Israel-based startup company Melodea has launched two sustainable, plant-based plastic alternatives for packaging made from cellulose crystals extracted from wood pulp from trees grown in industrial forests.
 
The new packaging materials include MelOx, a high-performance, plant-sourced barrier coating that offers protection from oxygen, oil, and grease transmission, as well as Melodea VBcoat, which protects packaged goods from water vapor and oil and grease transmission.
 
Unlike common packaging materials such as plastics and aluminum, Melodea’s barrier coating material is sourced from wood pulp, the same material used to make paper. This allows paper and packaging producers to use a more sustainable and socially-responsible packaging route, enabling them to create more readily-recyclable, plastic-free coatings.
 
“Cellulose, the primary building block of the cell walls of all plants, is the most abundant biopolymer on the planet,” Shaul Lapidot, PhD, CEO and co-founder of Melodea, said. “It provides plants with extraordinary strength and is a lightweight yet strong material. We found that this bounteous and renewable material can be utilized to produce novel, eco-friendly packaging alternatives for the packaging industry.”
 
According to Melodea, the liquid formulas can be applied as a coating to paper, paperboard, bio-plastic, and even plastic itself, suitable for pouches, lids, and food and beverage cartons for both dry and liquid products.
 
The company was founded as a spinoff project at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem by Lapidot together with composites expert Tort Gustafsson and Prof. Oded Shoseyov, PhD, a renowned expert in nanomaterials and plant biotechnology who is on the Melodea advisory board. Together, the three developed a proprietary technology, now covered by 14 patents, which can extract cellulose in a nanocrystal form, uniquely designed to protect food products from oxygen, oil, grease, and water vapor transmission, fully eliminating the need for aluminum or plastic. As a forestry byproduct, it is also compostable, recyclable, and non-toxic. “Our coatings can easily be integrated into standard industrial coating lines, including slot dies, rod coaters, and gravures,” Zvika Weiss, CFO of Melodea, said. “The coatings are already in pilot use by a number of major companies.”
 
For its packaging technology, Melodea has won the Packaging Europe 2019 sustainability award, and the WorldStar Award for 2020, granted by the World Packaging Organization. So far, the company has raised $20 million at the close of its C funding round, with key investors from global companies across the chemistry and forestry pulp and paper industries.
 
Green Up Your Act
“Consumers are imposing more strident demands when it comes to the welfare of the planet, and increasingly this resonates in their purchasing behavior,” Lapidot said. “Concurrently, the supply chain is ‘greening’ up its act, especially in light of legislative measures curbing plastic use. The Melodea barrier coating helps the packaging industry make a smoother shift from petroleum-based plastics to plant-based materials, without compromising safety or performance.”
 
While packages may be compostable or recyclable, consumers often have a hard time determining whether they will still be placed in a landfill, which is often the case in packaging which contains smaller components that can’t be recycled easily, Weiss said. “Recyclability of a package is a key factor for a truly eco-friendly packaging. A plastic package that can truly be recyclable should contain recyclable plastic and other recyclable materials such as MelOx. Materials such as other plastics applied, aluminum, or metalized plastic can prevent the recyclability of the package.”
 
In addition to private sector and consumer pressure to reduce plastic packaging materials, global legislation is also compelling companies to cut back, especially in food industry products. The EU Single-Use Plastics Directive for example, which went into effect in July, effectively banned the 10 most-littered single-use plastic items on beaches in Europe, including plastic bags, packets, wrappers, and food containers. This directive also placed labeling requirements with particular instructions on disposal options and the content of packaging.
 
“Almost any player in the packaging industry, from tier one companies to small companies, is looking for sustainable solutions,” Weiss said. “No one wants to stay behind the regulations or consumer demands for more ethical and environmentally sound packaging concerns.”
 
“It is no secret that the solution for a sustainable and circular packaging industry necessitates moving to bio-based materials,” Weiss said. “Our cellulose-based barrier coatings offer an economically-affordable, naturally abundant, and sustainable alternative to oil-based products. More importantly, its raw material lives in harmony with nature—it comes from the forest, and it returns to the earth at the end of its lifecycle.”
 
Pulp is one of the key waste products that comes from industrial forestry, Weiss said, and the cellulose nanocrystal (CNC) extraction process is capable of recycling up to 95% of the materials in the process, while using a low amount of energy and water. “We believe that the solution for a sustainable packaging industry grows on trees—as the industrial forest is the best source for bio-based raw materials,” he said.