Sustainable packaging developer Tipa has announced its UK brand partnership with Snact, a social enterprise making snacks from surplus product.

Announced at the PPMA Total Show 2016 in Birmingham, the brand confirmed it collaborated with Tipa to ensure its packaging matches the ethos of the company, promoting sustainability and tackling the causes of food waste.

Made in the UK using 100% fruit, Snacts range of fruit jerky snacks are now packaged using Tipas fully compostable, flexible packaging that offers the same end of life organic waste properties as the fruit jerky it wraps. The packaging is just as durable and impermeable as ordinary plastic packaging. However, unlike other commonly used materials on the market, it biologically decomposes within just 180 days and becomes a fertiliser for soil, behaving similarly to an orange peel.

In tests run by Tipas labs to simulate home composting conditions, the new Snact packaging was seen to decompose in just 24 weeks (pictured below).

With most commonly available laminates for food packaging today being non recyclable, this partnership marks a significant step for both brands as they move to a truly holistic solution to significantly reduce the unsustainable volume of non recyclable waste currently generated by the industry.

Daphna Nissenbaum, CEO and co founder of Tipa, says, "Our partnership with Snact marks a first step in the UK market. Were currently trialling our products with a number of UK brands within the grocery retail sector and hope to see further partnerships announced as brands recognise the benefits of our technology.

"Working with such an eco conscious brand like Snact was a natural fit for us and were excited to see the roll out of our fully compostable, flexible packaging in support of such a worthy brand in the fight against food waste."