A New Use for Surplus Whey – Bioplastic Packaging for Cheese

05 Oct 2016 --- Around 75 million tons of whey left over from cheese making is dumped every year in Europe, but that could be about to change as a new project led by Ainia goes live. The cheese industry as a whole could soon start to benefit from the new initiative called Wheypack which is all about turning surplus whey into PHB biodegradable packaging that can be tailored to the needs of specific products. 

Food technology and production experts from Spanish companies Ainia, working in collaboration with Central Quesera Montesinos Aimplas and Embalnor in Portugal have achieved the first bioplastic material made from whey derived from cheese making - polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) is obtained by a fermentation bioprocess of whey.

The project came about following growing concern within the cheese industry about the high volume of whey (a by-product of the cheese industry) being wasted every year. 

The new project aims to show the generators of the waste, the dairy industry, that instead of dumping whey, they can turn it into a product that boost profits. Wheypack will demonstrate the environmental and socio-economic benefits of this biobased and biodegradable food packaging material with a lower environmental impact through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions compared against current petrol-based food packaging materials. 

PHB is obtained from whey by using the process of microbial fermentation and, according to Ainia they whey surplus of Central Quesera Montesinos could replace traditional plastics in the packaging of their own dairy products. This fits in with the main objectives of the Wheypack Life project: obtaining 100 percent biodegradable cheese packages, enabling a lower environmental impact, fulfilling the requirements of product protection and being economically viable too.

PHB is a completely biodegradable bioplastic obtained from fermentation by microorganisms. Most commercial plastics are synthetic polymers derived from petrochemicals, and are very difficult to biodegrade. In that sense, the use of bioplastics such as PHB, biodegradable and from renewable sources (bio-based), represents a significant step towards achieving more sustainable packaging.

The project is funded by the LIFE program, and coordinated by AINIA Technology Center. It is a cross border collaborative project (Spain and Portugal) and counts on the participation of the cheese making industry within the two countries. 

Currently, Embalnor is developing the final package with this additivated bioplastic material. These PHB packages will have the same features of traditional petroleum-based plastic packages, but with a smaller carbon footprint.

by Gaynor Selby