Biodegradable Food Packaging

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Biodegradable Food Packaging

As consumer demand rises for eco-friendly packaging, brand owners in the food industry, are offering sustainable alternatives. To qualify as environmentally friendly, packaging can be recyclable, compostable, biodegradable, or a combination of the three.

What’s the Difference Between Compostable and Biodegradable?

Biodegradable products can decompose through biological processes with only the assistance of naturally occurring environmental conditions. In contrast, compostable products call for controlled environmental conditions with active microorganisms and heat.

Biodegradable Standards

To meet EN 13432 standards for biodegradability, environmentally friendly packaging must degrade by a minimum of 90% within nine months of disposal. Eco-friendly packaging, made from paper, is an ideal option to meet this requirement.

Biodegradable food packagingPaper-Based Food Packaging

Poly-coated paper has been used to create food packaging for years. The most common coating utilized for food packaging is extruded high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Although water and grease resistant, poly-coated paper is not biodegradable.  Glossy papers and paperboards coated with sealants and release coatings are also common food packaging applications; however, these are also usually not biodegradable.

Eco-Friendly Coatings

Because we understand that choosing packaging materials is important to a brand’s image, Sierra in cooperation with some of the nation’s leading chemical companies, have tested eco-friendly coatings for food packaging. We have qualified a number of high-quality, high-performance eco-friendly coatings, including poly and PVC replacements.

Our poly replacement eco-friendly coatings offer the best of both worlds. They have properties that can be specific to the packaging needs, such as:

  • FDA-compliance
  • Water resistance
  • Heat sealability
  • Non-stick, easy release
  • And more

Finding a Cost-Effective Solution

In today’s changing landscape, Sierra has invested R&D resources to find cost-effective, solutions that retain optimal functions and resilience for the food packaging industry. Contact our experts today to learn more about how our chemists can assist you.