Kansas City, Mo.-headquartered BIOLO announced on Sept. 29 that it is the first company to successfully use PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) technology to manufacture eco-friendly bags that biodegrade in soil, freshwater and marine environments.
The flexible packaging company is successfully using PHA technology to also manufacture compostable straws, which a handful of companies around the globe are also doing, though BIOLO says its packaging solutions have “a breadth of biodegradability” that other eco-friendly packaging solutions don’t have.
According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the National Institutes of Health, the consistent accumulation of conventional synthetic plastic in the environment highlights an urgent need to replace it with biodegradable plastics, and PHA is the most promising solution to this major ecological problem.
PHA is a renewable plant-based plastic alternative that is TÜV-certified for soil and marine biodegradation, as well as home and industrial composting. When PHA enters a bioactive environment where live microbes are present — like in a home composting bin, a landfill, or a body of water — the biodegradation process begins as the microbes entirely break down the PHA product for fuel.
“Other existing plastic-alternative packaging products do not entirely fulfill the needs of companies looking to reduce single-use plastics,” according to a BIOLO statement. “Some alternatives are too weak to withstand the same use conditions as traditional plastics; other options are not forthright about end-of-life cycles.”
For example, PLA (polylactic acid), a plastic alternative used over the past decade, is only certified for industrial composting, meaning it can only be fully biodegraded when sent to special industrial composting facilities that aren’t readily available to the public.
To help fight the global climate crisis, many companies have established sustainability goals designed to reduce and, eventually, eliminate their use of single-use plastics. BIOLO says its plant-based packaging delivers the same, or better, performance than petroleum-based plastic packaging to help them meet such goals.
BIOLO’s product and mailer bags are available in stock or custom options and have been used in e-commerce, apparel, food, retail, food service and other applications, according to the company.