TIPA, a compostable packaging company, makes fully compostable bags for shipping products in multiple stages of the supply chain. Swapping out traditional plastic bags in the food and fashion industries means introducing a fully circular system that gives back to the planet instead of straining it.
We wanted to better understand the role TIPA’s compostable packaging plays in this process, so we asked Daphna Nissenbaum, CEO and cofounder of TIPA to provide her thoughts on the matter. Her answers provide a robust plan of action for the reduction of waste and pollution.
Related: Meet Great Wrap, the completely compostable cling wrap
What are TIPA’s goals and missions?
Nissenbaum: TIPA’s mission is to reduce plastic waste in the food and fashion industries, without adding emissions and high costs to the manufacturing process, but still upholding the high consumer expectations. At TIPA, we believe packaging should be part of a circular economy, where materials that are produced can be reused for another valuable purpose: our compostable packaging biodegrades into nourishing compost, leaving behind the same nutrients left by organic waste.
TIPA’s vision for flexible packaging is to have the same end-of-life as organic matter while maintaining the qualities of conventional plastics that consumers and brands have come to rely on, like durability, transparency, barrier, sealability, printability and shelf-life. TIPA’s sustainable packaging solutions use a fabless model — the manufacturing process seamlessly fits with existing industrial machinery and manufacturing practices, eliminating the need to build new manufacturing plants or buy and ship expensive machinery.
How are TIPA products compostable?
Nissenbaum: TIPA’s innovative polymer-based material allows for all of the packaging to compost within six to 12 months when placed in the right environment. All of the packaging is compostable at industrial facilities, and most are also home-compostable. TIPA’s packaging is certified as compostable in the U.S., Europe and Australia.
What does it mean for the consumer and planet?
Nissenbaum: When a consumer uses compostable packaging, and composts it properly, the consumer is not only reducing plastic waste, but is actually creating something new — compost — that nourishes the Earth instead of harming it. Using this compost on agricultural fields can increase crop yields, reduce planet-warming carbon in the atmosphere and help fields retain water, cutting back on irrigation needs. With plastic packaging making up 40% of all plastic waste in the world, a shift to compostable packaging in the food and fashion industries will make a huge difference.
How are the bags being used?
Nissenbaum: TIPA focuses on two industries for compostable packaging: food and fashion.
Over 60% of flexible plastic packaging is consumed by the food industry. TIPA works with local farmers and larger importers to provide compostable packaging for their fresh and frozen produce and dry foods, including Sunrays to package their grapes, Fresh Harvest for their produce delivery service and InstaBrew to package their coffee cubes. Fresh Harvest even uses a collection service to ensure that the packaging is being composted.
The fashion industry uses copious amounts of plastic — an estimated 180 billion polybags per year — throughout the supply chain, and brands are slowly beginning to adopt more sustainable options. TIPA works with these brands to provide compostable poly bags to store and protect the merchandise from the elements throughout the supply chain: from large packaging for shipping in bulk, to small packaging for shipping individual items to the consumer. Some examples include Pangaia, Le Col Far Afield, Isadore and Scotch & Soda. And, most recently announced, Apiece Apart has replaced all of their packaging with TIPA’s compostable alternative — for all levels of the supply chain.
Does TIPA donate to nonprofit causes?
Nissenbaum: We donate our time volunteering in several nonprofits, especially those that promote sustainability. Moreover, we send our packaging to schools and other institutions, for sustainability education.
Does TIPA use recycled or recyclable packaging in the office?
Nissenbaum: TIPA’s headquarters strives to be as sustainable as possible, sorting waste, never using disposable tableware, etc. We are also aware that recycling often doesn’t provide a good solution. In fact, only 9% of plastic produced in the world is actually recycled. That is why we often choose glass and other reusable tableware.
Do you offer Fair Trade work?
Nissenbaum: The TIPA model is fabless, which means we have no factories or plants. We use the facilities that are already available. Moreover, we only ship within continents, never between them. This is how we ensure sustainability throughout the whole process. TIPA does its best effort to only work with suppliers, manufacturers and converters who uphold the Fair Trade working conditions.
What are TIPA’s goals for sustainable manufacturing, and what progress have you made so far?
Nissenbaum: TIPA aims to have production and the conversion of plastic rolls into bags performed as local to its customers as possible to remove the environmental damage done by shipping across the world. TIPA has converters in Europe, and the U.S. (Midwest), and plans to expand to Canada and other parts of the U.S.
What else is to be done for a sustainable future?
Nissenbaum: We as humans are poisoning the earth as we try to meet our daily basic needs of food and clothing. In addition to striving for sustainable products, like ethically-sourced textiles and locally-grown produce, we need better ways to package these goods in order to really make a difference. Almost everything we eat or wear comes wrapped in plastic. We need to change that, or our planet will continue to suffer: we’re already drowning in microplastics and struggling with rising temperatures that threaten our future.
When it comes to sustainability in the food and fashion industries, we must think holistically. We must consider both the sources of products and materials, as well as their end-of-life. And we need to make sure that consumers have access to the waste services they need in order to easily and correctly dispose of sustainable alternatives like compostable packaging.
Images via TIPA
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