Sustainability

Overview

It has been six years since the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development were adopted by world leaders. According to the most recent Sustainable Development Report, Canada ranked 29th out of 193 UN member states in achieving the 17 SDGs (1). Based on this report, it is evident that even though Canada has taken great strides towards reducing poverty, quality education, and industry and innovation, its progress addressing zero hunger (SDG 2), good health and well-being (SDG 3), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), and climate action (SDG 13) have been either stagnant or regressing (1).

Figure 1. Canada’s performance by SDG according to the Sustainable Development Report with data collected through voluntary national statistics (1).

The price of food has been a recent issue which has been gradually getting worse since the Covid-19 pandemic (2). The Canadian government has been working towards rebuilding the economy, health infrastructure, and housing affordability (2). However, there is insufficient revenue within the government budget to provide financial relief to families struggling to pay for groceries (2).

Cellucoat was born out of a common recognition between our members, community, and the greater country on the issue of rising food prices, and how excessive food waste through spoilage is exacerbating the financial burden on Canadian families. Through targeting the SDG goals of zero hunger (SDG 2), good health and well-being (SDG 3), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), and climate action (SDG 13), Cellucoat will help Canadians, and eventually individuals across the world, save money and the environment through keeping their food fresh from the fields to their fridge.

SDG #2: Zero Hunger

SDG Summary

The second sustainable development goal aims to have a complete transformation of food systems across the world to ensure that every person has access to nourishment (3). For this to occur, the UN set out the zero hunger challenge to be completed by 2030, which aims to address the issues associated with developing circularity in the way food is grown, distributed, and discarded along with ensuring that everyone everywhere has access to food (3).

Problem Identifications

With regards to access to produce, which is a imperative part of a balanced and healthy diet, there are three problems that are prevalent in Canada and across the world.

Problem #1 - Excessive Worldwide Food Waste:

A large part of ensuring that everyone has nourishment is to have every individual have adequate access to nutritious food across the world. Four billion metric tons of food is produced every year, it would be expected that everyone on the planet would be able to be fed with only 3.7 billion metric tons of what is produced (3). In reality, not everyone is able to access food because of the 4 billion tons that is produced, 1.3 billion tons goes to waste (3). Out of the 1.3 billion that is wasted, 33.7% is discarded because it doesn’t satisfy the aesthetic requirements for selling produce, even if it is safe to consume (3).

Problem #2 - Limited Access to Affordable Produce:

Rural parts of Canada, such as the Northern Territories have historically been subjected to food prices that are two to three times greater than Canadian urban grocery stores (4). This is due the distance that the produce has to travel, adding days onto the transport of produce thousands of kilometers away from the farms where the produce originated from, causing rotting and food spoilage by the time it reaches the grocery store. This means having to be thrown out due to a lack of salability of the produce.

Produce Spoilage Costs Canadian Families Thousands of Dollars Annually:

There is a worldwide trend of countries having ready access to fresh food, but with world food prices jumping 28% since 2021 to their highest level in a decade there is a limited number of individuals that can afford the staples that constitute a healthy diet (3). It became apparent to even the UN that the new global food crisis is now about affordability of foods, not availability. The affordability issue is not limited to the cost of produce, but the cost of produce that is being discarded. Canadian families throw out 140 kg of food, 45% of which is produce, that could've been avoided or repurposed which costs $1800 annually (5).

Cellucoat’s positive long term impacts in addressing SDG #2

Cellucoat is a packaging material. It keeps produce covered and protected from the elements, while providing other perks like antimicrobial activity and customizability. Of course, elements of problems that SDG #2 attempts to address are systemic. They rely on collective action of national and worldwide committees and governments. However, Cellucoat was designed to prolong the shelf-life of produce, repurpose fruit waste, and replace plastic, allowing for it to mitigate excessive food waste, affordability of produce, and spoilage.

Solution to Problem #1 - Cellucoat Repurposes Food Waste:2

Cellucoat Repurposes Food Waste: Cellucoat repurposes produce that would otherwise go to waste due to not meeting retail quality standards. 33.7% of produce that would otherwise go to waste (3) will be collected from farmers at a reduced price and be broken down to create the media required for the co-culture. Hence, Cellucoat’s fruit waste media, which is substrate to grow the material of Cellucoat produced from extracting the sugars of non-sellable produce, can reduce upwards of 1.3 billion tons of produce waste.

