Ecodesign of bio-based films for food packaging: Challenges and recommendations

Bio-based films have become good alternatives to petrochemical-based films for single-use applications owing to increased environmental awareness and the search for sustainable products. However, providing novel bio-based films with reduced environmental impacts compared with fossil-based films requires ecodesign in the early product research, development, and innovation (RDI) stages. This review investigates the main challenges in the ecodesign of bio-based films and provides recommendations for overcoming them in early RDI. We identified the main materials, production techniques, and properties of bio-based films for food packaging, which are important for identifying product functionality and performance and selecting appropriate inventories. We then review the life cycle assessments (LCA) of bio-based films and biopolymers to analyze the modeling choices and impacts. Considering the vast literature on film formulations and proper-ties, we found only a few published environmental assessments of bio-based films. The reviewed studies focused on evaluating commercially available biopolymers by applying a conventional cradle-to-gate life cycle assessment to select optimal formulations for a new packaging solution. Most assessments relied only on laboratory data to calculate impacts and compared novel bio-polymers with existing (mainly fossil-based) ones, disregarding the best practices for ex-ante LCA. Major challenges in early film RDI include the lack of knowledge of film effects on packed food, unclear definition of functionality, the use of novel bio-based compounds in film formulations, hardening inventory development, and increasing uncertainty in impact assessment. We provide recommendations for overcoming these and other challenges.