Novamont, Barbier Group to develop new home compostable bag for fruits and vegetables

The new bag, to be marketed under the name Ma-Ter-Bio (the bag for planet Earth), will offer a more sustainable alternative to traditional non-biodegradable and non-compostable plastic packaging.

As required under French law, the new bag is plant based, suitable for home composting and obtained from locally sourced starch and sunflower oil. Ma-Ter-Bio is made with at least 35%, up to over 50%, renewable content from biomass.

The Barbier Group is the leading French producer of plastic films, and ranks as the sixth largest in Europe. The company sells polyethylene sheeting for agriculture and industry, as well as bags for the supermarket sector (for vegetables and fruits, waste collection, with soft handles). The Group has been developing products from both recycled and biodegradable/compostable materials for over 15 years. All its products are covered by the trademark “Guaranteed French origin”.

Novamont is the pioneer company in the sector of biodegradable and compostable bioplastics from renewable sources. Founded in 1989, it built its growth on the principles of the circular bioeconomy and the production of bioplastic materials that formed an alternative to traditional plastics from fossil sources. The Italy-based bioplastics manufacturer of the Mater-Bi line of bioplastics is a global leader in this field, with an annual production capacity of 150,000 tons.

With marked prescience, Novamont opened its French subsidiary in 2006 to follow the developments relating to the new energy transition law more closely, as well as to monitor the local market as a whole. This has led to the signing of a partnership agreement with a French company, thus laying the basis for the supply of locally sourced materials. According to Novamont, this is a first step towards the creation of a production site on French soil. (KL) 

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