Seed Coats as Inspiration for Sustainable Packaging

Recycling of current packaging solutions and materials is often impeded by difficult or even impossible separation into their original components. In nature, however, solutions for efficient and sustainable coatings and packaging are omnipresent, but surprisingly little is known about these natural packaging and protection solutions. We are delighted to congratulate Michaela Eder on the funding approval of the project »Seed coats as inspiration for sustainable packaging« in the amount of 1.2 million euros by the Volkswagen Foundation. Eder's team at the MPICI and colleagues around John Dunlop of the MorphoPhysics Group at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg will monitor the environmental conditions of plants with seeds with thin testa growing under extreme alpine conditions as well as those of their close relatives in low-land regions to assess environmental effects on seed coat properties and functionalities. The four-year project is being funded as part of the »Societal Transformation« profile area, with which the Volkswagen foundation supports research that expands and critically reflects on knowledge about transformation processes.

You can find a short project description on the website of the Volkswagen Foundation. The project is funded as part of the »Societal Transformation« profile area. Please find more about the profile area on the website of the Volkswagen Foundation.