Articles

Food packaging, Vicenza-based Bibetech ready for microplastic-free products.
The group has invested in natural biopolymers with which to develop sustainable food packaging, no longer starting from oil but from renewable raw materials such as waste plant biomass.

by Vitaliano D’Angerio April 15, 2024

Key points Innovation and biopolymers Automotive and the food packaging hub The risks of microplastics Listen to the audio version of the article Food packaging that does not release microplastics into the environment. How? Through new-generation natural biopolymers, produced and biosynthesized by more than 300 species of bacteria. This is the goal achieved by the Vicenza-based company Bibetech, founded in 2008, which operates in four sectors: medical, food packaging, automotive and technical molding.

The group can count on two hundred employees, over 30 million in turnover and above all 13 million euros invested in the last three years in the research of innovative materials, in the expansion of production plants and in a team specialized in sustainability and innovation. Innovation and biopolymers At a European level there are important innovations in the legislation related to packaging and plastic. And Bibetech’s activity could have a decisive role in this area. In particular, the company, through industrial microbial fermentation and photosynthesis processes, has managed to induce bacteria to produce biopolymers with which to develop sustainable food packaging, thus starting no longer from oil but from renewable raw materials such as waste plant biomass. Natural biopolymers, Bibetech explains, are biodegradable in all environments, from soil to oceans, without releasing microplastics. Automotive and the food packaging hub The turning point in Bibetech’s activities was recorded in 2019 with the purchase of Internova Packaging, a company specialized in the molding of food packaging.

And then another important step, the following year, with the acquisition of Marostica Stampi, later transformed into a mold design center. In 2022, the entry into the automotive sector and above all the construction of the food packaging hub. Bibetech’s four operational hubs extend over a surface area of ​​over 25,700 square meters and have 90 presses for linear molding. Certifications It should be noted that the Vicenza-based group, in terms of food safety, has the Brc certification, while regarding the health and safety of the work environment it has been certified Iso 45001. Furthermore, Bibetech has equipped itself with a code of ethics applied through Mog 231 to protect company procedures. The risks of microplastics According to the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS), “the risks to humans deriving from microplastics (MP) can be physical, chemical or microbiological in nature. Physical risks are due to the small size of MP (and also nanoplastics) that can cross biological barriers – such as the intestinal, blood-brain, testicular barrier and even the placenta – and cause direct damage, in particular to the respiratory system and the digestive system, as the first systems with which MP come into contact”.

The ISS documents add that “there is still little information regarding the impact of MP on animal and human health. Polymers, in general, are chemically inert and, therefore, considered non-toxic. However, the small size and large surface area give MP greater reactivity compared to the compounds from which they originate, making them potentially harmful to organisms depending on the type of exposure and susceptibility”. Reproduction reserved ©