What is PBAT?
As a company that provides a range of compostable packaging products, Hero Packaging is often asked this question: “What is PBAT?"
It is one of the most commonly used ingredients in biodegradable packaging. Here’s what you need to know about PBAT and how it reduces your carbon footprint on the planet.
What is PBAT short for?
PBAT is short for Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate. Try saying that 5 times fast. And since the long version is quite a mouthful, it's fondly called, PBAT.
What is PBAT good for?
PBAT is a polymer that breaks down completely when home-composted leaving no toxic residues behind. This makes it an excellent alternative to toxic or harmful materials like plastic and other non-biodegradable plastics.
Created to fight the burgeoning plastic problem around the world, PBAT is one of those materials that incredible potential when it comes to looking for plastic alternatives.
Millions of pieces of plastic are collected in landfill every year. Without quickly moving to the right solutions such as using materials like PBAT, we are creating bigger problems for generations to come.
Reusing and recycling plastics has been a common solution, but it poses many dangers and still acts like normal plastic in landfill. However, utilising home compostable options is even better, because as more and more consumers compost at home, less and less materials are taken to landfill.
Since PBAT can be used as an alternative to plastic, at Hero Packaging, 70% of our mailing bags use PBAT. The other 30% comes from PLA (Polylactic Acid is a polymer made from renewable resources.)
What is PBAT’s carbon footprint?
While PBAT can decompose completely without leaving toxic residues, it is not technically renewable. Even though it is the best alternative for e-commerce packaging that we have at this time, we are continuing to look for new plant-based ingredients that can further reduce our dependency on fossil fuels.
When you compost a PBAT product at home, the materials break down easily. Their impact on the planet is incredibly lower than the impact of plastics because plastic production uses a lot more renewable resources than PBAT production.
The use of PBAT in the packaging industry
The plastic packaging industry creates tons of plastic waste and a lot of it ends up in the landfill. By moving to compostable packaging solutions the industry can significantly reduce plastic pollution. Hero Packaging has been at the forefront of this transformation in the packaging industry.
We provide compostable mailers, poly bags, padded mailers, labels, and tape which can be used by businesses who are moving to environment-friendly packaging options. Many of our clients manufacture or supply sustainable products which make PBAT packaging ideal for mailing their products.
Learning about the ingredients that go into your packaging products and awareness of how they can impact the planet can be the first step to moving towards a sustainable business.