Our material guide
Materials used

Below you will find an overview of the materials used in our packaging. Click on the material that interests you and discover even more info.

Discover our green bio materials that are plant-based and compostable or made from recycled raw materials. You will also find the properties of the classic standard materials for our packaging in this material guide.

Green materials

Standard materials

More info on green materials

Palm leaf

Our aesthetic and high-quality palm leaf material is thé example of how people can live from nature and how to handle it responsibly.

Our Bio Pack palm leaf disposables are made from leaves of the "Areca" palm, of which hundreds of millions are growing in India. This unique tree continuously produces leaves during its growth period. It is a tree as high as 25 meters and the fruit (betel nut) is harvested and used. The leaves can grow up to 2 meters and fall off the tree 4 to 7 times a year. Until now, leaves had been considered a useless by-product and were burned.

Only after the leaves of the betel palm dry up and fall to the ground themselves are they collected and transformed into the stylish disposables. A stylish leaf from the book of nature!

The benefits of palm leaf in a nutshell:

  •  Eco-friendly material
  • From residual product to raw material
  • Fair-trade production directly at the source
  • Natural and chemical-free
  • 100% compostable
  •  Food safe and oil & water resistant
  • Safe in oven (up to 220°C) & microwave (up to 3 minutes)

Sugarcane

Our craving for sweetness has a positive side effect: the sugar cane juicing process produces large quantities of residual fibres, bagasse.

Sugar cane is the future as one of the most economically important plants in the world. It is grown in Brazil, China and India and more and more plantations in Africa and Thailand. Sugar cane is a strong crop, can tolerate some drought and offers strong resistance to diseases. After harvesting (at least 3 times a year) the stem is cut just above the ground. The plant then continues to grow and must only be replaced after 10 years. This harvesting method is therefore also environmentally friendly and sustainable.
The harvested sugar cane is processed in a sugar factory by squeezing the juice. The remaining stem residues, bagasse, were historically simply burned on the field and this caused pollution.

This biomass is now recovered to make stylish sugar cane plates, trays and bowls. Sugar cane disposables are offered in 2 colours: white and natural (unbleached). Tableware made from sugar cane is lightweigt, yet very robust. It is suitable for cold and hot meals and can be used in microwave, oven and freezer.

An optional bio-lamination, as applied in our range of sealable menu trays, provides an even more effective grease and water barrier. This makes it possible for ready meals to be packaged in our menu trays for several days.

The major advantages of sugar cane disposables:

  • Made from a residual flow of the sugar cane production

  • 100% compostable (certified EN 13432)

  • Very robust and stackable

  • Broad temperature range:
       o Freezer -25°C
       o Oven 220°C during 30 minutes
       o Microwave 800W during 10 minutes

Without using an industrial composting installation, bagasse disposables are biodegradable within 90 days in a compost heap. Depending on the composting conditions, such as temperature, humidity and particle size, composting will be even faster.


PLA - Lactic acid as an alternative to petroleum

Lactic acid not only sounds tastier than petroleum, it is also better for nature. PLA (polylactic acid), a bioplastic made from lactic acid, is 100% natural and thus the ideal alternative to polyethylenes dependent on mineral oil.

The lactic acid used in their manufacture is gained through the fermentation of carbohydrates. The starch we use for this purpose comes from renewable and organic resources such as manioc, maize and sugar cane. Since only harvests that have been rejected for human consumption are used, PLA is not a competition for the food chain. It will soon be possible to produce PLA from starches obtained entirely from natural resiudal materials.

PLA is transparent, sturdy and shatterproof. PLA can be moulded into almost any shape and also used as film. They are also lighter than comparable products made of conventional materials.
PLA is very similar to conventional plastic, but is more sensitive to heat, which speeds up the composting process. Disposables made of PLA are suitable for cold applications up to 40°C.
The products have been tested and certified to the EN 13432 standard. This means that they can be converted into high-quality compost in an industrial composting installation within 12 weeks.

The major advantages of PLA disposables:

  • Made from vegetable raw materials

  • 100% compostable (EN 13432 certified)

  • Transparent and shiny

  •  Suitable for cold drinks and food (up to 40°C)


CPLA - Crystallising out the benefits

Sometimes a perfect product can be turned into an even more perfect product by crystallising out further benefits. This is the case with polylactic acid (PLA), which is the raw material for CPLA (crystallised polylactic acid).

