There is a great need in finding environmental friendly, low carbon foot print packaging solutions for various branches of the society. In an ideal case humankind should use raw materials given by nature when producing packaging material, such as natural polymers. The Single Use Plastics (SUP) directive from 2019 promotes circular solutions that give priority to sustainable and non-toxic re-usable systems and products rather than to single used products [1]. One of the main objectives with the Directive is to reduce the use of plastics in single use items, where plastics are defined as chemically modified polymers. Natural polymers are, however, not covered by the Directive as they are found naturally in the environment. The definition of a natural polymer is a polymer that is formed in nature with limited chemical modification by humans.
In this study a number of fibre based materials that are based on natural polymers and can be used for packaging, is presented. Different use cases with examples from both flexible and rigid packaging is demonstrated. General potential and limitations of natural polymers in terms of barrier properties is discussed. Finally, different technologies for applying natural polymers on fibre based substrates is assessed.

References
[1] Directive (EU) 2019/904 of the European parliament and of the council of 5 June 2019 on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment