‘BeeGreen’, a product designed by students of the Master’s Degree in Engineering that reuses artichoke waste, awarded at the EFOOD Food Design Forum

BeeGreen, a product designed by Patricia López, Jessica Nissen, Irene Segarra and Noelia Esparís, students of the Master’s Degree in Industrial Design Engineering, has won the ‘Best Design x Change: Production’ award at the EFOOD forum, a meeting on Food Design held recently in Lisbon.

BeeGreen is a new product made with a new material created from a high percentage of artichoke waste. The canning industry processes 60% of this food in its facilities, of which approximately 70% of the artichoke is waste. Currently, the only solution to these residues is livestock feed. In response to this problem, the use of this waste was proposed to design and create a new bioplastic. As a result, a new type of wrapping was obtained, the purpose of which is to replace plastic film and aluminum foil.

Plastic film is the fourth most polluting product in the oceans according to the newspaper ‘The Guardian’ in 2021. This type of single-use plastic will begin to be restricted by the European Union from 2021. On the other hand, aluminum foil, which is impossible to recycle when it comes into contact with food, causes the deterioration of rivers and aquifers due to the extraction of bauxite (a component necessary to manufacture it) and can also be harmful to health.

Through research and experimentation, a new type of packaging was obtained, whose components are compostable and of natural origin. Thanks to the use of artichoke waste, it also contributes to the circular economy.

This new product is able to withstand approximately 45 minutes of heat, can be stretched thanks to its high elastic capacity, can be frozen without losing any properties and is also reusable. BeeGreen can be laser engraved, making it adaptable for different uses.

BeeGreen, a new sustainable way of wrapping food that avoids generating a high environmental impact by taking advantage of artichoke waste, collaborates with the construction of a greener world.