The European Union has established several sustainability goals related to packaging as part of its broader environmental and climate policies. There is increasing interest in the evaluation of food waste and reduction of petroleum-based plastic usage. Olive seeds, a by-product of olive oil production, are emerging as sustainable biofiller for packaging materials. Olive seed powder is used in biocomposites as an organic filler due to its advantages such as its easy accessibility, biodegradability, low density, and low cost. In the studies conducted to date, olive seed powder incorporated various polymer matrices . However, olive seed powder incorporating PVA/Gelatine films has yet to be investigated. Therefore, the present study focuses on the properties of PVA/Gelatine/Olive seed powder composite films.
In this context, biodegradable composite films were developed using solvent casting by incorporating varying amounts of olive seed powder (0.5–2.0%) into a PVA/Gelatine matrix. This study examined the effect of olive seed powder incorporation on the colour, microstructure, mechanical, and structural characteristics of the films. FTIR analysis confirmed interactions between the olive seed powder and the polymer matrix. The addition of olive seed powder had little effect on the mechanical properties of the films. The elongation at break value of control film was 138.58 ± 24.31 %. It decreased to 108.91 ± 11.65 with 2% filler incorporation.
Furthermore, SEM analysis revealed that the olive seed powder enhanced the structural compatibility between PVA and gelatin. As the concentration of olive seed powder increased, the yellowness index of the films changed from 8.81 to 16.92. These findings suggest that PVA/Gelatin-based biodegradable composite films containing olive seed powder have potential applications as environmentally friendly packaging materials. This study will provide insights into minimizing plastic pollution and will also create new economic opportunities for the olive industry. The commercialization of the developed films will be a good choice to meet the consumer demand for sustainable products.
