A design student Denny Handley from Brunel University London has developed a new orange peel-based food packaging, known as Bio-Peel.
Image: The design student from Brunel University London has developed orange peel-based food packaging. Photo: courtesy of Brunel University London.
Bio-Peel combines waste orange peels with a mixture of other biodegradable products for the creation of a new packaging material, which is adaptable and environmentally friendly.
Brunel University London product design student Handley said: “Initially I had the idea that you could use all the waste produced making one litre of orange juice to create the carton.”
The new material is said to use a mixture of orange peels sourced from industrial juicing waste, bio-polymers, bio-diesel by-product vegetable glycerine and water. Later, it is hardened via process of moulding, baking and drying.
Handley further added: “Developing the material was a bit like baking a cake – you add more of one type of ingredient, and a different type of cake comes out.
“I did a lot of testing to define what each ingredient did, and what changing each ingredient did to the final material. I could then tailor the mix to what I needed for the moulds and the final system.”
The opaque and simple nature of the material makes it not suitable for selling goods in the supermarket and it can be used in situations such as farmers’ markets, delis or packing crates.
The new Bio-Peel can also be used to make other hard surfaces, such as tables.
Handley has exhibiting his new orange peel-based food packaging at Made in Brunel at the Bargehouse in London’s Oxo Tower.
“It’s really strong – when we tested it, it took over half a tonne of compressive strength on certain samples.
“I also shot a piece with a shotgun too, and it stopped the pellets, so maybe I should be sending it to the military,” Handley said in a statement.
Brunel University London is a single campus in Uxbridge, west London. The university is better connected to the remaining areas of the UK and is near to the M25, M4 and M40 motorways.