Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** plastics have long been a…

Awards issued prior to january 20, 2025, were funded under previous administrations and may not reflect the priorities and policies of the current administration.** plastics have long been a mainstay in packaging applications, with approximately half of all fossil fuel-based plastics going toward food packaging. Unsurprisingly, the pervasive use of single-use plastics for food packaging has come under intense scrutiny as concerns mount over plastics' longevity and their impacts on our bodies and the broader environment. Replacement of plastics with paper-based packaging comes with its own issues, a notable example being the growing body of evidence that PFAS-coated paper products lead to health risks. While there are a few bioplastics companies that have been created in recent years, adoption into a global commodity market is stymied by two fundamental technology issues: cost and performance. Retrn BIO is enabling next-generation sustainable fiber-based packaging that can meet this challenge through development of high-performing fully biodegradable barrier coatings upcycled from agro-industrial waste residues. The retrn process 1) sustainably sources agro-industrial and other lignocellulosic waste streams as primary feedstocks and 2) uses a novel, patent-pending technology for low-cost production of unique polymers with desirable properties, resulting in 3) a broad material platform of fully biodegradable, natural polymers that can provide the needed barrier properties to fiber-based packaging of food products (e.g. paper cups, food containers, etc.).to achieve our goals, we will use genetic engineering to improve our biological production platform to better utilize waste forest product residues. With these new production methods, we will generate a variety of different bioplastic formulations and test them against industry specifications for thermal and mechanical properties, barrier properties, and key recyclability criteria. Working with the forest products lab, we will analyze strategic forest residues and raw materials to ensure their compatibility with our production platform as a feedstock. Finally, we will develop environmentally friendly aqueous coating methods to apply these bioplastics to paper packaging materials and determine their specific barrier properties (e.g. moisture vapor resistance, resistance to water/oil/grease penetration, and oxygen transmission). The project results will then be used to generate prototype materials for evaluation of product functionality by industry partners, the confirmation of which will DE-risk the technology for further investment and evaluation of manufacturability in scale-up projects. Ultimately, successful commercialization of this technology would place the U.S. As a key producer of biodegradable biopolymers, will aid the transition away from the conventional plastics economy, and encourage the diversion of more food waste from landfills to composting systems.