Solution to Problem #2 - Cellucoat Prolongs the Shelf-Life of Produce To Endure Long Transport Times: 2

Cellucoat contains two key materials that prolong the shelf-life of produce - bacterial cellulose that is enriched with acetan, an antioxidant, and an antimicrobial peptide. Combined, these two materials help to reduce the appearance of browning caused by oxidation and microbial growth such as mold or bacteria (6). This ensures that produce, even throughout a long transport, will remain fresh and aesthetically pleasing when it reaches retail shelves. With less produce being discarded, more produce is available to rural communities which aids in preventing spikes in prices for produce.

Solution to Problem #3 - Cellucoat Prevents Produce Spoilage: 2

Cellucoat Prevents Produce Spoilage: Cellucoats integrated antimicrobial properties prolonging both the shelf-life of produce and preventing microbial infections, increases how long produce stays edible in households. Even though prices of produce will continue to rise, Cellucoat will aid in individuals getting the most out of their purchases, saving thousands of dollars annually that can be put towards other living expenses (5).

Cellucoat’s possible negative long term impacts in addressing SDG #2 2

Due to current fears towards genetically modified organisms in food products, and the “non-GMO” movement that has taken over many brands and grocery stores, there is a chance that Cellucoat may not be welcomed with open arms in all communities. The fears and feelings towards GMOs in the public can be attributed to poor scientific communication and misinformation towards biotechnology (7). Hence, produce wrapped with Cellucoat may not be purchased by retailers and in certain communities that have negative values towards GMOs. If specific retailers do not want to use produce wrapped with Cellucoat, then there may be long term changes to the transportation schedules of distributors (7). This can cause some produce orders to take longer to transport compared to others due to the packaging material, potentially increasing prevalence of produce spoilage during transport.

Feedback from relevant SDG stakeholder: 2

In our first meeting with Kori Stene from the University of Calgary Sustainability Office, we immediately identified that Cellucoat is equipped to help address elements of SDG #2, however she implored our team to also consider how individuals are already personally dealing with food waste. Furthermore, based on the literature it appears that there is a need for a product that helps reduce food waste but what consumers in our community actually want can differ, according to Justin Knibbe, a business professor at the University of Calgary.

To figure out what consumers are having troubles with in regards to spoilage and plastic and what consumers think about the concept of creating packaging from bacteria, Justin Knibbe recommended that our team go out to a farmers market and conduct customer discovery. Our team formulated customer discovery interview questions that centered around understanding both our target demographic, and what these individuals are having troubles with and if there is a need for an alternative solution. Based on the customer discovery interviews, a majority of men and young adults had trouble with managing food waste the price of groceries has become more unaffordable, and fresh produce does not seem to last as long as it used to.

Through applying the advice from Kori Stene and Justin Knibbe to conduct customer discovery, the need for Cellucoat within our local community has been confirmed. Using feedback from customer discovery, our team worked on focusing on improving the customer experience of our product through customizability of the antimicrobial protein and ease-of-use.

SDG #3: Good Health and Well-Being

SDG Summary 2

The UN has set out multiple targets to achieve good health and well being for all, which also include promoting child and maternal health. Cellucoat, being a product designed to help individuals save money on reducing food waste, will also promote healthy eating practices as outlined by SDG #3.; purchasing produce becomes less wasteful and more affordable. This ensures that healthy diets become more accessible to communities that are at risk for higher child and maternal mortality.

Problem Identifications

Problem #1 - Transporting Fresh Produce to Rural Areas is Expensive and Results in Product Loss:

Once produce is transported to retailers, if the produce does not meet quality standards of aesthetics and consumability it will be discarded (9). When considering that untreated/raw produce has a retail shelf-life of 4 days, every day added onto the transportation cycle runs and decreases the consumability of the produce (9). This means that rural retailers will be supplied more defective produce, reducing supply of produce and increasing prices, making fresh produce more unaffordable to the higher concentrations of low-income individuals living in rural areas compared to urban regions (9).

Problem #2 - Lack of Produce Diversity in Grocers in Rural Areas:

According to Chris Clark, Category Director of Star Produce, stone fruits are most likely to spoil during a longer transport. Hence, rural areas that are the last to have their produce transported will be less likely to supply stone fruits due to the chance they will rot before reaching stores. Due to this, diversity of produce that is prone to spoilage in shorter periods is reduced in rural areas, limiting healthy dietary options for rural area residents (8).

