Potentials of Fibrous and Nonfibrous Materials in Biodegradable Packaging

Packaging is a, essential requirement for fruits, vegetables, agricultural crops, food products, and other commodities to provide the requisite protection from physical damage, contamination, deterioration; to increase shelf life; and facilitate need-based supply from the producer to the consumer. The packaging material should be physically and mechanically strong and should not add any foul odor to the packed product. In the past, for packaging of the above-mentioned products as well as various industrial goods has been made of traditional to advanced materials such as metal and glass; ordinary, coated, and laminated paper; corrugated paper box; gunny sack; textile bag; bamboo slit; wooden box; biodegradable film; nonbiodegradable plastic/film; composite; and nanocopmosite/biocomposite, all of which have been widely used. During the past 50 years, synthetic polymers have been found to steadily replace traditional packaging materials because of their advantages of low cost, low density, inertness, resistance to microbial growth, thermoplasticity, and transparency. However, their usage currently is being partially restricted because they are not totally recyclable and/or biodegradable and thus lead to serious environmental problem. This has resulted in the development of biodegradable polymers/films such as starch, polylactic acid, protein-based film, poly-beta-hydroxyalkanoates (PHB), etc. It has been possible to enhance physico-mechanical and functional properties of such polymers by incorporating organic and inorganic nanoparticles such as silver, titanium, chitosan, cellulose, clay, starch, silica, and zein. Similarly, traditional to coated/laminated paper/paper board, jute fabric, and the corrugated fibre board have been utilized for conventional to high-end packaging.