Bio-packaging and compostable cellulose film for baking powder – Biovegan takes a new route away from plastic.

The company Biovegan from Bonefeld in the district Neuwied, produces baking ingredients, baking mixes, sauces and desserts. Now Biovegan has developed the first compostable packaging for their baking powder. The Thinking Circular team is delighted to accompany Biovegan on its journey towards Circular Packaging.

What is the goal? With the new packaging, which consists of renewable and compostable raw materials, Biovegan wants to make a contributionto our planet by reducing plastic use. The entire packaging – both primary product packaging and the transparent film used to bundle individual packages – is compostable and decomposes into CO2, water and new biomass on a compost process. Thus, theoretically, it can be disposed of on the compost or in the brown bin. In practice, it requires customer cooperation, improvement of the existing composting plants and proper adaptation of legislation. At moment, compostable packaging with labels or inscriptions should not put into circulation or end up in compost. This is because of the past experience of the Federal council with packaging films that actually did not decompose fast enough. Biovegan also wants to meet these challenges and needs the help of its customers.

Three times as expensive as normal packaging

Biovegan was searching for a long time to find a suitable producer for the transparent film. For most people, the quantity was too small and the development seems too expensive. Finally, a film manufacturer from Scandinavia was found, with whom Biovegan developed the product together. Even the individual baking sachets are no more coated with plastic, as was the case in the past and so that, they are now compostable. Nicol and Matthias A. Gärtner, managing partner and managing director of the innovative Family business are proud of this new developmental path. Although as a resultof the packaging cost triples, with millions of sachets of baking powder sold per year, a lot of plastic waste can be prevented.

Goal: Compostable packaging for all products

The new goal makes the product more expensive, which cannot be avoided. But Biovegan is convinced of the new packaging concept and will gradually convert the packaging of all 120 products it offers. They started a survey on new packaging  in order not to lose the needs of the end consumer.

The necessary developments for packaging material that meets the many requirements for food products such as hygiene, oxygen or light permeability, prevention of taste and odour or moisture entry, will take time. The courage to leave the well-existingpath to seriously deal with the problem of plastic waste in of our environment, Biovegan has proven with this first step.