Problem #3 - Spoilage Deters Low-Income Families From Purchasing Fresh Produce:

When produce is purchased, the costs of it spoiling and becoming non-consumable is becoming more of a deterrent to 32% of Canadians purchasing fresh produce because of the rising costs (10). A majority of the individuals with dietary-related illnesses are low-income, meaning spoiled produce becomes another obstacle aside from the rising costs of produce (11). This results in low-income populations having greater risks of acquiring dietary-related illnesses due to a diet lacking in fresh foods (11).

Cellucoat’s positive long term impacts in addressing SDG #3

Solution to Problem #1 - Cellucoat Keeps Fresh Foods Consistently More Affordable:

Cellucoat Keeps Fresh Foods Consistently More Affordable: Low-income populations are at most risk of having poor diets lacking in key nutrients (12). Furthermore, populations that are most at risk for the negative effects of poor nutrition are pregnant individuals (12). With Cellucoat being a method of keeping produce fresh for longer throughout transport, distributors will be able to reliably deliver produce that has yet to spoil to retailers. This ensures that low-income individuals in rural areas will have access to affordable fresh produce, promoting prenatal health and improving maternal and child future health outcomes.

Solution to Problem #3 - Cellucoat Diversifies Fresh Foods Available in Rural Communities:

Cellucoat Diversifies Fresh Foods Available in Rural Communities: Different types of produce are infected by different types of microbes (13). The type of antimicrobial peptide that Cellucoat is functionalized with can be changed depending on the type of produce it is packaging. With specificity towards the microbes that Cellucoat is protecting against, the produce becomes more likely to stay fresh throughout transport. This allows for distributors and retailers to have the opportunity to stock up on different types of produce that would otherwise spoil during transport. Diversifying the types of produce available in rural areas helps constituents eat a varied diet, which can reduce risks associated with malnutrition and other dietary-related illnesses (12).

Solution to Problem #3 - Cellucoat Helps to Encourage Healthy Dietary Behaviors:

Cellucoat Helps to Encourage Healthy Dietary Behaviors: Cellucoats integrated antimicrobial properties prolonging both the shelf-life of produce and preventing microbial infections, increases how long produce stays edible in households. With $1800 being wasted annually due to Canadian households discarding spoiled produce (5), prolonging the shelf-life of produce increases the time that individuals have to use the fruit or vegetables before their next grocery run. Increasing the number of opportunities to eat healthier diets without having to change their current spending behaviors reduces the instances of acquiring dietary-related diseases in the future (14).

Cellucoat’s possible negative long term impacts in addressing SDG #3

Cellucoat will be marketed as packaging material that has antimicrobial properties to help prevent fruits from rotting, reducing food waste and money spent on produce. However, individuals may overestimate the anti-microbial properties of Cellucoat, and may consume produce that has visible signs of infection and rot. General education of the public on how to notice signs of rot will mitigate this possible negative long-term impact.

Furthermore, Cellucoat will not be a fix-all for the rising food prices and financial strain on families as cost of living increases. Even though Cellucoat aims to make purchasing produce more affordable by decreasing the amount of money spent on repurchasing produce after they have been spoiled, it may not be enough for many families as global food prices rise to their highest levels in years (2). Hence, the need for Cellucoat may eventually transform into a need for greater food availability and affordability, which would require coordination of governing and civilian bodies.

Feedback from relevant SDG stakeholder

Dr. Nicole Cho, (PhD), is a graduate of University of Calgary’s Kinesiology program. She has and currently is conducting research in epigenetics, animal studies including C-section births, and looked into the biochemistry of the gut microbiota, all of which fall under nutrition research within Dr. Raylene Reimer's laboratory. Our team consulted with Dr. Cho to understand the impacts that access to nutrition has on health outcomes in disadvantaged communities.

Dr. Cho stipulated that individuals that live in rural and disadvantaged areas, such as the Northern Territories of Canada with limited access to grocery stores, will have a low diversity diet. These diets are typically due to a lack of access to different types of foods. This is a result of financial barriers where a diverse diet may be too expensive or an environment where there are limited choices within the individual’s community.

