Bioplastic packaging tackles recyclability and reuse challenges across industries

Scientists and commercial researchers are continuously discovering new natural polymers that can be turned into bioplastic packaging and replace conventional fossil-based polymers. 

This type of material is most often sought after for its natural degradation properties, which some see as a solution to packaging waste pollution. Packaging Insights looks at the packaging applications where bioplastics show the greatest potential, along with Ampacet, Sulapac, and Taghleef Industries. The packaging material suppliers also discuss their latest offerings and end-of-life goals. 

“The strongest opportunities for bioplastics are in applications where the product is likely to become contaminated with food or organic material during use, making conventional recycling more difficult or impractical,” François Thibeau, strategic business manager for Sustainability at Ampacet, tells us. 

The examples Thibeau highlights include carrier bags reused for organic waste, as well as bags made for waste and food-contact items. He also points to coffee capsules and tea bags, fresh produce stickers, and other types of packaging for organic waste collection. 

Federica Riccio, product manager specialist for Nativia at Taghleef, agrees that the strongest potential for bioplastic packaging is where conventional recycling struggles. She mentions that packaging contaminated with food and small formats often do not reach sorting lines. “The aim is to let converters keep their processes while changing the material.” 

Regulations are also playing a role in taking compostability “from a niche into a design requirement,” Riccio adds. “The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) points toward compostable packaging for specific formats, including fruit and vegetable stickers and coffee pods. Brand owners are also looking for credible alternatives to ‘unrecyclable by design’ formats.” 

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the Finnish Sulapac highlights the use of bioplastics for reusables. According to the company, such reusable packaging is gaining ground in the foodservice industry, also driven by the PPWR. 

“The bioplastics industry must work together to ensure that enough recycling facilities are equipped to process bioplastics before the PPWR’s ‘recyclability at scale’ deadline in 2035,” the spokesperson urges. 

Integrating with compostable polymers 

Thibeau says that Ampacet’s objective is not to replace conventional plastics with a bio-based material, but to provide masterbatch solutions that can be incorporated in compostable polymer systems while maintaining the required packaging functionality. 

“Ampacet’s BioRange+ solutions are designed for Starch/PBAT/PLA blends and PLA-based products, covering white, black, color, and additive requirements. This allows converters to achieve the required appearance and functionality while working with compostable substrates.” 

“The portfolio is certified according to the TÜV OK Compost Industrial scheme, helping converters develop compostable articles while meeting the requirements of the applicable certification route.” 

For applications designed for home composting, BioRange+ Home offers white and color masterbatches certified according to TÜV OK Compost Home. Thibeau says that the solutions are for use with home-compostable blends such as Starch/PBAT. 

“A key advantage is the combination of certified masterbatch solutions, application flexibility, and customization. Ampacet also offers custom-made solutions beyond the standard portfolio, supporting specific formulation and processing requirements.” 

Plug-and-play solutions 

Highlighting the importance of allowing packaging converters to maintain their existing processes, Taghleef’s Riccio points to the company’s Nativia portfolio of bio-based, biodegradable biaxially oriented films, designed for home compostability. 

“Nativia D822 is, to our knowledge, the world’s first biaxially oriented polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) film produced on an industrial scale. It is built PHA, a polymer synthesized by bacteria from renewable carbon-rich feedstocks,” she continues. “PHA biodegrades across environments, including compost, soil, and fresh and marine water.” 

The categories of Nativia’s portfolio include Essential (PLA and industrially compostable), Plus (PHA-based and designed to be home compostable), Premium (PLA, industrially compostable, and specifically designed for graphic arts), and Protect Essential and Protect Plus for high-barrier needs. 

“Nativia can be used on existing converting technologies as a monoweb, laminated with paper, or laminated with other compostable films. The range spans different aesthetic grades and technical features, including premium and luxury packaging, where brands want material credentials that match shelf appeal.” 

Historically, ensuring barrier protection has been a major hurdle for bioplastics, according to Taghleef. Riccio says that Nativia was designed with issues in mind. 

“The honest framing is that bioplastics do not replace every conventional film, but they replace specific applications, and we match each film to the application’s real requirements.” 

Reuse and personal care 

Sulapac spotlights its reusable foodservice packaging from bio-based plastic. The company spokesperson says that Sulapac Solid is a direct replacement for PP in cups and other food packaging used in HORECA settings. 

“It can be washed up to 300 times. It is durable and lightweight, and, unlike PP, it has a premium touch to it. It can be customized to match customers’ color palette, and it can be decorated by printing, embossing, or engraving.” 

“Sulapac Solid is gaining a lot of interest within the [foodservice] segment, as companies don’t want to go from renewable paper cups back to fossil-based plastic cups,” the spokesperson argues. “With Sulapac, they can fulfill PPWR requirements while promoting a circular bioeconomy.” 

For example, Hesburger, a Finnish fast-food chain operating in ten European countries, has begun a transition to bio-based reusables by introducing Sulapac Solid cups across 70 of its outlets in Lithuania. 

Another Sulapac material grade in high demand right now, according to the company, is Sulapac Flow 1.8 for use in cosmetic pencil barrels. “Beauty companies are actively seeking alternatives to ammonium laureth sulfate and polylactide. Sulapac Flow 1.8 provides a high-performing bio-based replacement.” 

“Neen is one of the many beauty brands that have already switched to bio-based and compostable Sulapac Flow 1.8 material for its cosmetic pencils suitable for sharpening.” 

End-of-life considerations 

Bioplastic industry players tout composting and recycling opportunities at end-of-life as key benefits of bioplastic packaging, in terms of environmental sustainability. Ampacet, Taghleef, and Sulapac highlight how they are aiming to ensure their packaging does not end up in landfills. 

End-of-life is central to the application of compostable plastics, according to Ampacet’s Thibeau. “Compostability is most relevant where products can be collected with organic waste and processed through an appropriate composting system, or where they are designed to end their life in domestic composting.” 

He says that Ampacet targets both possibilities with BioRange+ for industrial composting and BioRange+ Home, which can degrade in a domestic environment. 

“The solutions are designed to facilitate the certification of compostable articles under these schemes and help avoid lengthy and costly testing procedures.” 

Thibeau adds that effective end-of-life management also requires clear disposal labeling, consumer education, and separate collection of organic waste, alongside appropriate industrial composting infrastructure. 

Sulapac explains that after 300 use cycles, its bio-based reusable packaging is collected for regrinding and polymer-to-polymer recycled at Belgium’s TripleW facility. 

“The resulting lactic acid can be used in a range of applications. For example, in the personal or home care industry. It can also be turned back into food contact grade biopolymer resin, which can be used to produce new packaging.” 

Taghleef’s Riccio says that the lactic acid-based packaging can be designed for the route that matches how it is used and disposed of. “Compostable films are not a substitute for recycling, but they are the right answer where recycling is not realistic, such as food-contaminated packs. 

The company says it backs its claims with third-party certifications. Its Nativia BioPLA is recognized as industrially compostable by Din Certco’s EN 13432 and as bio-based by TÜV Austria. 

Further addressing recyclability, she explains that when Nativia films are laminated with paper, they give the pack properties it would not have on its own. “These are heat sealability and a barrier to mineral oils, without the need for conventional plastic coatings or films.” 

“The result is a paper-based pack designed to be recycled in the paper stream. We are replacing a layer that typically blocks paper recycling with one that does not.” 

Lastly, Riccio remarks that compostable packaging can only deliver its benefit when local rules and collection infrastructure allow it to be sent to organic waste. “We say this openly.”