Packaging materials protect food, pharmaceuticals and consumer goods from contamination, but what happens to them once they’ve served that purpose? Many cannot be recycled — especially plastics — and contribute substantially to the roughly 350 million tons of global plastic waste generated annually.
A new two-year project supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) led by a world-renowned Michigan State University scientist focuses on the development of innovative thermoplastic packaging that is cost-efficient, high-performing, biodegradable and microplastic-free.
Muhammad Rabnawaz, an MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources Faculty Laureate and professor in the top-ranked School of Packaging, is using the $540,000 grant to explore these materials through experiments and artificial intelligence-driven machine learning techniques.