The compostable PADECO® pad from the Polish company POMONA Company Ltd. Sp. z o.o.
The innovative Polish company Pomona Company Ltd has developed and registered as an industrial design throughout Europe a fully compostable absorbent pad for fresh food called PADECO. The product responds to the global trend of curbing the waste stream. The next step belongs to manufacturers of trays and covering films—they too need to become compostable, and then we will have a packaging set of an entirely new generation. The technologies already exist, and the introduction of tax regulations concerning plastics will change business calculations and accelerate ecological progress in food packaging. Fortunately, the PADECO pad itself is not expensive, which opens the way to the widespread adoption of ecological packaging for fresh food. PADECO is already being used in recyclable packaging. PADECO—and this is the most important point—can, once removed from the tray, easily be placed into bio-waste to be turned into useful compost. Recycling has marked great progress, but its successor will be packaging that decomposes without leaving a harmful carbon footprint. The PADECO pad takes a major step toward fulfilling the “Zero Waste” goal, making it possible to completely eliminate the most ecologically problematic packaging waste from fresh food (meat, poultry, fish, greens, etc.). PADECO is, quite simply, bio-waste. And as such, it yields a useful bio-substance. It can serve, for example, as a natural fertilizer produced under either home or industrial conditions. This has been confirmed by studies carried out not only at POMONA itself, but also at certification companies abroad.
Each year, several hundred billion absorbent pads are used in Europe in packaging for fresh food (meat, poultry, fish). This translates into tons of waste—at best, sent for incineration. This situation can be radically improved by the PADECO pad, which is essentially cellulose laminated with corn-based film. Tests in the Oklin GG02 composter have proven that PADECO fully decomposes within five days. The PADECO pad therefore moves food packaging onto a closed-loop path, becoming a real alternative to multi-material, unnatural pads. Compostability—whether under home or industrial conditions—will quickly become a financially attractive solution for business and an option expected by consumers.
PADECO® pads meet the expectations of industry. They can be produced in the form of absorbers cut “to size” or in “bales” wound onto a roll: this is a technologically flexible product.
The use of PADECO® does not require any technological changes in companies that form packaging for fresh food. Of course, its widespread adoption must be accompanied by regulations and an information campaign obligating consumers to properly sort packaging—but this is already happening and must extend to the matter of the bio-absorbent pad. The advantages of PADECO are already being recognized by retail chains. They have even placed their first orders—for now outside Poland, but this too is set to change.