Danimer, TotalEnergies Corbion develop home compostable coffee pod material
On April 17, Danimer Scientific, Inc., TotalEnergies Corbion announced that it has developed a new compostable coffee pod biopolymer that complies with proposed EU packaging regulations.
The European Union recently announced a proposal to require plastic packaging such as tea bags, coffee pods, very lightweight plastic bags and sticky labels for fruit and vegetables to be compostable. Danimer and TotalEnergies Corbion's new formulation contains a blend of Danimer's signature polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Nodax® and TotalEnergies Corbion's Luminy® High Heat Poly-Lacacid (PLA) material, which has been tested for biodegradability and Certified by TUV as home compostable. Currently, many European companies are testing it in the market.
Danimer estimates that in the European market, 550 million pounds (about 250,000 tons) of plastic are used to make single-use coffee pods every year.
Scott Tuten, Danmer Scientific Chief Marketing and Sustainability Officer, said: “Since we started working with TotalEnergies Corbion several years ago, we have focused on blending PHA and PLA to meet the specific functional needs of our customers for various applications.” "We support the new regulations proposed by the European Union as a necessary first step in tackling plastic waste and we are delighted to offer our compostable coffee pod biopolymer as an example of how the technology behind bioplastics is developing to Meeting the needs of manufacturers, regulators and consumers as the world moves toward a cleaner, more responsible future."
Thomas Philipon, CEO of TotalEnergies Corbion, said: "We are excited about the potential of compostable bioplastics to provide an environmentally friendly alternative to single-use petrochemical plastics, and we hope that the coffee pod biopolymer we have developed in partnership with danmer Scientific It will be the first of many collaborations to come."
