Knowledge Centre

Why Compostable Packaging?

Compostable plastic packaging addresses the challenges of plastic pollution from the design phase. It offers a packaging alternative that mimics perfectly the positive properties of a conventional plastic packaging such as moisture and oxygen barrier, shelf-life, lightweight design, and flexibility, but with a built-in circular solution for its end-of-use.

Plastic packaging is a complex system and requires different types of packaging for different types of usage, and therefore requires different types of solutions. Flexible films and multilayered packaging are playing an essential role in protecting the freshness and nutritional value of our food because it is low weight and convenient for transport and use. 

The challenge with conventional flexible plastic packaging

The challenge with conventional flexible plastic packaging is that it is nearly impossible to technically recycle thin films and multilayered plastic packaging and it is surely isn’t economically viable to do so. This results in recycling levels for flexible packaging that hover around 5% even in the most advanced markets such as the EU, the rest is being sent to incineration or landfill, or even worse, left in the open environment, polluting our oceans, soil and water.

For this reason, Greenshield is uniquely focusing on flexible and multilayered packaging: a type of packaging that while vital for our global supply chain, is not technically or economically viable for recycling and is causing a major pollution challenge worldwide.