What does bio-based mean?
Bio-based materials are made from biomass, such as sugar cane and corn starch. However, these substances do not have to consist of 100% biomass, as one might think, to be allowed to call themselves bio-based. They only have to contain at least 40% biomass - in other words, as the name suggests: be based on biomass.
In practice, composites are often used to bind the ingredients together.. We also use a bio-based composite material made of wood fibres and bioplastics. This "bio-compound" does not contain any petroleum and is free of BPA and melamine. The material is temperature resistant up to 70 °C and dishwasher safe. Many bio-based composites are therefore neither biodegradable nor compostable due to the bioplastic content. Nevertheless, they can be considered sustainable because conventional plastic (petroleum-based) is avoided, and the products are reused several times.