Greiner Packaging, a leading European manufacturer of plastic packaging in the food and nonfood sectors, has just announced that it has received certification from TÜV Austria Belgium NV for its home-compostable capsule packaging. Greiner has produced packaging solutions for the capsules market for several years, and along the way the company has found ways to make the its products more sustainable.

“To be TÜV certified, the capsules must break down within 26 weeks,” said Taner Ertan, global business development manager at Greiner Packaging. “Our home-compostable capsules biodegraded within just 15 weeks. We are delighted to have successfully obtained certification, as it means we can now offer fully sustainable capsule packaging to our customers and the consumers they serve.”

The capsules, now used for coffee, tea, soft drinks, cocoa, and baby food, are precisely measured, which limits the amount of product wasted by consumers, and with Greiner’s new capsules made from a compostable polymer, the packaging limits waste as well.

“In developing this packaging, we wanted to do our part by offering an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional capsule packaging. It was important to us to find a solution that would meet our high quality standards for product protection,” continued Ertan. “We invested a great deal of time in its development, especially in the search for the ideal polymer. We ultimately found a material that has excellent barrier properties, meaning it protects the capsule’s contents very effectively from oxygen penetration and loss of flavor.”