Arbikie with varsities to turn whisky waste into packaging

Scotland’s Arbikie Distillery has teamed up with Edinburgh Napier University and the University of Dundee on the Mycopack project, which aims to transform distillery by-products such as spent grain into fully compostable packaging.

Working with Dr. Dongyang Sun of Edinburgh Napier and Dr. Wenbin Zhou of Dundee, the team is combining whisky waste with mycelium, the root structure of fungi, to create a lightweight, durable, impact-resistant and fire-retardant material that can replace plastic.

Over the next 10 months, the collaboration will focus on proof of concept, material testing and packaging design. The initiative is funded by Scotland Beyond Net Zero, a coalition of climate and sustainability experts from Scottish universities, and is among 11 new projects addressing net-zero challenges in sectors ranging from food and energy to transport and the built environment.

Similar efforts in Europe include the BioSupPack project, which has created a compostable, renewable packaging material from brewer’s spent grain, and Krill Design’s ReKrill biopolymer, derived from citrus peels, coffee grounds, wine residues and bran.