Worth a read/postGoing green: the need for biopolymer in aworld...

Worth a read/post

Going green: the need for biopolymer in aworld of plastic

By Amila Dedovic

4 February 2022

WhenAustralia set targets for 70 per cent of plastic packaging to be recycled orcomposted by 2025, sustainable developers such as SECOS (ASX: SES) stepped upto the plate.

Foundedin 2015 after the merger of Cardia Bioplastics and Stellar Films, theMelbourne-based company has biopolymer manufacturing facilities in China andMalaysia to produce a range of bin liners, pet waste bags, courier satchels andproduce bags.

Theeco-friendly material can degrade completely within six months, as opposed tooxo-biodegradable products that leave behind microplastics.

“You'vebasically got this infinite sense of creation and destruction back to theearth. You can't do that with standard plastic [and] you can't do that withrecycled plastic. Therefore, compostable plastic has a role,” SECOS CEO IanStacey told Business News Australia.

“Youcan’t also replace compostable polymer with paper because it doesn't have thesame mechanical properties. Look at the volume of traditional plastic bags - ifyou try to replace them with paper, it would be an environmental disaster.

“Weoffer compostable materials which are really designed for organic streams andfor waste diversion programs. We've been involved with council food organicsand garden organics (FOGO) programs for [approximately] 10 years.”

Landinga deal with Woolworths (ASX: WOW) in July 2020, the company has gone fromstrength-to-strength since its 36-litre and eight-litre MyEcoBag bin liners hitthe shelves in 86 stores.

Made of100 per cent GMO free renewable corn starch, the bags are now rangedin 203 Woolworths retailers and account for 40 per cent of thesupermarket’s total compostable garbage sales growth year-on-year.

Thelarger liners experienced the most sales growth at 550 per cent like-for-like,while its eight-litre counterpart saw sales grow of 450 per cent.

But thedeals don’t end there. After teeing up an agreement with Officeworks tostock compostable courier bags via its online store, the company announced itwould also be rolling out its products to 200 independent stores in New SouthWales using Pacchini’s distribution network.

Thedistribution agreement also involved stocking MyEcoPet – a compostable doggybag that comes in rolls of two or four – and new 12-litre and 28-litre binliners.

“We seethe demand for compostable products is quite extensive,” said Stacey.

“Itmakes sense just to broaden the channels to market. When we do that, we want towork with good partners and Pacchini are absolutely a good partner in thatmarket.”

“They'rewell established, multi-generational family business that have got very deepconnections with a range of retailers throughout New South Wales. It made sensefor us to do business.”

Staceynotes that SECOS’s commitment to R&D in Australia has helped set itselfapart from competitors.

Thegroup has committed $2 million to its research facility for the next threeyears, and is working with chemical engineers at the University of Queenslandto develop enhanced compostable resins and films for food packaging.

“We havegot a fair degree of technical competence, which sets us apart from competitorsthat are in the compostable resin side because they don't necessarily do thefilm and the bags,” Stacey said.

“The fact we’re Australian R&D-based sets us apart from many others becauseif you look at other providers, what you'll often find is that they're simply abrand.

“Whenyou look at the where compostable materials produced in the world, probably 55per cent to 60 per cent of it is produced in Asia. Australia can certainly lookat playing a role in greater production around biopolymers.”

Thecompany has also made forays overseas after the U.S Department of VeteranAffairs agreed to supply its pet waste bags into 97 stores, with the potentialto expand to more than 200.

Whenasked about the company’s market penetration, Stacey described growth rates as“significant”, and was optimistic it would continue down that path.

“Wethink the whole segment is a healthy segment - it's growing quitesubstantially. The capacities for compostable materials are growing by 30 to 40per cent,” he added.

“Thismarket will evolve where scale, know-how competence in the area of productionwill be important.