Danimer Scientific, Inc. and TotalEnergies Corbion, both leading bioplastics companies focused on the development and production of biodegradable materials, announced that they have developed a new compostable coffee pod biopolymer that is in compliance with proposed EU packaging regulations.

The EU recently announced a proposal requiring plastic packaging, such as tea bags, coffee pods, very light plastic bags and sticky labels for fruit and vegetables to be compostable.

Danimer and TotalEnergies Corbion’s new formulations, containing a blend of Danimer’s signature PHA Nodax and TotalEnergies Corbion’s Luminy High Heat PLA material, have already passed biodegradability tests and have been certified by TUV as home compostable. They are currently being tested in the market by numerous European companies.

Danimer Scientific, Inc. and TotalEnergies Corbion have developed a new compostable coffee pod biopolymer that is in compliance with proposed EU packaging regulations.

Danimer has estimated that, in the European market, 550 million pounds of plastic are used in the manufacture of single-use coffee pods annually.

“Since beginning our collaborative partnership with TotalEnergies Corbion a couple of years ago, we've been working to blend together our respective materials, Nodax and Luminy, to meet the specific functionality needs of our customers for a variety of applications,” said Scott Tuten, chief marketing and sustainability officer of Danimer Scientific.

“We support the EU’s proposed new regulations as a necessary first step in addressing the problem of plastic waste, and we’re pleased to be offering our compostable coffee pod biopolymer as one example of how the technology behind bioplastics has evolved to serve the needs of manufacturers, regulators and consumers as the world moves toward a cleaner and more responsible future,” he stated.

In 2021, Danimer and TotalEnergies Corbion entered a long-term collaborative arrangement for the supply of Luminy PLA, a biobased polymer used to manufacture compostable products.

“We’re excited about the potential of compostable bioplastics to provide an environmentally friendly alternative to single-use petrochemical plastics, and we hope that the coffee pod biopolymer we’ve developed in partnership with Danimer Scientific will be the first of many collaborations to come,” commented Thomas Philipon, CEO of TotalEnergies Corbion.