According to Dr. Cho, there are two things that occur as a result of having a limited diet:

The initial conception of Cellucoat was to create a packaging material that helped retailers, distributors, and farmers reduce food waste and save money in the process. However, Dr. Cho’s feedback on taking a deeper dive into how to create financial and behavioral incentives to purchase healthier foods aided in Cellucoat working towards contributing towards not only building better health outcomes for individuals in disadvantaged communities, but for generations. All of which will be achieved by encouraging healthy living through making the lifestyle more affordable and accessible.

SDG #12: Responsible consumption and production

SDG Summary

Responsible consumption and production are about promoting resource and energy efficiency, sustainable infrastructure, and providing access to essential services, green and decent jobs, and a better quality of life for all. Our implementation of this goal aims to achieve development plans, reduce future economic, environmental, and social costs, strengthen economic competitiveness and reduce poverty.

How Our Project Applies

Currently, market trend projections indicate that bioplastics will be a major component in the new plastic economy. For plastics to thrive without harmful waste and negative environmental impact, switching from a linear economy to the cradle-to-cradle economy associated with Cellucoat is paramount.

Plastics are a prominent material in modern manufacturing given their high functionality with relatively low costs. In the past 50 years, their use has skyrocketed across all markets. However, petroleum-based plastics fall under the linear economic model, creating significant economic and environmental drawbacks. Currently, $80-120 billion in plastic packaging is lost, every year, to disposal and waste. This foundation also points out that since the launch of the first universal recycling symbol, only 14% of plastic packaging is collected globally for recycling. Furthermore, current projections place more plastics in the ocean by weight than fish by 2050.

While this is alarming, plastics in the food packaging industry don’t need to be pushed to the wayside. Instead, with the innovation of Cellcoat, plastic can be redesigned and conformed to the cradle-to-cradle economy to foster growth, reduce waste, and improve their environmental impact.

Cellucoat aims to achieve the following impact:

• Reduce our carbon footprint and source from a sustainable feedstock of bacteria
• Create compostable and biodegradable materials that bring nutrients back to the soil, reduce the number of fossil fuels used and recycle petroleum-based plastics to reduce landfill waste (optimizing resource yield)
• Increase the quality of bioplastics through technological innovations, improve quality value, life cycle, and functionality.
• Promote a cradle-to-cradle economy

Long term and short term benefits

Our impact of Cellucoat within the goal of sustainable production and consumption is built on the framework of a Cradle-to-Cradle economy. Material made with this framework in mind is applied with respect for its intrinsic value and the useful afterlife in recycled or even upcycled products. In this design, there is no waste, no shortage, and no limitations. The concept is based on the unlimited reuse of raw materials, in our case, bacterial cultures and fruit waste. Long term, this contributes to bringing about a new industrial revolution, which ensures that the production and manufacturing of materials, such as bioplastics have a positive impact on society, the economy, and our planet. Short term, Cellucoat contributes to providing an alternative to single-use plastics, such as those currently being banned in Canada. In this case, Cellulose aims to provide an alternative competitive to plastic in the place of plastic. The manufacturing of Cellucoat, through the Cradle to Cradle approach greatly contributes to sustainability by preventing waste through fully utilizing discarded materials, in our case fruit waste. Cellucoat is developing the infrastructure needed to develop a sustainable and biodegradable plastic alternative, which will grow the bacterial cellulose economy as well as the plastic economy amid the ban on single-use plastics.

Harms

Potential damages of Celluocat regarding responsible consumption and production include its impact on the rest of the supply chain. A possible long-term negative impact is how the price of Cellucoat may impact the rest of the supply chain, and thus the cost of fruit to consumers, which may impact their ability to access this fruit. For example, suppose specific retailers do not want to use produce wrapped with Cellucoat due to reasons such as not wanting to making the change from using plastics. In that case, there may be long-term changes to the transportation schedules of distributors, thus changing how long and which order retailers and thus consumers have access to fresh produce. In addition, having to develop a legal framework and the appropriate infrastructure to support not only the production of our bacterial cellulose but that subsequent composting infrastructure required.

Feedback from relevant SDG stakeholder

Meeting with Belinda Li, demonstrated that most countries at this point do not have the infrastructure to support the composting of many bioplastics, particularly since either: Many bioplastics inappropriately claim to be biodegradable Bioplastics are treated as if they are plastics and taken to landfills (if it looks like plastic it is plastic) This emphasized the need to ensure that Cellucoat is biodegradable and initiated a series of composting experiments to solidify this. Furthermore, it also indicated that Cellucoat would need to have a visual indicator to indicate to both consumers who dispose of our product and composting facilities that would packaging is biodegradable.

