Researchers at Flinders University in Australia have turned milk protein into a biodegradable packaging film that completely breaks down in soil in about 13 weeks.
The team combined calcium caseinate, a commercial form of milk protein, with modified starch and bentonite nanoclay. They added glycerol and polyvinyl alcohol to make the material flexible and durable enough to work like regular plastic.
When buried in soil, the film decomposed steadily over three months. Safety tests showed bacterial levels stayed within acceptable ranges, suggesting the material poses minimal risk.
“Developing sustainable alternatives for food packaging and other single use plastic products is essential to slowing the rise of global pollution,” said Professor Youhong Tang, a nanomaterials researcher at Flinders.
The work tackles a pressing problem. Plastic production has jumped from 2 million tonnes in 1950 to 475 million tonnes by 2022. The OECD warns production could surge another 70 percent by 2040. Meanwhile, roughly 60 percent of plastics get used once and thrown away, with only 10 percent actually recycled.
The project brought together researchers from Flinders and Universidad de Bogotá Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Colombia. Nikolay Estiven Gomez Mesa, one of the Colombian researchers, said the team started by experimenting with milk-based fibers and realized they could create packaging-like polymers.
“The entire formulation was designed to use inexpensive ingredients that are biodegradable and environmentally friendly,” Gomez said.
The study appears in the journal Polymers. Researchers say the results show promise for creating practical alternatives to single-use food packaging.
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