- Background
- What we're looking for
- What we can offer you
- Who we are
- Q&A
BASF, Amazon, and Pregis are working together to catalyze industry-wide demand for circular packaging materials (e.g., renewable, recyclable, biodegradable) as an alternative to conventional plastics. BASF brings its expertise in polymer and dispersion chemistry, enabling the development of advanced materials. Amazon contributes its innovations in novel materials looking for ways to replace conventional plastics, focusing on solutions that meet consumer demand, as well as retail channels to test these materials. Meanwhile, Pregis excels in creating innovative packaging and protective solutions that enhance product safety and performance. Together, we aim to drive transformative advancements in packaging that benefit both our industries and the environment. Sustainable packaging alternatives currently on the market (e.g., biopolyester materials) do not perform as well as conventional plastics in many applications and have faced a cost barrier to broad adoption. We aim to find solutions which address current food packaging performance issues, mainly moisture barrier and mechanical properties such as puncture resistance, tear resistance, and tensile strength. We are interested in material solutions for food packaging applications, including snack food packaging, frozen food packaging, and bagged produce packaging. We are also interested in solutions for produce bags, outbound product packaging, and polybag replacements.
We are interested in biodegradable materials that can be used in barrier layers, adhesives, and additives to provide a moisture barrier and mechanical properties required by the intended packaging applications. This could include biopolyesters that may also perform as stand-alone films. The ideal materials are biodegradable and/or compatible with existing recycling streams. We are seeking solutions that address the high cost and performance challenges of biopolyesters currently on the market. This may include alternatives to polyethylene such as PHA, seaweed-based materials, or cellulose films. We are looking for solutions that either reduce the high production cost of biopolyesters or address their current performance challenges. We are particularly interested in biodegradable materials for use in barrier layers, adhesives, and additives that can confer biopolyesters with the moisture barrier and mechanical properties needed for the intended packaging applications.
- Coating or co-polymerization
- Biodegradable additives (that accelerate biodegradability or composability)
- Multilayer biopolyester films
- Analogous novel materials (biobased plastics)
- Cross-linking of biopolymers
- Integrates into recycling or composting infrastructure, and poses no environmental hazard if entering waste streams
- Clear pathway to commercialization regarding mass production
- Benchmarked against traditional polyethylene packaging for moisture-barrier and mechanical performance required in intended application
- Properties that fit into a circular economic model for packaging materials (biodegradability and recyclability)
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Addresses the high cost of biopolyesters
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Manufactured within existing infrastructure, for example, paper milling, paper coating, and film extrusion processes
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Designed to go to landfill
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Oxo-degradable
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Requires scarce or unsustainable feedstocks
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Our teams are committed to putting health and safety first, making sustainability a part of every decision, and meeting strict compliance and environmental standards. We embrace diversity—in people, perspectives, and experiences—and promote open feedback grounded in honesty, respect, and trust. We see setbacks as opportunities to learn and improve.
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