Translations

TIPA, a compostable packaging which decomposes in 180 days like an apple

4. Environment

Green design

Sector Other

Year 2017

Country Israel

Transmitter

Context

Daphna Nissenbaum has cofounded Tipa after her son had asked her “what do plastic bottles become?”. She found she was not able to provide a satisfying answer to this question.

Our society is confronted to huge amounts of plastic waste, which are polluting our soils and waters and affecting biodiversity. A significant part of this plastic waste comes from packaging: plastic used for food and beverage packaging makes up two-thirds of the world’s plastic waste.

Objectives

Tipa’s mission is to design a packaging that :

Could be thrown away in nature like an apple.
Would have the same properties as plastic packaging (preserve the produce in accordance with food standards).
Would be adapted to the manufacturing processes.

APPROACH

It took between 2 and 3 years for Tipa to develop the first generation of biodegradable “plastic”. Now the company is focusing on the next generation. Tipa will first address its product to the flexible packaging market, which represents about 91 Billion Dollars a year.

The success of Tipa is due to its capacity to develop a packaging that would naturally decompose itself within 180 days, turning into a soil fertilizer just like an orange peel. With Tipa, flexible packaging can be part of our compost !

TIPA’s bio-plastic currently comprise standalone and printed coextruded high-transparent cast films, which are sealable and printable and typically used for the packaging of fresh produce, bakery and grain-mill products.TIPA has protected its innovation with a range of a worldwide pattern. Intellectual Property is currently representing the whole of the company’s assets.In addition, its transparent and non-transparent laminate series is offered for a variety of food segment applications such as stand-up pouches, granola bars, potato chips and other snacks, grains and dried foods and vitamins capsules, as well as a range of non-food packaging applications including apparel, bags and pillow packs.Even though the price is 2 to 3 times more than the price of a classic plastic packaging, it should not impact the total price for sophisticated products such as snacks. For such products, the cost of packaging remains low compared to the cost of the final product. Moreover, with the company’s development, economy of scales will reduce drastically the price of the product.

CONTRIBUTION TO COMPANY PERFORMANCE

A revolutionary patented innovation, insuring Tipa with a monopolistic position and thus a fast growing business.
Several national regulations are going toward a complete ban of plastic in packaging or heavy taxation to compensate for externalities caused to the environment. This should increase drastically the competitiveness of TIPA’s products.