SDG #13: Climate Action

SDG Summary

Climate change presents the single biggest threat to development, and its unprecedented impacts disproportionately burden the poorest and most vulnerable. Urgent action to combat climate change and minimize its disruptions is integral to successfully implementing all the Sustainable Development Goals. The UN sustainable development goal of Climate Action focuses on the awareness of climate change and global warming. High temperatures and changing rain patterns are clear signs of climate change due to greenhouse gasses trapping more heat in the atmosphere. Bioplastic has significant results in producing fewer greenhouse gas emissions compared to traditional plastics. Manufacturers are helping to increase the public’s familiarity with bioplastics by converting traditional plastic to bioplastic in their daily production. Plastic pollution is one of the main reasons the UN focuses on bioplastics as they play a crucial role in addressing the problem of plastic pollution.

How our project applies

Almost all plastic is made from fossil fuels, especially oil and shale gas. The production of plastic uses a lot of energy, and altogether, this accounts for approximately 10% of the global annual usage of fossil fuels: half for the production of plastic, and the other half for fuel. By 2050, it is predicted that this figure will rise to 20% if we continue with the unlimited use of plastic. Although the production and use of plastic results in a smaller carbon footprint when compared to alternatives like paper and metal, this does not take the end-of-life damage that plastic causes to the environment into account. Cellucoat is produced from bacteria-derived products, which are grown on a fruit waste-supplemented media. As traditional plastic is made from petroleum based raw materials, bioplastics present part of a solution to plastic pollution. In addition to this, Cellucoat is targeting climate action through the development of a sustainable and biodegradable alternative to plastic through PHB-strengthened bacterial cellulose. On its own, bacterial cellulose lacks the mechanical strength to meet the qualities needed by industry, such as enough strength to be stackable. To combat this issue and make our BC a comparable alternative to plastic, Cellucoat is integrating PHB, a bacterially synthesized bioplastic, into our BC.

Long-term and short-term benefits

The most obvious benefit of Cellucoat’s bacterial cellulose is the pathway to a solution of plastic pollution. Cellucoat gives manufacturers and distributors in the food supply chain a sustainable alternative to plastics. Overall, the production of Cellucoat will reduce the use of fossil fuel resources, have a smaller carbon footprint, and faster decomposition.

Harms

The current level of biodegradability of Cellucoat’s bacterial cellulose may have future implications for the environment. As the range of materials and markets continues to expand, the potential implications for the waste industry are undergoing scrutiny. Bioplastics contribute to climate protection, save fossil resources, and create jobs in future-oriented sectors. As this industry grows, is the waste industry truly ready for what lies ahead? In principle, biodegradable products should reduce our dependence on landfills. However, this will not happen automatically. The right infrastructure is required, coupled with a more widespread understanding and education around handling this relatively new waste stream.

Feedback from SDG stakeholder

In meeting with Emily McGill, an experienced consultant working in sustainability and innovation for systems change, we learned that in theory the promise of biobased plastics can circumvent petroleum-based plastics and mitigate climate change, but this may not be actuality. Emily indicated that although petroleum based plastics are associated with many environmental issues like greenhouse gas emissions, persistence in marine and terrestrial environments, and pollution, bioplastics can also be linked to environmental issues. For instance, greenhouse gas emissions in the process of producing them and unfavorable land use. Because of this, it is still necessary to evaluate the true impact of bioplastics on the environment. In this regard, Emily echoed the concerns of Belinda in ensuring that our bacterial cellulose bioplastic polymer is biodegradable and even suggested in future iterations to start with biodegradability in the design process.

Conclusion

In maximizing our impact on Canadians, the environment, and individuals worldwide, Cellucoat is targeting the following sustainable development goals: Zero Hunger, Good Health and Well-Being, Responsible Consumption and Production, and Climate Action. We are addressing the goal of Zero Hunger by repurposing food waste, prolonging the shelf life of produce, and preventing food spoilage. The goal of Good Health and Wellbeing is addressed through how Cellucoat keeps fresh foods consistently more affordable, diversifies fresh foods available in rural communities, and encourages healthy dietary behaviours. Cellucoat targeted Responsible Consumption and Production by promoting a switch to a Cradle to Cradle economy. Finally, we addressed the goal of Climate Change by mitigating plastic pollution in developing a plastic alternative.

References

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