100% Compostable packaging
- Posted on
- By Simone
This week, we're celebrating something BIG. Because from this week onwards, our new Coconut & Strawberry Porridge will be gracing the supermarket shelves in 100% compostable packaging.
It's our mission to enable every child to grow up healthy. To us, that also includes avoiding piles of plastic rubbish. So we've already spent years ensuring our packaging keeps getting more sustainable. Our first step was taken with the Coconut & Strawberry Porridge. Where are the trumpets?
What is that exactly? Compostable packaging?
A lot of packaging is made of plastic or cardboard. Plastic is made from petroleum, a fossil fuel. For a long time, there was no other option. Recycled plastics are often not suitable to package food. Because you can't trace whether those plastics have been wrapped around harmful materials.
Our new packaging is 100% compostable. This means you can throw it in your green waste bin. Within the EU, different criteria have been established. When a product has a 'OK compost' label, the packaging can be broken down in an industrial composting facility.
What is the packaging made of?
Compostable packaging is made of natural starches, such as corn. Only a small part of the plant is consumed. The rest can be turned into plastic that is safe for food packaging.
How should you dispose of it?
Unfortunately, it's not the case that you can just pop it into your compost bin at home and it'll just break down over a few weeks. This material requires industrial composting methods. It may sound complicated, but it basically means that the packaging, in the right humidity, temperature and environment, will break down into water, CO2 and a natural humus* within 6 months.
So when you finish the organic Coconut & Strawberry Porridge, you can throw the packaging in the green waste bin. It might take a little getting used to, a shiny wrapper like that in between the food scraps. But it's absolutely fine!
And... What happens next?
Not all of our packaging is compostable yet, but we're working very hard to leave the world of plastic behind us. We choose our supplier carefully and insist on sustainable packaging. We hope other companies will follow in our footsteps and packaging food in compostable materials will become the norm. Big changes begin with small steps. And that first step was made with our porridge, but now we just want to run.
*Source: NATIVIA – Biobased films
