SLINTEC signs research agreement with Global Seafoods

Wednesday, 9 October 2019 00:26 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

From left: SLINTEC Chief of Research and Engineering Ananda Hettiarachchy, GSF Business Development Manager Tilarni Amath, SLINTEC Research Scientist Pivini Gunasekara, GSF Production Manager Janitha Mendis, GSF CEO Sampath Padmawansa, SLINTEC COO Heminda Jayaweera, SLINTEC Senior Scientist Dr. Nuwan De Silva, SLINTEC Head of Business Development Dr. Lakshitha Pahalagedara, SLINTEC Science Group Leader Vimukthi Jayaweera, SLINTEC Science Group Leader Shadeepa Karunaratne, SLINTEC Research Fellow Dr. Sanjeewa Wijesinghe, SLINTEC Business Development Executive Dulani Yapa and SLINTEC Lead Engineer R&D Niroshan Manoharan

Collaboration aimed at finding a sustainable packaging solution to replace Styrofoam

Global Seafoods Ltd. (GSF) has signed a research agreement with the Sri Lanka Institute of Nanotechnology (SLINTEC) to develop and introduce a sustainable fish and seafood packaging solution, which will replace Styrofoam.

The world produces more than 14 million tons of Styrofoam each year. Because Styrofoam is a plastic product, manufacturing new Styrofoam products uses non-renewable fossil fuel resources. As a plastic, it also degrades slowly and is highly flammable.

Fish and other marine life such as marine birds and turtles also mistake Styrofoam as food and then die for either starvation or choke when they swallow pieces of it.

Each year only about 10% to 12% of the Styrofoam used is recycled. The majority of non-recycled Styrofoam end up in landfills where they fill up 30% of landfill space, and landfills are quickly becoming full. Dumping Styrofoam into landfills is extremely harmful to our environment because it does not biodegrade in landfills.

SLINTEC has engaged with GSF for this research project to address the Styrofoam problem by introducing a new biodegradable packaging material. GSF is committed to sustainability, sourcing and processing seafood responsibly to protect the natural resources while delivering Freshness and Food Safety to the consumer.

SLINTEC is committed to support enterprises to develop novel sustainable products to meet the demands of the local and international markets using nanotechnology and advanced technology solutions.