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Compostable, water-soluble shipping materials used by meat delivery service

E-commerce meat company Crowd Cow ditches the EPS insulation for a shipping material that is home-compostable and meltable, and can be safely disintegrated in water.

Crowd Cow is transitioning all of its shipping materials from EPS to corn starch-based Green Cell Foam.
Crowd Cow is transitioning all of its shipping materials from EPS to corn starch-based Green Cell Foam.

Crowd Cow, an online marketplace for craft meat, has announced a commitment to sustainable practices in 2019 by transitioning all of its shipping materials from expanded polystyrene tocorn starch-based Green Cell Foam. The completely biodegradable material produced by KTM Industries can be composted, burned, or safely disintegrated in water. Customers of Crowd Cow have applauded the company’s conversion to sustainable packaging, recognizing the positive impact the change will have on the environment.

“Just as our farmers are great stewards of the land, it’s important to us and our customers to have compostable insulation, especially as China takes less of our country’s recycled materials,” says Joe Heitzeberg, CEO & Co-Founder of Crowd Cow.

BPI-certifiedGreen Cell Foam is made from 100% organic materials—including corn starch, water, proprietary adhesives, and processing aids—making it safe to melt and pour down the kitchen sink. It can also be dissolved in a bucket of water, which KTM says makes excellent food for plants, burned on the grill, or used as a fireplace starter. For all of its shipments to consumers, Crowd Cow uses Green Cell Plus, which takes three-panel sections of Green Cell Foam and envelops them in a polyethylene film to provide an effective barrier against moisture and humidity. The outer film can be recycled with #4 plastics, while the interior can be melted, composted, or burned.

According to KTM, the outer film will be replaced later this year with one that will make the entire packaging biodegradable.

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