Bioplastic “Mater-Bi” from Novamont (Novara / Italy; www.novamont.com) has been selected for a new eco-package for frozen wild berries. The package, developed by Novamont’s partner and international paper manufacturer Iggesund Paperboard (Iggesund / Sweden; www.iggesund.com) and printer Trosa Tryckeri (Trosa / Sweden; www.trosatryckeri.se) is made from “Invercote Bio” and extrusion coated with “Mater-Bi”, meaning it can be disposed with organic waste and sent for composting and anaerobic digestion. Novamont says this significantly reduces the packaging’s environmental impact compared with PE coatings of traditional packages. Mater-Bi is completely biodegradable and compostable.

Jonas Adler, Invercote Bio business development manager for Iggesund Paperboard, said: “The challenge was to find a material that could be extruded with good results and to identify an adhesive that performed well during production and also when exposed to challenging conditions in refrigerators.” He added that Mater-Bi was chosen because of Novamont’s “unrivalled capacity for innovation” and because the bioplastic contains no GMO corn starch.

Novamont has 323 employees and recorded a turnover of EUR 135m in 2012.