DIVE DEEPER:

• It is estimated that the beauty industry generates between 120 and 151 billion units of packaging per year. Given that just 9% of the 6.3 billion tonnes of virgin plastic produced up to 2015 has been recycled, it is highly likely that packaging will end up as waste.

• Vivomer was released to market, in September 2021, by Shellworks, a materials innovation startup "on a mission to make plastic waste a thing of the past."

• The company emerged in 2019 as a joint master’s degree project, intended to find plastic alternatives and previously focused solely on creating materials from seafood waste products, such as chitin. It formally launched as a start-up in 2020 and the current team consists of scientists, engineers and designers.

• Vivomer is the most recent innovation from the company and has been specifically designed to compost at end-of-life to combat what co-founder Amir Afshar calls “broken recycling systems."

• After fermentation, the material is combined with natural additives, such as cellulose-based fibres. It can then be processed in the same manner as conventional thermoplastics, allowing for injection moulding and mass manufacturing.

• Being able to follow the same processing methods as fossil fuel-based plastics means Vivomer can also be manufactured on existing apparatus with only minimal changes. This encompasses the benefit of cost parity with other solutions.

• Vivomer has been central to a number of key beauty product launches. In February 2022, UK-based beauty brand Bybi launched what it called the "world’s first carbon negative skincare product." The Glowcurrant Booster featured a Vivomer cap and nozzle, which the brand marketed as being able to break down within 52 weeks in home compost and within three years in general waste.

• In July 2022, Haeckels re-launched its skincare line as Haeckels Skin, with all products packaged in Vivomer. The British brand enlisted Provenance to verify claims of compostability in all environments and says the packaging will "contribute to the biosphere in as little as 48 weeks."

• Other beauty brand clients include Liha, for whom it made compostable beauty spatulas and fragrance brand Sana Jardin. The company intends to announce further partnerships later in 2022.

• To enhance Vivomer’s offering, Shellworks has developed natural dyes, which are home compostable and can be Pantone colour matched. It is also in the piloting stage for natural, home compostable seals.

• In July 2022, Shellworks raised GBP 5 million (USD 6.2 million) in a seed round led by LocalGlobe. Other investors included Founder Collective, True Global and Box Group.