Report Traceability and
Report Traceability and transparency in the bioplastic market A Swiss case study BioApply (Gland, Switzerland), providing compostable solutions in Switzerland since 2006, with a special focus on transparence and traceability with Respect-code. Switzerland is well known for its environmental standards. It however also consumes three times more plastic than the average European country. And it recycles 30 % less. Switzerland generates approx 100 kg of plastic waste per capita per annum – that is 3 times the European average. Over 75 % of the 1,000,000 tonnes of plastic consumed in Switzerland is disposable packaging material. This was the main motivation behind the launch of BioApply in 2006. The company is pioneering in biobased compostable solutions in Switzerland. It develops both retail and waste packaging and bag solutions. As for retail, instead of the single use plastic bag, the company proposed a clever twist, double use bags that can be used for shopping and then reused a second time for organic waste sorting. With the solid access to composting facilities in Switzerland (80 % of the population has access to a compost), the double use bag has become an efficient tool. Composting facilities mostly appreciate it. The added organic material from the bag itself is secondary, of prime interest is rather the quality of the compost (less/no plastic) and the increasing volumes enabled through the bags. Indeed, BioApply has worked also closely with the public sector, for example Canton Geneva, to set up and deploy a comprehensive organic waste sorting optimization process including tutorials, communication and a specially designed green bin compatible with compostable bags. They now offer a full range of compostable solutions, both for waste management and for retail. Those include reusable bags made from wood fiber or tapioca and reaching +90 % of bio content. Currently market leader, BioApply customer base of +350 customers include large distributors, pharmacy and bakery chains, fashion brands, international organisations, regions and many others. However, the market has suffered from the increasing presence of misleading solutions. Oxo degradable bags have been a challenge. They are all too often wrongly perceived, and of course marketed, as bio compatible, biodegradable solutions. With an obviously cheap price point, they can be found in many business segments. The other major threat comes from fake compostable bags. Those can be either just tagged with compostable messages, but sometimes even with fake or fraud certificates. These solutions end up contaminating the entire composting system and eventually generate micro plastic contamination in the soil. This has lead to a certain mistrust on the market and a legitimate fear of having healthy end of life systems polluted. On the other hand, the presence of compostable solutions on the market has become instrumental for people in their efforts to sort organic waste. This is why a group of key players, Biomasse Suisse Round Table, decided to bring stricter rules. Among them, the highly recommended criss cross (grid) “compostable” to be printed on compostable materials. This enables all the chain to better identify the bags. But BioApply decided to take this effort a step further. How about bringing full transparency and traceability to its products? Contacts were made with Product DNA (Lausanne, Switzerland) [1] a pioneering company specialized in the traceability of supply chains and the promotion of transparency in consumer goods since 2005. Product DNA has developed Respect-Code [2], a platform enabling full traceability, in a documented and visually compelling way. Clients can load there products, detail the value chain, add certificates and all other relevant information. The Product DNA team validates and publishes it online. End users and consumers can scan the Respect- Code, a QR code or type the url, both present on the product. This will take them on the page where they can see the entire process. No special app is needed, just use the QR-Scanner on your smartphone. This is a functional sample, just try it. Or try http://www.respect-code.org/225ZWUW on your computer Since a couple of years, BioApply has continued to increase the number of its products including the Respect code. Each production batch can be traced. And slowly but surely, BioApply’s own customers want to be present on that traceability page. With over 150 million bags/packaging made traceable via Product DNA, BioApply has gained a lot of credibility and reliability, comforting its leadership role on the market and growing its presence on the european scale. Being part of the Respect-code community has become a central component of BioApply’s brand and sustainability strategy. MT www.bioapply.com/en/ References: [1] https://www.productdna.com/ [2] www.respect-code.org Info See a video-clip at: tinyurl.com/product-dna 24 bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/20] Vol. 15
2020 The Bioplastics Award will be presented during the 15th European Bioplastics Conference December 01-02, 2020, Vienna, Austria PRESENTS THE FIFTEENTH ANNUAL GLOBAL AWARD FOR DEVELOPERS, MANUFACTURERS AND USERS OF BIOBASED AND/OR BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS. Call for proposals Enter your own product, service or development, or nominate your favourite example from another organisation Please let us know until August 31 st 1. What the product, service or development is and does 2. Why you think this product, service or development should win an award 3. What your (or the proposed) company or organisation does Your entry should not exceed 500 words (approx. 1 page) and may also be supported with photographs, samples, marketing brochures and/or technical documentation (cannot be sent back). The 5 nominees must be prepared to provide a 30 second videoclip and come to Vienna on Dec. 01. More details and an entry form can be downloaded from www.bioplasticsmagazine.de/award supported by bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/20] Vol. 15 25
