Avantium joins forces with Tereos and LVMH to scale up plant-based packaging

Avantium has signed a memorandum of understanding with Tereos, a sugar, starch, alcohol, and bioethanol production company, and Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH) to accelerate the industrial-scale production of Avantium’s polyethylene furanoate, releaf.

Releaf is made from plant-based feedstocks. It has multiple applications across the F&B and cosmetics packaging industry.

Tom van Aken, CEO at Avantium, says: “This partnership with LVMH and Tereos is an exciting step in our journey to bring releaf to market at scale. It builds on our successful collaboration and reflects a shared commitment to accelerating the transition to renewable materials.”

The companies involved are part of a European consortium that aims to build Europe’s first industrial-scale bioplastic facility, based on Avantium’s proprietary YXY technology.

Olivier Leducq, CEO at Tereos, adds: “We are proud to strengthen our collaboration with LVMH and Avantium. Tereos has made strong commitments for regenerative agriculture and decarbonization from the field to finished products, which are reflected in our Cultivate Net Zero customer offer.”

Scaling plant-based technology

The Tereos cooperative group is a union of 10,300 members. It researches the processing and chemical nature of sugar beet, sugarcane, cereals, and alfalfa. It operates 38 industrial sites in 14 countries and has around 15,600 employees.

Avantium’s technology converts plant-based feedstock into furandicarboxylic acid-based polymers, like releaf, which can be used in packaging solutions. 

Claude Martinez, president and CEO at LVMH Gaïa, says: “LVMH Gaïa was created to bring science and innovation at the service of sustainability across the LVMH Group. Our partnership with Avantium has already demonstrated the potential of renewable materials in luxury packaging.”

“With this new step, we reinforce our Life 360 environmental program, in particular our ambition to eliminate fossil-based plastics from packaging, while maintaining the highest standards of performance and aesthetics.”

Recently, Avantium’s PET/PEF multilayer bottle was found to be fully compatible with PET recycling streams following a RecyClass evaluation, the European non-profit initiative dedicated to advancing plastics circularity.

Meanwhile, the bioplastics company supplied Dutch companies Royal Hordijk, a plastic producer, and Hoogesteger, a juice company, with its releaf polymers.