CAMBRIDGE-based Xampla has revealed its first ever consumer brand, called Morro.
The ‘Morro marque’ is designed to indicate where high-performing, sustainable, plant-based materials have been used to make products in a way that is good for the planet.
The announcement comes as a survey of 2,000 UK adults showed 54% see plastic as a ‘material of the past’. Xampla said 76% of respondents prefer their products ‘to come in natural, plastic-free packaging that can be composted at home or taken by the council alongside food waste’.
Morro plant-based materials are said to meet this demand by providing ‘exceptional high-strength performance’ while being biodegradable in the natural environment.
The technology is plastic-free, and the material is not chemically modified, ensuring it is able to break down with food waste and even in the sea or soil if it accidentally ends up there.
Morro materials are described as completely natural, and can be edible and soluble, meaning they can be used in applications where the whole product – including the packaging – is either cooked or eaten together.
Additionally, Morro materials have the capacity to perform in ways that plastic never could, by ‘micro-packaging’ vitamins and nutrients within liquids to protect them from UV-rays, pasteurisation and changes in pH balance.
Pete Hutton, executive chair at Xampla, said, “The polling data shows that the public is already ahead of industry in seeing that plastic’s days are numbered. With the public ever more acutely aware of the dangers of plastic pollution and carbon cost of producing it, consumers are ready for an innovative and practical alternative.
“Morro will enable brands to make an easy switch away from single-use plastics, and our breakthrough material can do things plastic never could.”
Xampla’s technology is already used by brands including meal kit company Gousto and soft drink manufacturer Britvic, with implemented applications from edible stock cubes to vitamin microcapsules.
