Fish good for consumers and for the environment
Two Spanish companies, Dow Chemical and Ulma Packaging, are developing an innovative research project to reduce economic and environmental cost of fish containers, with the EEA Grants funding.
23.06.2015
It is estimated that the yearly Spanish consumption of seafood products is 1,218 million, and the consumption of packaged fresh fish is increasing at a rate of 13%. Add to that the fact that plastic manufacturing generates between 1.7 and 2.3 its weight in CO2 and that one third of the urban waste is containers and barely half of this is recycled, and it is clear that some changes in the packing of fish are needed, not only in the material used but also in the machinery.
Two Spanish companies, Dow Chemical and ULMA Packacking, have embarked upon this task with the EcoFishPack project, co-financed by the EEA Grants within the Environment and Climate Change Programme operated by CDTI. The idea is “developing new technological solutions in order to reduce the carbon footprint of the fish containers, as well as improving the recycling options”, as the project promoters says. The key is using new materials and new packing machinery so the final result preserves the regular properties (airtightness, durability and usability) but reducing the economic and environmental impact.
In this project, the promoters benefit from collaboration with two technological centres: Nofima, in Tromso (Norway) and Ainia, in Paterna (Valencia). Nofima is working on the issue of salmon in vacuum pack, and ainia is evaluating the project development.
The challenge for Dow Chemical is to achieve substantial improvements in the materials used for fresh and processed fish packaging, such as reducing the film thickness while preserving product quality. For its part, ULMA Packaging is working on the development of new packing machinery which reduces energy consumption.
The expected final result is a huge energy-saving (100,000 GJ in three years) and 15,000 t of CO2 less.
The Environmental and Climate Change-related Research and Technology Programme, financed by the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism (EEA Grants) with 18 million euros aims to promote Enterprise Research, Development and Innovation in Spain in the climate change and renewable energy priority sectors.