4. Cellulosic Packaging Materials

The most abundant biopolymers in the biosphere are carbohydrates polymers which account for three-fourth of the global available biomass. Cellulose is, by far, the most abundant and widely spread carbohydrates polymer and the first renewable organic material. The packaging industry uses cellulose-based materials on a very large scale: these matters represent the biggest part of the whole packaging materials in all countries. Actually, cellulosic packaging is quite a broad category of different types including both primary and secondary packages, as well as wrapping materials and containers. In fact, even if the basic chemical structure of cellulose is the same in all the different cellulosic materials, their final structure can be significantly dissimilar. This variability, due to a combination of cellulose biosynthesis conditions and technological features, allows to obtain different packaging products: papers, boards, regenerated cellulose (cellophane), moulded cellulose, etc. General features of main cellulosic packaging materials are strictly linked with cellulose chemistry.