Corn alternative to plastic packaging
Saad Hussain came to New Zealand from Canada three years ago and brought with him an idea that could revolutionise food and beverage packaging.
In a Rotorua laboratory at Crown Research Institute Scion, Hussain has turned corn into a compostable foam.
Now he is in talks with some of the world’s biggest food and beverage companies, hoping to convince them to adopt it in their packaging.
Convincing a global brand such as Coca-Cola to use his product would force recycling processes to take sustainability seriously, he said.
Polylactic acid (PLA), the polymer in the foam that is made from corn, decomposed on its own over time, but could only be broken down at an industrial scale in Europe.
Community Recycling Network New Zealand executive officer Dorte Wray said PLA could be recycled here, but only with industrial equipment which was not commonly available.
Hussain said for sustainable packaging to become mainstream, the entire supply chain needed to support its use.
‘‘We just invent it … We are one piece of the puzzle.’’
He would continue developing green packaging solutions even if businesses were yet to start using them.
He was adamant the cost of PLA would continue to drop and would eventually become viable.
For now, he was looking at ways to reduce the cost of his stretched foamed film because this was the only thing stopping companies from printing their labels on it.
Consumers were becoming more conscious of the environment, and businesses would be wise to take note of the trend, he said.