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According to the World Economic Forum, over four decades after the recycling symbol was first launched on packaging, only 5% of plastic is actually recycled. “It’s a system that we have been working on for years, and years, and years now. And those are those are the rates that the world has achieved. So obviously, that doesn’t work,” says Daphna Nissenbaum, CEO and co-founder of TIPA.

Daphna Nissenbaum, CEO and co-founder of TIPA Corp joins Mike Thaman, CEO of UBQ at Collision at Home’s panel “Innovative Materials” to discuss how they aim to revolutionize the packaging market with innovative materials and major systems changes for waste infrastructure, and how companies, cities, and governments can work together to ensure the measures that have been taken during COVID-19 can be adapted to help achieve sustainability and climate goals on a global level.

Emballage Digest Magazine’s special feature about compostable and paper alternatives to plastic packaging discusses how in addition to single-material plastic solutions, paper and compostable materials are gaining ground in the food pouch segment. In an interview with the magazine, Jean-Pierre Rakoutz, TIPA’s sales director in France, says “our approach is complementary to recycling. In France, the recycling rate for flexible packaging is only 4%, so there is a real gap. Our goal is to be able to certify as household compost more of our complex films, which are currently industrially compostable.”

Waqas Qureshi, of Packaging News, hears from seven compostable and biodegradable packaging suppliers. Says Daphna Nissenbaum, CEO and co-founder of TIPA Compostable Packaging, “The demand for compostable flexible packaging is growing rapidly. Right now, we’re seeing brands with a sustainable ethos embracing the shift to plastic-free packaging and I think we’ll see a more diverse group of brands looking to switch in the next few years. In the last year we’ve expanded into new regions for fashion and food packaging, and we’re excited to continue growing.”

After several years of R&D, the Israeli startup Tipa Corp has succeeded in removing technological barriers to develop biodegradable and compostable monolayer and multilayer (complexed) products, combining properties identical to standard plastic products on the market. The company is also working to maximize the bio-based origin of products. Today, the latter is between 20 and 80%. “Even if we seek to optimize this sourcing of natural origin, we put priority on the end of life, therefore the compostability, and the maintenance of all the technical properties expected by the market”,we explain at Tipa. Currently, the films are produced by two partners, in Germany and Italy, while an agreement is under discussion with an additional production partner in France, to get closer to the user markets.

Specializing in frozen products from organic farming such as fruits and vegetables, but also meats, ready meals and artisanal ice cream thus stamped, Aquibio takes the step of compostable packaging with Tipa. The manufacturer has opted for a plastic bag suitable for home composting for its ranges of frozen fruits, vegetables and mushrooms. According to the company, the material was, in its category, the first flexible packaging to be able to offer guarantees of transparency and solidity comparable to those of its previous packaging.

“…TIPA® really began after a deeper investigation into the needs in the world, and the status with packaging and plastic, from which I understood two things. One, there were no materials available on the market that would do what I wanted to do, so we had to invent a material. The second thing was that the main problem of the industry is not plastic bottles—because they are possibly the only product that can be successfully recycled on a large scale—but the vast majority of other packaging, like flexible packaging, which cannot be recycled.”

“TIPA® focuses on packaging solutions mainly for the food and fashion industries, which require a high level of expertise. Food and fashion packaging must accommodate client branding, aggressive supply chains, shelf life, and be suited to consumer behavior. We developed compostable flexible packaging solutions that imitate the transparency, durability, shelf-life, and flexibility of conventional plastic but, after use, return to nature. It enables brands to replace their conventional plastic packaging with fully compostable solutions.”

Israel 360 talk with Daphna Nissenbaum, CEO and Founder of TIPA Corp, about the environment, what makes something compostable, and how consumers can advocate for more environmentally friendly options for packaging. Listen to the podcast in full here.

This is an opportunity for start-ups like Tipa, which produces a 100% compostable plastic film, to position itself as an alternative. “We’ve seen a strong comeback in repackaging. We really have to ask ourselves the question of the end of life of this waste,” points out Jean-Pierre Rakoutz, sales director at Tipa, while the law for the circular economy will have to impose on all conurbations to develop industrial composting channels.