Meet the Polish designer making plastic-free packaging you can eat

Polish designer Roza Janusz isn’t just cutting back on plastic: she’s created a new zero-waste packaging that can even be eaten along with your meal.

Janusz creates the edible packets called Scobies by mixing fermented bacteria and yeast to create a lightweight membrane. The organic layer can then be sealed up and used to store seeds, nuts or salads.

Developed as part of her graduate project at Poznan’s School of Form, Janusz says she was inspired by modern, industrial-scale farms.

“Plants are subjected to standardisation tests just like objects. Farmers are more and more like engineers and farms are becoming factories,” she says. “So, is it possible to grow mass-produced objects too?”

Janusz is now working with biotechnicians to ensure that scoby packaging doesn’t react with stored food, as well as looking at other uses for the technology.

“Scoby isn’t just packaging,” she says. “It also creates a valuable byproduct, which can be used as a fertiliser or a probiotic drink depending on the concentration. It may be that packaging will soon no longer harm the environment, but even enrich it.”