing the time process manufacturing in a 50%, and reducing the energy consumption in the same 50%. Reduce food waste by 50% and the 85% of the films used for food packaging industry will be recyclable.The food industry spends approximately $84 billion a year on food packaging and processing. Of the total food cost, approximately 8% of the price to the consumer is spent on food packaging and processing. Therefore, it is beneficial to both the consumer and the food industry to use food packaging methods that are both functionally and cost effective.A number of broad drivers in the packaging sector are shaping innovation in product and process development: Reduction in materials usage, lightweighting, increases the barrier properties requirements, increase the speed production, increase the product shelf life, Improve the environmental balance, recyclability or biodegradability.Plastic packaging supposes a great environmental problem, due to their extensive uses, their difficulty to be recycled and their high volume/weight ratio. The manufacturing process applied to the flexible packaging conversion has over the 43% of environmental impact of the total of the printing industry, due to the plastic residues generated and VOCs emitted during manufacturing process: inks, varnishes and other additives.The impact on our environment can be minimized by improving packaging structures, selecting materials and following established regulatory guidelines,The structure of SVARNISH consortium has been selected through a logical process from “the raw material needed to improve the varnish to the final printing process”, all supply chain it is represented.SVARNISH could become a solution which will improve packaging structures in an environmental and in a cost efficient way by reducing the structures, by the other hand will confer to packaging structures, barrier and improved physic-mechanical properties.