Packaging Lab Wins Federal Contract to Test Compostable Food Containers

The Center for Packaging Innovation has been awarded a two-year federal testing contract to evaluate the shelf-life performance of compostable, fiber-based food containers intended to replace expanded polystyrene in institutional food service.

The work uses the center’s environmental chambers and distribution-simulation equipment to put containers through accelerated humidity, temperature, and vibration cycles, then measures grease resistance, structural integrity, and seal strength against the same tests applied to conventional containers.

Six undergraduate and two graduate research assistants are staffed on the project and are paid from the contract. Results feed a public database the agency maintains for procurement officers.

“This is exactly the kind of unglamorous applied testing that a university lab is well suited to and a company would rather outsource. Our students leave knowing how a real material qualification program is run.”

— center director

Contact: Office of University Communications, news@uwporterfalls.edu