Spain is one of the biggest consumers of seafood products in Europe, with the average person eating more than 40kg per year. While bulk purchases of whole and fresh fish are still common, pre-portioned and packaged fresh fish is steadily gaining market share. This means more waste. With plastic manufacturing generating twice its weight in CO2 emissions and barely half of fish containers recycled, new packaging solutions are long overdue.
The EcoFishPack project is run by two companies in Spain - Dow Chemical and ULMA Packaging. They are working together to develop new packaging materials, which retain their airtight and durable properties, but crucially can be recycled.
The companies have collaborated closely with two technological centres: Nofima, in Tromso (Norway), Ainia, in Paterna (Spain), with all benefiting from the shared learning and expertise of the other partners. In total, four packaging solutions have been developed which will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an estimated 25-50%.
EcoFishPack is one of 162 projects financed by the EEA Grants under an €18 million programme to strengthen the knowledge base on climate change and increase the application of environmental technology in Spain.
Its distinctive funding mix of grants and loans has proved highly successful, with the programme operator receiving more than twice the standard number of applications.