Project description
Straw for sustainable packaging
Polystyrene plastic used in packaging is problematic. It is bad for the environment and harmful for human health. However, there is an alternative. The EU-funded StrawToGold project is proposing the first commercially viable and ecological process: using straw fibres to create a plastic material with outstanding performance regarding shock absorbance, insulation and humidity regulation. The biodegradable product is cheaper than polystyrene, needs 60 % less space allowing economical transport, disposal and storage, consumes 95 % less energy in production and has high aesthetic appeal. This new packaging material will target the fresh goods sector or items sensitive to shock or temperature, such as consumer electronics and pharmaceuticals.
Objective
STRAWTOGOLD uses straw for the first commercially viable, ecological alternative to polystyrene which has considerable environmental drawbacks and negative impacts on human health. Lack of sustainable packaging solutions is particularly a challenge for companies producing fresh goods or those sensitive to shock or temperature such as consumer electronics and pharmaceuticals. Landpack has used its broad engineering expertise and its farming background to patent a process for treating straw fibers to create a plastic material with outstanding performance in terms of shock absorbance, insulation and humidity regulation. A four step heating, de-moisturizing, pressing and packaging process creates an end product which has the potential reduce the billions of tons of plastic in our environment. Our fully biodegradable products are sold just below Styrofoam’s average price at €3.2/piece with the same excellent insulation and cooling properties and shock absorption capacity. It is 9% cheaper than its alternative, occupies 60% less space for cheaper transport, disposal and storage costs and uses 95% less energy in production. Furthermore, the final product has been praised by our customers for its aesthetic appeal to enhance their branding.
While STRAWTOGOLD has already proven its potential to disrupt the status quo of packaging in the e-food sector with 500 established customers, as a next step we are looking to industrialize and fully automate our current production and create a model for scaling our plants to advance the sustainability of the pharma and industrial sectors. We are currently turning 900 tons of straw into 250,000 boxes/year on our almost fully automated production line which we will optimize and upscale to produce 2 million boxes/year to replace 0.02% of the current Styrofoam packaging in Europe. Given the low cost of our primary materials, we have significant profit margins (80%) and expect to generate a total of €19 million in revenue by 2021.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology materials engineering fibers
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs
- engineering and technology materials engineering amorphous solids organic amorphous solids
- social sciences economics and business business and management business models
- social sciences economics and business economics sustainable economy
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.2.3. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.3. - PRIORITY 'Societal challenges
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H2020-EU.2.1. - INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
SME-1 - SME instrument phase 1
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-EIC-SMEInst-2018-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
82178 PUCHHEIM
Germany
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.