World’s First Home Compostable Tamper-Evident Seal Debuts

Carbios’ biodegrading enzyme is the “secret sauce” for rapid decomposition when combined with Sleever’s PLA film.

Rick Lingle, Senior Technical Editor

October 14, 2024

2 Min Read
First home-compostable tamper-evident band
CARBIOS

It seems to be a short jump from making a shrink-sleeve label home compostable to introducing additional packaging options from the same compostable technology platform. After reporting on a polylactic acid shrink-sleeve label several weeks ago, Carbios and Sleever leverage their combined know-how to introduce SeelCap Onego, the world's first home-compostable tamper-evident TE seal.

As with the PLA label, the compostable TE band relies on Carbios Active, an encapsulated enzyme that speeds the composting process.

Just how fast? It’s claimed that the new seal will completely degrade in composting conditions in less than six months even at room temperature per TÜV Austria “OK Compost Home” certification. This reduces the carbon footprint by up to 70%.

To add additional value, the proprietary design of the TE seal was developed by Fabrice Peltier with one additional goal beyond tamper evidence: enable easy opening in a single movement with a gripping flap.

Sleever-Carbios-Home-Compostable-Seal-Top-800x550.png

The compostable seal is particularly suited for glass packaged products, especially those sealed with wooden caps that include bottled wines, spirits, and alcohol products.

It also solves a problem for recyclers. Due to the small size of this type of TE band (less than 60 mm or 2.5 inches), conventional plastic TE seals do not work with traditional packaging sorting and recycling flows, according to the supplier.

“I’m delighted to present SeelCap Onego to the market resulting from our partnership with Sleever,” says Emmanuel Ladent, CEO, Carbios. “[This] offers a valuable alternative when recycling is not an option. It’s a concrete application of Carbios’ mission to find innovative and sustainable solutions to rethink the life cycle of all types of plastic.”

Adds Eric Fresnel, Sleever Group president, “This innovation in packaging security meets the needs of the wine, spirits and alcoholic beverages markets, particularly in countries where recycling channels for glass packaging have not yet been developed.”

About the Author

Rick Lingle

Senior Technical Editor, Packaging Digest and PlasticsToday

Rick Lingle is Senior Technical Editor, PlasticsToday. He’s been a packaging media journalist since 1985 specializing in food, beverage and plastic markets. He has a chemistry degree from Clarke College and has worked in food industry R&D for Standard Brands/Nabisco and the R.T. French Co. Reach him at [email protected] or 630-408-7184.

https://twitter.com/PackmanRick[email protected]

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