Upcycling PHAs to innovative materials for fully sustainable food packaging
2025-2029
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3,7 M€
Most conventional plastics are derived from petroleum resources, which gives them a heavy carbon footprint while they are also a major source of pollution due to their poor degradability. A large share of recorded plastic waste comes from food packaging, which often ends up in our soils, rivers, and oceans.
This is where polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) come in, a family of biopolymers naturally produced by bacteria. Renewable, fully biodegradable, and more environmentally friendly, they offer a real alternative to conventional plastics. However, PHAs remain expensive to produce, difficult to recycle, and are often mixed with various materials at the end of their life cycle, complicating their processing.
The SATISPHACTION project aims to change this by developing new recycling processes for commercial PHAs, as well as new PHA-based materials that are easier to process, free from harmful additives, and capable of faster degradation thanks to thermostable enzymes.
Through three concrete applications in the food packaging sector, we will demonstrate that these next-generation bioplastics can biodegrade in soil, freshwater, and marine environments — paving the way for truly sustainable, low-impact packaging solutions.