The disposable tableware made from PLA consists entirely of fast-growing raw materials. PLA has just one disadvantage: it cannot withstand high temperature. A special process converts PLA into CPLA. As the raw material crystallises, the colour turns milky and the material becomes rigid and heat resistant to 85°C.
CPLA products from Bio Pack are made of pure PLA – no mixed compounds are used. In other words, it’s an absolutely pure natural product.

The major advantages of CPLA disposables:

  • Made from vegetable raw materials

  • 100% compostable (EN 13432 certified)

  • Very stury material

  • Heat resistant (up to 85°C)


Paper & paperboard, cellulose & wood

Most of our cardboard, paper and cellulose comes from FSC® forests. This certification guarantees that the forests are sustainably managed. Cellulose is the raw material used for the Bio Pack range of cardboard products.

An additional PLA layer, such as that used in our paper cups, also makes the product heat and moisture resistant. They are custom-printable and available in different sizes for a wide range of purposes.

Without forests, we’d soon run out of breath. That’s why we’re well advised to rely on the FSC® certificate for a lot of our tree-based products.

Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) is an international, independent, non-profit organization that makes up guidelines and criteria for forestry worldwide. These are then used to develop standards for global forest management. FSC® ensures that products come from a well-managed forest that offers ecological, social and economic benefits.

Tree products from responsible forest management


Paperwise - Tree free cardboard

Every minute, trees covering an area the size of 20 football pitches are cut down to produce paper and cardboard. But there is another option: the crops we grow for food also have many inedible parts such as stems and leaves. Up until now, these by-products have been burned or left to rot.

Yet agricultural waste is an excellent raw material for the production of cardboard paper. PaperWise reuses these valuable resources: agricultural waste that would otherwise be thrown away and thus completely lost.

PaperWise is a new raw material from the naturesse® brand. PaperWise stands for the procedure by which high-quality cardboard is made out of cellulose from residual materials. The entire PaperWise take away range was produced from natural residual materials from the field, without having to fell a single tree! It goes without saying that the range does not even need FSC® certification to proof how sustainable it is.

PLA is transparent, sturdy and shatterproof. PLA can be moulded into almost any shape and also used as film. They are also lighter than comparable products made of conventional materials.
PLA is very similar to conventional plastic, but is more sensitive to heat, which speeds up the composting process. Disposables made of PLA are suitable for cold applications up to 40°C.
The products have been tested and certified to the EN 13432 standard. This means that they can be converted into high-quality compost in an industrial composting installation within 12 weeks.

The major advantages of PaperWise disposables:

  • Made of agricultural waste of sugar cane production

  • 100% compostable (EN 13432 certified)

  • Temperature range:

    • Freezer -18°C

    • Microwave

    • Not suitable for liquid applications


Bamboo - Nature's speed record

Bamboo is a wonder of nature. And one that grows extremely fast, can easily grow half a metre in a single day. After harvesting, the stems grow again without human intervention.

A wonderful basis for the production of stylish and functional take-away tableware - without felling a single tree.

The cellulose of the bamboo fibres can be used to produce very sturdy cardboard that meets all takeaway requirements. It has a light, brownish colour by nature and is and is pleasing to the eye.

The type of bamboo used is Moso, i.e. not the staple food of pandas, which means that their habitat is left intact. The entire range is 100 per cent biodegradable and climate-friendly.

Bamboo is a renewable resource, which means that it will be available in nature again within a year at the most. Bamboo does not need pesticides, chemical fertilisation or artificial irrigation to achieve its gigantic growth.


Thanks to its CO2 neutrality, bamboo helps protect the environment. Furthermore, it is 100% biodegradable and thus completes the recycling process, making it a textbook example of the sustainability principle.


Mater-Bi folie

Just think of all those semi-transparent shopping bags or other bags and films that end up in the waste after use. It would entirely be better for nature and for us if we could avoid this mountain of waste.

The bags and films are made of vegetable oil and starch (Mater-Bi), a natural product that returns to nature again after use. All naturesse® bags and films are certified to EN 13432 and can be disposed of in the household compost.

