Title: Eco-friendly flagging tape

Authors: Rachel Cordeiro; João Meneses; Fernando Dourado; Paula Pascoal-Faria; Carla Moura; Nuno Alves

Addresses: Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development, Polytechnic of Leiria, Leiria, 2430-028, Marinha Grande, Portugal ' Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development, Polytechnic of Leiria, Leiria, 2430-028, Marinha Grande, Portugal ' Centre of Biological Engineering, University of Minho, Campus de Gualtar, 4710-057, Braga, Portugal ' Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development, Polytechnic of Leiria, Leiria, 2430-028, Marinha Grande, Portugal; ESTG, Polytechnic of Leiria, Leiria, 2411-901, Leiria, Portugal ' Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development, Polytechnic of Leiria, Leiria, 2430-028, Marinha Grande, Portugal ' Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development, Polytechnic of Leiria, Leiria, 2430-028, Marinha Grande, Portugal

Abstract: One of the problems of using commercial flagging tapes is that they are produced with non-degradable plastic and remain in the environment for long periods. To find a solution, an eco-friendly flagging tape was developed. Bacterial cellulose (BC) was used to produce a cellulose-based film and it was hypothesised that coating the tapes with a polymer would improve their resistance. So, two natural polymers (chitosan and hyaluronic acid) were used to coat the BC tapes. The wet BC was also stained with natural pigments extracted from carrot and spinach. Mechanical testing showed that uncoated BC tapes have similar resistance to hyaluronic acid coated tape. However, the chitosan-coated tapes and the tapes pigmented with the selected pigments showed a decrease in mechanical resistance. Biodegradability tests showed that the uncoated BC tape and BC tape coated with chitosan or hyaluronic acid did not fully degrade within three months.

Keywords: bacterial cellulose; flagging tape; sustainable; foot-print; environment; hyaluronic acid; chitosan.

DOI: 10.1504/WRSTSD.2023.133886

World Review of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, 2023 Vol.19 No.4, pp.301 - 313

Received: 30 Dec 2020
Accepted: 15 Mar 2021
Published online: 05 Oct 2023 *

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