Biodegradable Packaging

Looking to reduce your company’s footprint with more eco friendly packaging? We offer several biodegradable packaging options! There is a lot of hype about Biodegradable packaging, and many companies are trying to sell the sizzle, but many products are not as biodegradable as you might believe. We believe our customers should have the most knowledge possible when making purchasing decision, so we’ll cover some of the basics, and our available options!

Biodegradable vs. Barrier

Barrier packaging is protects the contents from the migration of moisture and oxygen, maintaining freshness, and extending shelf life. The original barrier package was the tin can. In recent years a number of lower cost alternatives have developed. Considerations when deciding on barrier packaging include:

Is the product consumed immediately, or very quickly, or does it sit on a shelf?
Does the product contain preservatives or naturally have a long shelf due to its composition?
Is the product susceptible to desiccation (drying out)?
Do you need extended shelf life, or is the freshness of the product important?

Common examples of products that do not require barrier packaging are fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh bread and bakery items. Most consumer products require some barrier packaging to ensure they do not go stale, and have a extended shelf life.

Developing biodegradable packaging for single use applications like straws, cups, and fresh products is easier than developing it for barrier packaging applications. Technology has come a long way since the early days, and there are several options now for biodegradable barrier packaging Here are a few of our biodegradable options:

Cellulose and Bioplastics Based Barrier Materials

We offer both Paper and bio-based plastic barrier. Bio-based plastics come from corn starch cassava roots, sugarcane and other plant based sources.

Material Code	Name	Description	MOQ	Printable	BioBased	Compostable	Biodegrable	Recycle
5001	BioKraft	Kraft/PLA	5,000pcs	Yes	Y	Y	Y	N
5002	BioClear	PLA	25,000pcs	Yes	Y	Y	Y	N
5003	NatureFlex NKR	Coated Transparent Cellulose	50,000pcs	Yes	Y	Y	Y	N
5004	Mitsubishi BioPBS	Cellulose / PBS	100,000pcs	Yes	Y	Y	Y	N
5005	Recycle-ready	PBS/PCL	25,000pcs	Yes	N	N	N	Y

Biodegradable packaging vs compostable

A material biodegrades if it can be decomposed or broken down by bacteria and other microorganisms. The biodegradable packaging breaks down into naturally occuring base substances like C02, CH4, and resulting biomass. Generally this also means that material is organic in origin. (We’re not going about farming techniques here). Well guess what, oil is organic in origin, so even some products made of oil technically biodegrade, its just that the time it takes do so is extremely long (like hundreds of years). So in the meantime all that packaging made of oil based plastics just hangs around, leaving us with two options. Recycle it, or find some new way to speed up the process.

Biodegrading is dependent on ambient conditions such as temperature, oxygen, water, and the presence of microorganisms.

Compostable means that it can break down (aka compost) in composting conditions and there are different standards for composting depending if it is industrial composting or home composting. Some products are biodegradable but won’t turn into soil in a reasonable amount of time. In the packaging industry there is a push to describe the “level” or “percentage” of how biodegradable the biodegradable packaging is. You’ll see 60%, 80%, 30%. The obvious goal ultimately is 100%, but that is hard to achieve and can be costly, as we will see.