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Bio-based Snickers wrapper wins top award

Four years in the making, a bio-based film wrapper for Mars' Snickers candy bar made from potato starch waste is given top honors in the 11th Global Bioplastics Awards.

The Mars’ Snickers bar uses bio-based film made from starch derived from wastewater from potato processing.
The Mars’ Snickers bar uses bio-based film made from starch derived from wastewater from potato processing.

The companies responsible for producing a bio-based film wrapper made from potato starch waste for Mars’ Snickers bar was proclaimed the winner of the 2016 "Oskar" in the 11th annual Global Bioplastics Awards competition held at the European Bioplastics Conference in Berlin in late November 2016. The package was a joint development by Mars, Rodenburg Biopolymers (+31 162 497030), and Taghleef Industries. Mondi’s Consumer Goods Packaging division was also involved with the project, converting the wrapper at its plant in Solec, Poland.

The joint project to produce the bio-based candy-bar wrapper began in 2012. Rodenberg produced the raw material, Taghleef manufactured the film, Mondi printed the packaging, and Mars packed its chocolate bars using the film. According to Mars, the new material has not compromised the efficiency of its packaging lines; the running speed is equivalent to that achieved with standard polypropylene films.

In the first step of the project, Rodenburg developed a custom-made compound based on second-generation starch derived from wastewater from the potato processing industry. Company CEO Thijs Rodenburg says,“The unique cooperation is a best-practice example for the whole bioplastics industry. Without a joint effort, this success could not have been realized.”

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