Lithuanians developed a takeaway foods bundle

Takeaway foodstuff became an integral section of our lives. However, even with the advantage of these types of a services, frequent end users have to face its disadvantages: the contents of the foods can unintentionally leak, the meal cools down, and the offer does not always accommodate the measurement of the part. Kaunas College of Technologies researchers alongside one another with company and citizens developed a takeaway foods box, which solves all these challenges and is solely plastic-cost-free.

“Kaunas citizens, with the assist of industry experts in their area and guided by researchers, are starting off a genuine revolution in the environment of takeaway food. Everybody can build improvements,” suggests Aelita Zabulionė, a junior researcher at the Food Institute of Kaunas University of Technologies (KTU), Lithuania.

All through the laboratory session organised by the European Institute of Innovation and Technological innovation Foods local community (EIT Food items), common citizens attempted to find the shortcomings of the at present made use of takeaway food packaging.

In the workshop, they were being operating alongside one another with packaging authorities from the “Spaudos departamentas” and the reps of a restaurant “Daugirdas” positioned in Kaunas, Lithuania.

In the course of this session, the concept was born – to co-create options that would remove the shortcomings of standard takeaway packaging.

Citizens contributed to the creative process

The get started of the project was a three-class evening meal attended by a team of 16 people, whose ages ranged from 22 to 60 a long time. In the course of the meal, people evaluated the packaging of their food stuff and shared their insights.

The plastic packaging employed for the duration of the dinner beautifully reflected the standard shortcomings of takeaway food items boxes. Very first of all, it was difficult to adapt the offer to a sure size. Next, the sections of the meal were being not separated properly sufficient from each other. Finally, it was not obvious how to dispose of the made use of bundle – wash it, recycle it, or throw it away with home waste.

In the course of the dinner, the participants shared their practical experience that even immediately after the most basic business lunch, an outstanding pile of packaging remains in the office that later on would conclusion up in landfills for hundreds of many years. For that reason, the most crucial component of the job was the search for sustainable packaging products.

The most important grievance of the contributors was the improper temperature of the meal. Taking into consideration a number of foods supply organizations operating in the metropolis that use diverse transportation gear, it was decided that it is just about unattainable to hope to acquire steaming scorching foodstuff.

Consequently, members of the task indicated the will need to generate a package in which food items, prepared in a slow, nutrient-preserving way, could be easily heated at residence, with out a need to have to transfer it from the package deal. For this, cardboard is the most suited product.

Foodstuff in cardboard packing containers can be heated in the oven

Cardboard can be recycled up to 6 times and right after a sure processing method is utilized, it is doable to compose a cardboard package deal that can stand up to heating in the oven.

This kind of cardboard is lined with a unique non-flammable substance, which usually takes up fewer than 10 for each cent of the excess weight. Furthermore, the built offers have specially tailored inserts – tabs which allow you to very easily change the box dimension and individual the vital elements of meals.

The packing containers created all through the workshop appear in 3 sizes, making it possible for for far more cost-effective and sustainable use of methods and earning the packaging adaptable for distinctive foods. To protect the aesthetic appearance of the foods during transportation, a exclusive sleeve has been established – it holds the containers in area, stopping them from rolling and transferring all over. The sleeve weighs considerably less than a typical paper bag.

Per client ask for, crystal clear instructions are printed on the offers which incorporate data on how they ought to be recycled, how prolonged and at what temperature they can be heated.

“There is also a exclusive supportive frame that prevents the lid from buckling and ruining the amazing watch of a restaurant’s masterpiece – soon after all, we also consume with our eyes”, emphasizes KTU researcher Zabulionė.

This innovation benefits not only the customer but also the restaurant. The cardboard is correctly suited for different varieties of printing – the restaurant emblem or other crucial information can be displayed on the boxes.

Moreover, the offers have been intended in this kind of a way that when they are empty, they simply in shape into every other and help you save storage room. After employing the offer, it can be despatched for recycling or composted.

“Soon these packing containers, developed by Lithuanian customers and businesses, will be a person of the offer alternatives when ordering meals at house,” Zabulionė is certain.