Materials based on biopolymers have rapidly gained interest in recent times for the role of plastic alternatives, for increased activity in the development of sustainable materials, for packaging.

Unfortunately, to date, the experiment on the production and use of biodegradable packaging polymer materials, which has been going on for more than thirty years, has not only failed to produce an unambiguous positive result, but also posed many new unresolved issues. There is no reason to wait for biodegradable polymers era to begin to deal with these problems. Packaging has become the first industry to be targeted by specific waste legislation, arising from the EU’s Directive 94/62/EC on Packaging and Packaging Waste. In accordance with the EU regulation food packaging must be manufactured from materials with appropriately chemical composition, meeting safety requirements.

With growing awareness about environmental concerns, the biodegradable nature of cellulose film has made it an ideal choice in the development of sustainable solutions for packaging, with the aim of reducing the overall carbon footprint of the packaging industry. Cellulose is the most abundant and renewable functional biopolymer created by nature and it will become one of the most promising polymeric resources. Biodegradability, renewability, and worldwide abundance are the main benefits of cellulose as a raw material. However, chemical processing of cellulose is extremely difficult in general because it is neither meltable nor soluble in water or common solvents.

Like paper, EcoBioFilm is based on cellulose, but instead of this being predominantly physically modified, the raw material (pulp) is disolved into a novel eco-friendly solvent to form cellulose solution.
After dissolution process, this fluid is extruded through a slit with high length-to-width ratio into an liqiud bath where the cellulose is literally regenerated. The product, EcoBioFilm,  is formed as a continuous non-fibrous web. Flexibility of the film can be achieved by the incorporation of softening agents, the selection of which is dictated by the end application.

The notable properties of regenerated cellulose films are promising for applications in transparent biodegradable packaging as a substitute for polypropylene and polyethylene.