From 22 to 26 July 2019, South Australia’s Global Leadership Program on the Circular Economy will profile local businesses when it welcomes international delegates to Adelaide.

Locals like BioBag are helping the state lead the way for recycling innovation, earning a reputation as a manufacturing hub for sustainable products.

BioBag's Adelaide manufacturing plant was launched earlier this year by South Australia's Environment Minister David Speirs who said BioBag is “getting on board our state government’s agenda around reducing single use plastic. This is exciting not only from an environmental point of view, but also from an economic point of view. We want South Australia to be renowned as a place where we manufacture clean, green products and we take those to the world, creating jobs and investment in our state.”

The Netley operation in the western suburbs of Adelaide will manufacture around 15 million compostable BioBags a year to service increasing demand from businesses looking to use environmentally friendly alternatives to plastic bags. BioBag’s Adelaide factory is run 90 percent on solar electricity.

BioBag World Australia Director Scott Morton says many businesses are very keen to make the change. “We’re also seeing consumers steering businesses to make small changes that bring opportunities for better environmental outcomes,” Mr Morton said. 

"BioBags are made from compostable polymers that can be eaten by microorganisms, allowing the material to break down after it’s used. Instead of lasting for hundreds of years like a plastic bag, a BioBag will be gone within a matter of weeks anywhere there's oxygen and microorganisms, including on land, in the ocean and in some landfills."

Mr Morton is encouraging Australians to make incremental changes and not to worry if those changes are not perfect. "We need to stop looking for the perfect solution and start questioning the status quo. If we all make incremental changes we will see improvements,” he said.

A South Australian Small Business Award winner for his plastics businesses Peakfresh and Polybags, Morton started transitioning his factory to compostable because he believes bioplastic is the way of the future.

"In Australia and internationally, the conversation about plastics has really started to highlight the incredible amount of single use plastic we use and, even worse, the amount of this plastic that is finding its way into our environment,” Mr Morton said.

"With this in mind, we started investigating options for our company to ensure we remained sustainable in the future. The result was a joint venture between BioBag International and Peakfresh to set up local manufacturing and begin our transition to bioplastics.
 
"With the continuing improvement of bioplastics, it is becoming as functional as polyethylene and with this in mind we have enormous opportunities.

“We would like consumers to start realising what a valuable resource organic materials are. It is essential that we put as high a value as possible on this resource and start capturing it. To put organics in landfill should be considered unacceptable,” said Mr Morton.

Certified to Australian standards, BioBag’s compostable bags and ventilated kitchen caddies are supplied to residents through a growing number of metropolitan councils as part of strategies to divert food waste from landfill bins to kerbside green organics bins. There are also opportunities to supply shops and supermarkets with compostable produce rolls, carry bags, bin liners, resealable bags and dog waste bags.

"BioBag is one of the few smaller businesses in our state manufacturing locally,” said BioBag World Australia Director Scott Morton. “Manufacturing locally will give us more flexibility to customise orders for our compostable bags. 

"South Australia has been at forefront of recycling in Australia for well over 40 years. Peakfresh/Polybags has been operating for over 10 years, making traditional plastics and also specialist plastics used all over the world to reduce food waste.

"We are proud to be a South Australian company keeping jobs in South Australia and exporting over 60 percent of our products to Europe, USA, Vietnam and many other countries,” Mr Morton said.

South Australia will be powered entirely by renewable energy within the next two years.

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