A crumpled clear plastic bottle and small fragments arranged as an editorial specimen on a cream surface
Greenshoot Materials

The plastic problem

Packaging should protect food,
not outlive it.

Single-use packaging can serve a brief purpose and leave a lasting material problem. Greenshoot is working on a better performance-to-afterlife equation.

See the evidence

The scale of the problem

Plastic is engineered to last. Packaging is often used for minutes.

460M

tonnes of plastic were produced globally in 2019.

9%

of plastic waste was ultimately recycled in 2019.

40%

of global plastic waste came from packaging.

Source: OECD Global Plastics Outlook (2019 data, published 2022).

Plastic migration from land into the marine ecosystemA technical line drawing shows discarded plastic moving with stormwater from land into a river, entering the ocean, fragmenting, and exposing organisms across the marine food web.Land sourceStormwaterRiver transportOceanMarine food webMismanaged plastic bottleDrainage + runoffConnected waterwaysFragmentationExposure across organisms

Land → water → ecosystem

Plastic does not simply disappear. It moves, fragments, and becomes harder to recover.

Pathway structure informed by UNEP, USGS, and IUCN marine-plastic pathway diagrams.

Aquatic leakage · 2019

6.1M

tonnes of plastic waste leaked into rivers, lakes, and the ocean.

Already accumulated

30M

tonnes of plastic were estimated to have accumulated in the ocean.

Source: OECD Global Plastics Outlook (2019 data, published 2022).

What needs to change

Protect the food. Shorten the afterlife.

Reducing plastic waste will take better systems, more reuse, and material innovation. For food packaging, it also means giving fiber the barrier performance needed to handle demanding applications.

That is where Greenshoot is focused: biodegradable coatings that help fiber packaging resist moisture, oxygen, and grease without relying on PFAS.

See the technology
A different material path for food packagingAn editorial technical drawing contrasts persistent plastic fragments with a thin BIOXELL coating applied over a cellulose fiber substrate.Material design directionFunction in a thinner layer.Structure from fiber.Conventional plastic barrierPersistent fragmentsCellulose-based fiber systemBIOXELL coatingFiber substrate · structural packaging layerConceptual cross-section · not to scale

Start with the package

A world beyond plastic starts with better materials.

Explore how Greenshoot’s biodegradable barrier technology can support a move from plastic to fiber-based food packaging.

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