London – Product design student Holly Grounds has created dissolvable ramen packaging that turns into sauce.
Replacing the plastic sachets that usually accompany instant noodles, the packaging solution is an eco-friendly, flavourless biofilm made from potato starch, glycerin and water. Once heated, the film keeps dry noodles from going stale, but its properties allow it to instantly dissolve in boiling water. The packaging itself includes herbs and flavourings, allowing it to form a sauce for the noodles.
‘While other bio-based alternatives to plastic claim to be compostable or biodegradable, from a consumer perspective it's not always that simple,’ explains Holly Grounds. ‘Many of the emerging bio-based films only break down in an industrial composter at 50°C, so they often end up in the wrong place without the consumer really knowing that they caused damage to the planet.’
With consumers increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of plastic, brands are turning food by-products from produce to packaging.