Morphing Matter Lab is Exploring Ways to Make Food & Packaging More Compact
Laura McQuarrie — May 6, 2021 — Lifestyle
References: morphingmatter.cs.cmu.edu & fastcompany
Inspired by the way furniture is packed flat to save space, Morphing Matter Lab created flat-pack pasta that can be packaged in a way that saves space and expanded when cooked. The flat-pack pasta relies on a "groove-based shape morphing technique" and it can be used to form a variety of different shapes using traditional pasta ingredients like semolina flour and water.
With these shapely pasta designs that transform when cooked, Morphing Matter Lab is exploring a more sustainable future for food that helps to reduce packing space during transportation and storage. As Morphing Matter Lab describes, "For 3D-shaped pasta like macaroni, more than 60% of the packaging space is used to pack air. By making flatpack pasta, we can save a large portion of the packaging space for food."
With these shapely pasta designs that transform when cooked, Morphing Matter Lab is exploring a more sustainable future for food that helps to reduce packing space during transportation and storage. As Morphing Matter Lab describes, "For 3D-shaped pasta like macaroni, more than 60% of the packaging space is used to pack air. By making flatpack pasta, we can save a large portion of the packaging space for food."
Trend Themes
1. Flat-pack Food - Developing flat-pack food products for more efficient transportation and storage offers disruptive innovation opportunities to reduce packaging waste and increase sustainability.
2. Shape-morphing - Creating shape-morphing food products using innovative techniques offers disruptive innovation opportunities to improve packaging efficiency and sustainability.
3. Sustainable Packaging - Designing sustainable packaging solutions for food products offers disruptive innovation opportunities to reduce resource consumption and waste in food transport and storage.
Industry Implications
1. Food and Beverage - Flat-pack food products and shape-morphing techniques offer disruptive innovation opportunities to improve transportation and storage efficiency, reduce waste, and enhance sustainability in the food and beverage industry.
2. Packaging - Developing sustainable packaging solutions for food products offers disruptive innovation opportunities in the packaging industry to create more efficient, eco-friendly, and cost-effective packaging options.
3. Logistics and Supply Chain - New flat-pack food products and packaging solutions offer disruptive innovation opportunities for the logistics and supply chain industry to improve transportation and storage efficiency, reduce waste, and enhance sustainability.
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