Compostable packaging solution to plastic problem

Posted by AFN Staff Writers on 16th July 2018

AS Australia wrestles with plastic waste, lurching with the supermarkets’ ban on single-use bags, are we abandoning progress with compostable packaging?

Simply removing single-use plastic bags in isolation is not going to save the environment, and there’s complicating factors in the transformation undermining net environmental gain. See our story.

We’ve also discovered that Australia relative some other countries is a way behind in our response to plastic.

It’s important at this point to know that there’s plastic and there’s plastic – there’s biodegradable compostable bioplastics and conventional plastics.

This week in our series on plastic, we talk to Tipa packaging a fast-growing Israeli company delivering compostable packaging solutions around the world.

Company spokesman Merav Koren answered our questions.

Do the TIPA bioplastic solutions use any petrochemicals?

TIPA’s solutions are fully compostable abiding by international standards. TIPA proprietary blends consist of various compostable polymers with different degrees of plant-based content. Our packaging solutions range from 40% to over 60% plant-based resources. We do not use any conventional plastic polymers but only compostable polymers

What products are household compostable and what products are industrial compostable?

TIPA offers a wide range of packaging solutions. Some of our products like our zipper bags, fresh produce bags, apparel packaging are home compostable. Other solutions like our stand-up pouches are certified as industrially compostable and are tested also for home composting (even though no official standard exist for home composting in Europe or the USA)

What periods for each type of biodegradability?

International standards for industrially compostable material allow for a six-month period for the materials to biodegrade. In practice, our materials will break down faster than 180 days. As for home composting, as stated above there are no official standards yet for home compostable materials. Some local standards developed by independent parties in Europe (TUV Austria, Din Certco) allow for a home compostable material to biodegrade within one year. Here again, our materials will biodegrade faster than the maximum period as allowed in the standard.

What are the results of compost using this technology?

A compostable material is such that will biodegrade into water, CO2 and organic mass. All three components liquid (water), gas (Co2) and solids (organic mass) serve as a nutrient for the soil.

What percentages or volumes do the products potentially cover in the market?

Demand for a compostable flexible solution is rising rapidly in Europe and the US, especially since early 2018, in conjunction with China’s ban on imports of plastic waste and the massive public awareness to the plastic in the oceans.

TIPA is already a market leader in the various categories it serves today such as fresh produce packaging, stand up pouches, lidding films for meat packaging, coffee grains bags etc. We expect to continue to be a market leader in all the categories where we operate due to the superior technology TIPA offers, along with other business benefits it offers its customers.