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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® 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.”

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.

Admirable Design interviews TIPA’s Sales Director in France, Jean Pierre Rakoutz about low recycling rates of flexible packaging in France, viable solutions for packaging in France, and how compostable technology and TIPA compostable packaging works with–not against–current standards in the plastics industry to create a more sustainable future for packaging.

“The younger generation is calling for the packaging industry to rethink its relationship with flexible packaging, which most of the time isn’t even recyclable, let alone compostable,” says Merav Koren, VP of marketing at TIPA. “Our own research shows 49% of Gen Z and 50% of millennials in the UK believe retailers are responsible for reducing plastic waste to benefit the environment. In addition, when considering the use of compostable packaging – which decomposes leaving zero trace in the environment – as opposed to recyclable packaging which ends up as plastic waste, 34% of Gen Z and 35% of millennials say they think compostable packaging is under-utilised by brands.”

“At the moment politicians are under a lot of pressure from the fossil fuel industry that is losing money every day to setback regulation on single-use plastic under the excuse of fighting the virus. However, we cannot try to solve one problem by creating another. We would like to encourage decision-makers to ask why do we need to revert the ban on items such as straws, plastic cotton buds and stirrers, what purpose does it serve in the fight against the virus?” asks Julia Vol, Director of Public Affairs at TIPA.

Radio Village Innovation and Jean-Pierre Rakoutz discuss compostable plastic packaging as a 100% ecological solution (French).

Growing up in a city close to Tel Aviv in Israel, Daphna Nissenbaum describes how she started to become aware of our impact on the environment from reading and seeing it on the news, an awareness that grew with time. In an interview with sustainable Swedish design house, Kovac Family, Daphna talks about what inspired the innovation behind TIPA’s compostable packaging, and what inspires her every day to fight for the future of global ecosystems.

Daphna Nissenbaum, CEO and co-founder TIPA® Compostable Packaging, Sian Sutherland, co-founder of A Plastic Planet, and David Newman, Managing Director of BBIA (Bio-based and biodegradable Industries Association) sit down with John Higginson of Higginson Strategy to talk about what leaders and activists can learn about taking care of the environment from world reactions to COVID-19.