In other words, the bags have a secondary use: they can be reused as household organic waste bags. The bag and film solutions in Mateer-Bi from Biopack also display other impressive properties: they are all breathable, very robust and tear-resistant.

These bags have a limited shelf life, approximately 6 months to 1 year after purchase.

The main advantages of Mater-Bi disposables at a glance:

  • Made from vegetable raw materials

  • Home compostable in the compost heap

  • 100% compostable (EN 13432 certified)

  • Reusable as household organic waste bag


Meer info over standaard materialen

PET

PET is a thermoplastic (softens when heated) and is fully recyclable. 


A-PET

A-PET = Amorpous PET
PET is a thermoplastic polymer (softens when heated) and is fully recyclable. A-PET is one of the mail types of PET and is formless (amorphous) and therefore crystal clear. A-PET is made up of several layers, A-B-A, in which A is new material and B can be a layer of recycled, unused production waste (= residual material of cut-out form) material.


C-PET

C-PET = Crystalline PET
PET is a thermoplastic polymer (softens when heated) and is fully recyclable. C-PET is one of the mail types of PET and C-PET is opaque and very resistant to high temperatures. C-PET is made up of several layers, A-B-A, where A is new material and B can be a layer of recycled unused production waste (= residual material of cut-out form) material. In our range you will mainly find oven-resistant menu trays in C-PET.


R-PET

R-PET = Recycled PET
r-PET is a recycled PET material, for example from (soft)drink bottles used and collected by the consumer. The use of rPET results in a greatly reduced carbon footprint and a reduction of waste that ends up in the landfill. rPET is a very good alternative to traditional plastic packaging. It can be put in the PMD bag after use and can then be reprocessed into a usable packaging material.

R-PET also consists of several layers, A-B-A, where A consists of 7.5% new material, B consists of 35% production waste (= residual material of cut-out form) material and 50% recycled PET material. By using certified R-PET in the middle layer, a food-safe packaging can be guaranteed and up to 85% recycled material can be used at the same time.


PVC

PVC = Polyvinyl Chloride
PVC is a thermoplastic polymer (softens when heated). PVC is one of the most environmentally unfriendly types of plastic and therefore it is used as little as possible.


HDPE

HDPE = High Density Polyethylene
Polyethylene is a thermoplastic polymer (softens when heated) and comprises 2 forms: HDPE and LDPE. HDPE is produced under low pressure. As a result, the molecules remain intact as much as possible and the ethylene retains its hardness. With HD, less raw material is needed to achieve the same strength as LD.


LDPE

LDPE = Low Density Polyethylene
LDPE is produced under high pressure, as a result of which the chains become strongly ramified and a soft plastic is created. This makes LDPE flexible and supple, but also tough and strong. LDPE is transparent and glossy.


PP

PP = Polypropylene
PP is a thermoplastic polymer (softens when heated) and is a common plastic. PP is relatively cheap, strong and resistant to high temperatures.


OPP

OPP = Oriented Polypropylene
OPP is PP that has been stretched to orient the molecules, making the oriented material stronger. These films are complex, usually multi-layered structures and are therefore somewhat stiffer than PP.


PS

PS = Polystyrene
PS is a hard, crystal clear material, but also a little brittle.      


OPS

OPS = Oriented Polystyrene
For the production of OPS, an extruded (pressed) film is stretched, so that the oriented material becomes stronger, or in this case harder.


EPS

EPS = Expanded Polystyrene
EPS is made by heating little pearls in a closed system with steam, which causes them to expand, become softer (melt) and stick together. Although EPS consists of the plastic PS, this is only 2% and only concerns the shell of an EPS pearl. For the rest, EPS consists of 98% air. This creates the best known characteristic of EPS, namely that it is very light, but sturdy.


ALU

ALU = Aluminium
Aluminum is infinitely recyclable without loss of quality.

To recycle, only 5% of the energy required during processing is needed. Therefore, aluminium is the ideal commodity to recycle.

Aluminium packaging has the perfect barrier properties and is hermetically sealable. Aluminium, starting from a thickness of only 6 micron, provides the perfect protection against odour, taste, moisture and bacteria. In our range you will mainly find oven-resistant menu trays in aluminium and aluminium foil.