Australian biodegradable plastics company to list on AIM

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Plantic Technologies Ltd is to list on the Alternative Investment Market in London, raising £15 million.

The company, develops, manufactures and distributes a biodegradable material for use in the plastics and packaging industries. The money raised in the listing will be used for research and development, new product commercialisation, manufacturing and ongoing capital expenditure. Libertas Capital is acting as nominated adviser and broker to the company.

Plantic says its technology provides a fully biodegradable, water-soluble, organic alternative to synthetic plastics. The raw material is based on non-genetically modified high-amylose corn starch, which can be converted into packaging and rigid plastics using industry standard equipment. The finished packaging is officially certified home compostable, biodegradable and safe for disposal in waste water in Europe.

The Melbourne-based company was founded in 2001 as a spin-out from the publicly funded Cooperative Research Centre for International Food Manufacture and Packaging Science.

Plantic aims to commercialise its starch-based plastic technologies across a broad range of applications, with a focus on the packaging industry, especially for food and beverages. With partner companies in the packaging industry and consumer goods manufacturers, it is developing a number of products in the early stages of commercialisation.

The first product, the Plantic tray, is sold commercially to customers including Cadbury Schweppes, Nestle and Lindt & Sprungli.  

Apart from their green credentials, Plantic-based products also offer performance benefits. For example, the product has anti-static properties and provides a gas and odour barrier to extend the shelf-life of packaged products. Unlike its petrochemical-derived counterparts, the raw material is non-toxic, non-flammable and natural, making handling, transportation and processing considerably safer and more environmentally friendly, says the company.

The price of Plantic material varies depending on the specific formulation and application, but the company says it is comparable with that of synthetic plastics.

Testing on the Plantic tray has shown that the total amount of energy consumed during the life cycle of the product (from manufacture to decomposition) is approximately half that of plastics derived from non-biodegradable petrochemicals.

Chief Executive Grant Dow said, “Plantic brings to the market a packaging material that begins in the ground, costs less to produce in terms of both money and energy and leaves no residue once it returns to nature. This could be a catalyst not only for the packaging industry but for a whole range of potential applications in other sectors as well."