A revolution in green packaging is being launched from a head office in Altona, as leading British retailer Marks & Spencer has announced that this Christmas its entire Swiss chocolate range will be sold in an innovative Australian company’s biodegradable plastic trays.
Plantic Technologies’ cutting-edge bioplastic, also called plantic, is made from starch and is not only 100 per cent compostable but also completely dissolves in running water.
It’s a pretty neat trick, which has enabled the company founded in 2003 to open sales offices in Germany, Britain and the US, and employ about 50 people worldwide. The global biodegradable plastic packaging market it wants a slice of is estimated by British analyst Visiongain to be worth $US1.6 billion this year.
Helen Roberts, head of packaging at Marks & Spencer, says: ”This is a fantastic step forward for food packaging. We know our customers really want to be responsible, and using plantic means they can enjoy a delicious box of chocolates without the worry of what to do with the leftover tray - they can just throw it on their compost heap.”
The global financial crisis gave the plastics industry a buffeting, and with oil prices falling, plastic prices halving and the market shrinking, Plantic’s share price on London’s tech-oriented AIM exchange plummeted.
Shareholders will meet in Melbourne on Wednesday to consider an offer from Billabong founder and BRW rich-lister Gordon Merchant to take Plantic private through a scheme of arrangement. Merchant is offering 8 pence (A13¢) a share, compared with Plantic’s recent closing price of 7 pence. The shares have been worth as much as 80 pence but have been falling for some time.
The deal will cost Merchant about $A10 million. Plantic’s proprietary technology produces a completely biodegradable and organic alternative to conventional plastics based on old-fashioned corn, not the genetically modified varieties.
Unlike other bioplastics companies, which combine organic materials with polymers developed in refineries, Plantic’s polymer, as well as its raw material, are grown in a field. Its bioplastic products have a range of uses and cost advantages, as well as the long-term environmental and sustainability benefits.
”It’s been a challenging period, as most companies in the industry have found,” says Plantic chief executive Brendan Morris. ”It’s good to see a company like Marks & Spencer taking the lead.”
Plantic’s technology, which involves the use of industrial starch with film-forming properties, was developed from research into plastics by an Australian federal government-funded research group, the Co-operative Research Centre for International Food Manufacture and Packaging Science, involving experts at Swinburne University, the University of Queensland and the CSIRO.
Morris says the research was built on Australia’s ability to add value to agricultural crops. ”We don’t take the whole crop,” he says.
”When our starch is produced we take a portion: another portion goes to animal feed; another to compost or fertiliser, so the whole crop is used. There’s no waste.”
The fact that the strain of corn used is non-genetically modified has been a big plus in the European market, while the company has also recently expanded its US presence, signing an exclusive distribution deal with Klockner Pentaplast, which is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of rigid plastics.
Marks & Spencer first tested out plantic in 2007, and plans to use it for another Christmas favourite this year, its mince pies.
Helen Roberts says: ”This is not only better for the environment but also for our customers, who can now enjoy a box of guilt-free chocolates - they just have to resist eating them all at once.”
