Canada pursues better, more eco-friendly food packaging from irradiated nanofibres (Russian Edition)

Across the globe, discarded food packaging is polluting public spaces and pushing already overloaded landfills to the brink. Recognizing the harm that this leftover packaging does to the environment and the limitations associated with recycling it, Canada is pursuing research into biodegradable, eco-friendly food packaging developed using radiation technology. For over 15 years, scientists at the Research Laboratories in Sciences Applied to Food (RESALA) and the Canadian Irradiation Centre (CIC) have been using their training with the IAEA to research and develop biodegradable, 'active' packaging materials. They do this by taking raw renewable materials such as starch or proteins and combining them with nanocellulose, which is a natural polymer that contains nano-sized cellulose fibres and then irradiating them. This combination leads to materials with improved properties compared to conventional materials in terms of durability, biodegradability and better water resistance