Packaging for seafood (made from seafood)
Scottish start-up CuanTec extracts chitin, an inedible molecule found in the parts of shellfish that are normally thrown away, from langoustine shells and transforms it into a biodegradable, flexible film.
CEO Cait Murray-Green describes the company as having “a nice, little circular economy story”.
“We take langoustine waste from their shells, stretch it in a slightly different way and wrap them up in it again.”
Initially, the company will manufacture the material to be used for seafood and fish but said it could be used for other food products too.
According to Murray-Green, chitin is the second most abundant biopolymer in the world and it contains naturally-occurring antimicrobial properties, meaning the wrapping film could potentially reduce the need for preservatives to be added to the food.