Bio-based alternatives to traditional plastics are moving from niche innovation to application-specific material design. Jack Eaton, Chief Commercial Officer at NIRI, considers how nonwovens can help developers balance renewable content, functional performance, and end-of-life, and why the exploitation of bio-based materials requires a collaborative approach.
Regulatory demands driving the market shift
Bio-based plastics’ production is forecast to double to approximately 4.69 million tonnes by 2030, and packaging represents the largest sector, with 41.3 percent of total market share in 2025[1]
Since 12th August 2026, the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) has applied across the EU. And consumer pressure to reduce reliance on traditional plastics is driving the agenda, along with regulatory requirements relating to PFAS, the ‘forever chemicals’. In the UK, packaging extended producer responsibility (pEPR) requires packaging producers to cover the cost of managing household packaging waste – from collection, to sorting, recycling, and disposal[2].
Benefits and barriers
Bio-based materials represent a significant opportunity to meet these demands if they can address the issues of renewability, compostability, and reduced emissions. But it should be noted that bio-based does not automatically mean biodegradable, compostable or plastic-free. End-of-life performance therefore has to be designed for the application rather than assumed from the feedstock. Whether derived from starch, cellulose, sugarcane, PLA / PHA, plant proteins, agricultural residues, seaweed- or algae-derived materials, chitosan or other waste-derived bioresources, the choice of feedstock for any application involves cost, availability, processing, and end-of-life considerations. For example, some starch-based polymers are readily compostable but inherently brittle. PLA can offer similar properties to PET but requires industrial composting, impacting cost and end-of-life.
There are barriers to adoption of bio-based materials, such as compostability and performance trade-offs. Where bio-based materials may not achieve the same performance levels as fossil-based plastics, combining materials can increase complexity making it harder to recycle, potentially creating new sustainability problems by contaminating waste management processes. Equally, there are ethical considerations – where common industrial bio-based solutions compete with food production for raw materials. In addition to these environmental concerns, there are practical and commercial considerations, including manufacturing costs and equipment investment and the need for runnability on existing production lines. In this context, innovations in nonwovens technology and manufacturing methods can help bridge the gap between the quest for ‘miracle materials’ and the development of tailored formulations and constructions that balance renewable content, functional performance, commercial scale, and credible end-of-life pathways.
The importance of nonwovens for sustainable packaging
Nonwovens offer a way to design packaging around the function required rather than around a single material. Research and developments in nonwovens represent a significant way forward for the practicality of bio-based packaging - different fibre-forming and web-forming processes can combine natural fibres and biopolymers and allow developers to test performance and scale-up against specific requirements. . For example, wetlaid technology has enabled the production of binder-free PLA and wood pulp nonwovens for protective wraps; meltblown processes can be used to manufacture breathable, transparent, recyclable webs; airlaid manufacturing can provide enhanced moisture management – particularly for food pads. And finishing and coating treatments can offer improvements to specific characteristics, for example PHA and protein-based surface treatments to introduce water vapour, grease, and oxygen barriers to bio-based paper and cardboard packaging.
These nonwoven manufacturing technologies can offer economic advantages as they are often compatible with current manufacturing equipment, reducing the need for infrastructure investment. But we also need pragmatism: while some bio-based polymers are available now, others are still emerging, e.g. some of the mycelium and algae-derived polymers, or nanocellulose. The right question is therefore not simply, "Which material is most sustainable?" but, "How does this product need to perform, how will it run at scale, and what is its credible end-of-life route?" Answering these requires collaboration across the value chain.
Collaboration and open innovation
The success of bio-based packaging relies on collaboration across all stages of a product’s lifecycle, incorporating recycling infrastructure; composting considerations; standardised design and regulatory requirements; circular and transparent supply chains, and shared research.
An open innovation approach can bring those capabilities together earlier, allowing companies to access specialist knowledge and test assumptions before committing to a full-scale solution. In practice, the principle is simple: useful knowledge is distributed across organisations, so no single company needs to solve every part of the challenge alone.
For packaging developers, that collaboration can be highly practical. A material innovator, converter, brand or food manufacturer, and end-of-life specialist can define the performance specification together, trial candidate materials and treatments at an appropriate scale, and identify failure modes before significant capital is committed. This reduces the risk of creating a pack that performs in the laboratory but fails on a production line - or one that meets the functional brief but has no credible route through existing waste-management infrastructure.
Ultimately, the complexity of the packaging supply chain and the seemingly-competing demands of sustainability, performance, end-of-life and circular design principles, requires industry collaboration. Because of this complexity, bio-based packaging must start with the application, not the material. Define performance and end-of-life needs first, then engineer the right solution. Nonwovens offer a flexible development toolkit, but success depends on early collaboration between material innovators, converters, brands, manufacturers and waste-management specialists.
[1] https://docs.european-bioplastics.org/publications/market_data/2025/EUBP_Market_Data_Report_2025.pdf
[2] https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-10352/