Scaling up plant-protein based coatings for food packaging

Brand owners are increasingly under pressure to transition away from plastic packaging in response to consumer, industry, and regulatory factors, often opting for paper or paperboard packaging as more sustainable alternatives. However, functional and barrier coatings need to be applied to paper and paperboard to deliver performance in many applications, such as food packaging. These coatings are, at present, predominately made from plastic and other synthetic polymers. Traditional petroleum-based coatings (typically, polyethylene) consume non-renewable fossil fuel resources, are non-biodegradable (breaking down in the environment to release persistent microplastics), and difficult to separate from paper and paperboard, contaminating recycling streams. Consequently, single-use plastic-coated paper and paperboard packaging is often destined for incineration, landfill, or environmental release of microplastics.

Xampla's mission is to replace the world's most polluting plastics for good. Xampla span out from the University of Cambridge in 2018 and now with a team of 39 people based in the Cambridge Science Park BioInnovation Centre, our patented and game-changing technology harnesses the natural ability of plant proteins to self-assemble. We have created a new class of structured protein materials that deliver performance in use, is bio-/plant-based, biodegradable, and is a drop in replacement for existing manufacturing equipment. We have leveraged private and public funding to deliver swift, successful commercialisation, resulting in innovative product launches in multiple high-value, low-volume applications.

In Innovate UK project: 10060401, Xampla developed a biodegradable plant-based paperboard coating that does not interfere with conventional recycling process and has been validated at pilot manufacturing scale, on industry standard equipment. In this project, Innovate UK funding will address the final barriers to scale-up of our paper and paperboard coatings for high-volume food packaging applications.

Successful project outcomes will position Xampla and the East of England as a global leading hub for manufacturing of bio-based coatings for food packaging.