Compostify: Bioplastic solutions for greener horticulture
The nursery industry makes a huge contribution to environmental campaigns such as reforestation and to ecological services such as slope stabilisation. It also enables home-grown veges for the kitchen table. However, it has a significant blemish: its reliance on plant pots made from fossil-derived plastic.
Approximately 15 billion plant pots are used annually across New Zealand, Australia, the US and Europe and approximately 98% of these end up in landfill because:
They are a colour (black) that is hard for recycling sorting machines to distinguish.
They require cleaning to avoid contaminants (e.g. soil residues) entering the waste stream.
The market for these low-grade plastics is weak.
The United Nations Environment Programme reports that approximately 20 million tonnes of plastic waste leaks into aquatic ecosystems and microplastics, in particular, pose a significant threat to marine and freshwater ecosystems.
Most plastics are non-biodegradable and can persist for centuries or even millennia in the environment, accumulating as debris and polluting natural habitats.
The other products that typically go with plants - stakes and protective wraps - have now got viable non-plastic alternatives that will biodegrade in-situ. Many have tried, but there is as-yet no large-scale replacement to the plastic plant pot.
Enter Compostify. Their unique IP that leverages a combination of bio-plastics and a bio-filler, developed as a research contract with Scion, hits the sweet spot that none have been able to hit before now:
Their product is genuinely home compostable and it will fully compost in ambient soil conditions in less than 12 months.
They have achieved a cost that can work with the price structures at play in the industry.
Their product has the mechanical properties of traditional plastic that enables it to be a "drop in" solution for the massive mechanical machines in use in modern large-scale nurseries.
Furthermore, the use of bio-plastics and a bio-filler - rather than fossil-derived plastics - causes approximately 70% less greenhouse gas emissions than the fossil fuel-derived competitors. (Did you know that the United Nations Environmental Protection Agency reports that over nine million barrels of oil go towards making plastics every day?)
This product is a truly transformational opportunity to reduce both carbon emissions and plastic waste at the same time.
Compostify’s journey started when co-founder and COO, Peter Wilson, became involved in habitat restoration that was initially focused on protecting the critically endangered tara iti / fairy tern. Peter was horrified to learn that a project that was focused on doing good for the environment had such a damaging shadow behind it.
Several years later - after much research, commercial development, and team growth - Compostify is now led by Steve Wilson, who is committed to taking the company global to achieve both commercial and environmental success.
“We are excited to build the Compostify brand into one that people come to know they can trust that it will work in the way that we say it will, in just the same way that people know if they buy a jacket that is made from GoreTex that they can trust it will deliver the waterproofing they expect. I’m delighted that manufacturers are already innovating with our product as we designed it to be. We can’t believe the market traction we’ve had in the short time we’ve been able to supply the demand. ”
An initial trial run of 50,000 plant pots has been put to use by a range of initial users including Auckland Council, Kaipara Moana Remediation, and Waimea Nurseries. These initial users are enthusiastic about what they saw, and their feedback has helped to refine the product and the manufacturing process.
An additional benefit of the Compostify plant pot is that it significantly improves the economics of large-scale plantings:
There is no need for the teams planting out the seedlings to remove the plants from their pots, saving time.
The pots also do not need to be gathered up, saving yet more time.
Disposal costs are removed.
Leaving the plants in their pots reduces the risk of root damage, encouraging healthier plants.
And finally, as the plant pot is composted it fertilises the plant, and this removes the need for a fertiliser tablet. We are moving from plant pots as a source of pollution, to plant pots as a source of nourishment!
Even more promising is the range of other applications this technology opens up beyond just plant pots, and we are so excited to work with the Compostify team to identify and build out these opportunities. The team have a strong backlog of opportunities and ideas to pursue, many of which have been served up by partners in-market, who are as excited as we are about the impact that the Compositify product can have.
“Our investment in Compostify is exciting in its own right, but it’s even more exciting because of the connections to the broader Bridgewest cleantech portfolio and, within that, our growing expertise around shifting the market away from fossil-based plastics. We are well placed to help Compositify to scale at pace and are delighted to be investing and working alongside Moody Glasgow (with fantastic experience, including as the CMO at Glassdoor). ”
At BVNZ, we are thrilled to provide the support needed for Compostify as they embed their initial plant pot application and grow into other applications and use cases. We’re excited about the business opportunity this represents, but we’re even more excited about the opportunity for us to continue to put our shoulder to the wheel on one of the biggest challenges facing the world today.
If you would like to know more then you can visit the Compostify website, and make sure you ask your favourite plant shop if they can stock the truly compostifiable pots!