We are literally drowning in one Sea of plastic. While efforts are being made to reduce reliance on single-use plastic, scalable solutions at a comparable price are needed. But now the British company Bpacks has found a way forward with sustainable packaging made from bark.
Bpacks is a circular economy startup that has developed the world's first bark packaging technology that can be easily integrated into existing production processes. Bark-based materials are fully compatible with current plastic packaging production equipment, facilitating the transition to eco-packaging.
The startup produces packaging that is 100 percent bio-based, with up to 75 percent of the materials coming from production waste.
I spoke to Lev Bolshakov, co-founder and COO of Bpacks, and Aleksandra Nešić. For more information, see Head of Innovations.
Nešić explained that Bpacks' 300 square meter research and development center, based in Belgrade, Serbia, enables the production of both ready-made packaging and granules to replace plastic pellets.
The manufacturing process of the bark-based pellets is very similar to that of polymers and does not require any capital investment to start molding as the manufacturing process is the same as that of plastic production.
The production process of Bpacks begins with compounding, followed by the production of pellets or plates and ends with the casting of solid packages, which is done either through injection molding or thermoforming techniques. The material should completely decompose in moist soil within one to two months.
Today, the most common biodegradable polymers such as PLA (polylactic acid) and PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) are made from carbohydrate-rich plants such as corn and sugarcane. Plants are typically grown and harvested specifically as raw materials for bioplastic products.
This diverts land and resources such as soil and water from plants' food production. Additionally, corn plastic will only degrade in a commercial composting facility in a hot and humid environment, and sugarcane bioplastics are not fully biodegradable and compostable.
In comparison, bark-based material in an active environment turns into compost within a week, enriching the compost with valuable nutrients.
In addition, by using bark, a by-product of wood production, as the main raw material, Bpacks ensures that forest resources are not placed under even greater strain.
With estimated bark production levels between 300 and 400 million m3 annually, the startup uses this abundant resource to develop environmentally friendly packaging solutions.
Additionally, studies have highlighted the antimicrobial potential of bark extracts from various tree species. These extracts improve the functionality of Bpacks technology, which produces up to six times less CO2 emissions than traditional plastic production methods.
As a by-product, forest waste is also used by start-ups for production natural biochemicalsbased on cellulose cellulose, edible fats and oils. Its status as a living ingredient also means, according to Nešić, that it has the potential to extend the life of the products it packages.
The company has attracted interest from plastic-polymer packaging manufacturers The aim of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive is to make the packaging used in the EU safer and more sustainable by requiring all packaging to be recyclable, minimizing the presence of harmful substances, reducing unnecessary packaging, encouraging the inclusion of recycled content and collection and recycling can be improved.
The agreement sets packaging reduction targets (5 percent by 2030, 10 percent by 2035 and 15 percent by 2040) and obliges EU countries to reduce the amount of plastic packaging waste in particular.
The company is currently working on patenting its technology. According to Bolshakov:
“Once we complete our patent, we plan to increase our commercial efforts by expanding our production line. This creates the opportunity to white label the technology to plastics manufacturers or expand Bpack’s own facilities.”
Main image: Bpacks. Photo: uncredited.
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