Next-gen Bioplastics: the future of flexible, compostable materials.

Plastic waste is now so widespread that researchers have suggested it could be used as a geological indicator of the Anthropocene. The plastic pollution crisis is a serious threat to ecosystems worldwide as well as the livelihoods depending on them. Dealing with plastic pollution also imposes heavy costs on public budgets.

**Home-compostable materials are an essential part of the fight against this problem, especially for multi-material, hard-to-recycle packaging forms. For example, packaging components such as flexible tubes, pipette droppers, and pumps are made from multiple types of plastic and require separation before they can be recycled, but the infrastructure to accommodate this does not exist.**

Despite these issues, home-compostable materials are still not in wide commercial use - something that Shellworks, an award-winning startup founded in 2019 by two Imperial College/Royal College of Art graduates, is set on changing. This project seeks to develop a range of flexible home compostable bio-based packaging products based on microbial fermentation, that can be manufactured at a large scale using established industrial manufacturing methods, thereby helping to reduce costs.

Building on Shellworks' previous success in developing rigid compostable packing solutions (TRL-9) and the feasibility of flexible materials on a small scale (TRL-3), this project will result in a TRL-6 game-changing innovation that will allow Shellworks to upscale its flexible material offering for incorporation into a wide range of packaging products. Including tubes, droppers, caps, and closures that would otherwise be made from multi-material components.

This will pave the way for these sustainable, compostable materials to become mainstream in the cosmetics, personal care, and home care markets and beyond and disrupt the unsustainable plastic packaging industry.