TomorrowMachine has presented an innovative biodegradable material that challenges the conventional idea of how food packaging can be designed: GoneShells.
Most packaging solutions today are made to last for years or decades. Meanwhile, the food inside goes bad after days or weeks. Inspired by how nature protects its content, GoneShells develops materials with the ability to break down under different conditions and work in symbiosis with what’s inside.
The innovative biodegradable packaging material is made from potato.
What makes GoneShells innovative is the speed of and the multiple alternatives of degradation. With a bottle that can be home composted, eaten or dissolved under the water tap in the kitchen sink, the objectives are to create less strain on recycling systems and reduce problems associated with packaging materials ending up in nature. With a bottle designed to be torn apart after it has been used, the idea is that oneself can speed up the decomposition process. When you break the packaging and then put it in contact with water, a natural reaction starts to break down the bottle immediately – and that’s how we created a bottle with the ability to disappear by itself.
GoneShells aim to address the need for new biobased packaging materials. Together with Eckes-Granini and Brämhults, we have explored the possibility to use the material for their juices and smoothies. Supported by BioInnovation, a joint venture by Vinnova, Formas and Swedish Energy Agency – development is carried out along with the design of prototypes.
