What is PFAS?
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of over 4,700 man-made chemicals that are used in a great number of products across many industries.
PFAS additives provide oil resistance in many applications, from carpet, dental floss, non-stick pans to nail polish. These chemicals do not biodegrade and persist in the environment with potential adverse effects. PFAS has been found in soil, water, fresh produce, and sewerage.
Do BioPak Products Contain PFAS?
Some meals require greater grease resistance than others. Traditionally the foodservice industry has been using PFAS, a greaseproof additive, as a solution. BioPak, like all our competitors, use PFAS in some of our BioCane products. It can also be used in pizza boxes and paperboard, BioPak does not add PFAS to our paper products.
As we take great pride in industry leadership and innovation and environmental sustainability, we have undertaken heavy investment in R&D to find a solution that will provide similar functional properties to fully fibre-based materials that do not rely on PFAS for oil resistance.
We will continue to operate with transparency and work closely with industry bodies and regulators throughout this process. BioPak is currently active in Australian and New Zealand industry groups working to identify, phase out and prohibit the use of PFAS in food contact packaging.
There is limited research on the risks posed by PFAS in food service containers specifically. While sustainability is important to BioPak, food safety is our foremost priority. We note that regulators have not banned PFAS, and all BioPak products are certified food safe.
Out of an abundance of caution, we are on track to be the first in our industry to have a completely no added PFAS plant pulp range in production by June 2024.
BioPak are committed to fully transition from products with added PFAS by June 2024. We have an initial no added PFAS assortment of sugarcane products, stay tuned as we add more products.
We will continue to operate with transparency and work closely with industry bodies and regulators throughout this process. BioPak is currently active in Australian and New Zealand industry groups working to identify, phase out and prohibit the use of PFAS in food contact packaging.
We have a growing range of no added PFAS plant-fibre products, these include:
- Produce trays
- Pulp Hot & Cold Cup Lids
- Beer Rings
- Oyster trays
- Container Lids
- Next up to transition: Plates and sauce containers
Is PFAS Compostable?
Our BioCane packaging is plastic free and, in many cases, home compostable — this is marked on each product page on our website. This is an exciting opportunity to move away from conventional plastic packaging and close the loop on waste.
Products containing added PFAS cannot be certified compostable to either home or industrial standards.
The international compost certification bodies, Din Certco, and The Australasian Bioplastics Association (ABA) will not certify any products as compostable where there is more than 100 parts per million (PPM) of total fluorine / PFAS.
BioPak are committed to fully transition from products with added PFAS by June 2024. We have an initial no added PFAS assortment of sugarcane products, stay tuned as we add more products.
All BioPak products with no added PFAS are certified compostable.
The international compost certification body, Din Certco, and The Australasian Bioplastics Association (ABA) will not certify any compostable products containing more than 100 parts per million (PPM) of total fluorine / PFAS.
BioPak are committed to fully transition from products with added PFAS by the end of 2023. We have an initial PFAS free assortment of sugarcane products, stay tuned as we add more products.
All BioPak products with no added PFAS are certified compostable.
