Germany-based Traceless Materials offers an alternative to single-use, fossil-based plastics thanks to its biobased and home compostable plastics. With special technology developed by the Hamburg-based startup, residues from the agricultural industry are turned into film, rigid packaging and coatings.

Home compostable plastics

Traceless Materials do not require industrial composting conditions for biodegradation, but are compostable at home under natural conditions, as well as being competitive in quality and functionality with conventional plastics and bioplastics.

Winner of the Green Alley Award 2021, the innovative, patent-pending technology aims to use natural biopolymers such as plant residues from the agricultural industry to produce next-generation granular solutions and give rise to biobased and circular materials.

Pilot product: the C&A sock hangers

Last December, the company launched its first pilot product in collaboration with the clothing chain C&A. It consists of traceless hangers, designed to be used over and over again in stores. After the different stages of use, the hangers can be placed in household compost, or alternatively in the organic waste bin, where they will degrade just like natural materials within a few weeks. The sock hangers, produced in a limited edition and available in the C&A Store in Hamburg, prompted the company to process the granulated material through injection molding together with manufacturing partner CompriseTec.

The two founders Anne Lamp and Johanna Baare aim to make the “trace-less” technology scalable by combining the former's PhD in process engineering with the latter's entrepreneurial and business development knowledge.

Website:
www.traceless.eu

Sector:
Biobased plastic

Plus:
Granular solution using plant residues from food production

Characteristics:
Technology for developing home compostable materials, including liners, films, and rigid packaging

Image: Traceless Materials