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Edible packaging could reduce waste

A scientist has found a way to reduce packaging waste that creates millions of tonnes of landfill every year: eat the packaging.

David Edwards, whose work encompasses the arts and science and is at the core of a network of art and science labs in Europe, USA and Africa, has now created edible packaging, WikiCells.

The idea for WikiCells was based on the way nature has always delivered nutrients in a digestible skin "held together by healthy ions like calcium."

Apples, potatoes and tomatoes, for example, all have an edible exterior protecting the food within.

"This soft skin may be comprised primarily of small particles of chocolate, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, or many other natural substances with delicious taste and often useful nutrients," the WikiCells team writes on its website.

"Inside the skin may be liquid fruit juice, or thick pudding."

Edwards and his collaborators, including industrial designer François Azambourg, have so far tested gazpacho-stuffed tomato membrane, a wine-filled grape-like shell, and an orange juice-laden orb with a shell that tastes like an orange.

The team is also looking into other possibilities including edible milk bottles and yogurt containers.

WikiCells will market ice cream in an edible shell in the French summer.

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