CYBERJAYA, 24th July 2018 - The 1^st International Conference of Safe Biodegradable Packaging (SafeBioPack2018) was successfully held in MiGHT Partnership Hub, Cyberjaya, Selangor on 24-26 July 2018. It was co-organized with Malaysia Institute of Transport (MITRANS) Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Parkside Flexibles Ltd., TESCO, Bangor University, Polycomposites (M) Sdn. Bhd., Scitech Adhesives Coatings, Nextek Ltd. and Eco Premium Packaging (M) Sdn. Bhd. SafeBioPack2018 was supported by Malaysian Industry-Government Group for High Technology (MiGHT), Newton-Ungku Omar Fund, Research Councils UK and Innovate UK.

The theme of this conference was ‘Waste to Wealth’ which firstly focused on the utilization of biomass residues such as agricultural waste in manufacturing various products dedicated on safe and biodegradable packaging. Besides, organic waste from industries are also taken into consideration to be turned into acceptable value energy sources listed as dampening sheets, containers, compostable plastic film, food packaging film and more. Oil palm industries are the obvious industry in Malaysia due to its huge amount of residues. In example, an average of 8.4 million tonnes fresh fruit bunch and almost 2.0 million tonnes of empty fruit bunch is generated in 2017-2018.

The conference also aims to provide a platform to discuss and share information regarding food packaging technology. About 40% of food qualities are lost along the way to reach consumers from food producers in Malaysia which can also be related to surrounding weather and relative humidity. Food contamination is another issue which invites food poisoning from pathogenic microorganism infections. In United Kingdom, food poisoning affects 500,000 people each year. Therefore, smart packaging is hoped to reduce the statistic by keeping the food in longer period and ensure good quality reaching the consumers.

SafeBioPack2018 has gathered an amount of 80 experts from around the world such as United Kingdom, India, Australia, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Tunisia and Malaysia in order to share ideas and experiences.During the conference, two days were allocated for parallel oral session and the last day was spent for technical visit at Parkside Flexibles Ltd. located at Shah Alam, Selangor. The conference committee received overwhelming feedbacks by the participants whom are hoping the next one to be conducted soon.

Date of Input: 18/09/2018 | Updated: 24/09/2018 | aidawati