XAMPLA and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have developed a test to validate the company’s claim that its Morro materials – made from natural plant polymers – are plastic-free and SUPD-exempt.
This provides packaging manufacturers with assurance that the materials meet tightening UK and EU regulations on single-use plastics, while also establishing the foundation for a ‘first-of-its-kind’ validation method for plastic-free claims.
Xampla explained there is currently no universally accepted method for verifying a material is plastic-free. The business teamed up with NPL through its Measurement for Business (M4B) programme to develop a way of verifying plastic-free claims.
The EU’s REACH regulation defines plastics as ‘polymers to which additives or other substances have been added’ and highlights that natural polymers which have not been chemically modified are not plastics. NPL scientists compared the chemical and physical signatures of Morro’s natural polymers before and after processing. The results are said to have shown ‘no meaningful chemical changes’, confirming Xampla’s Morro materials are not chemically modified, are therefore not plastic according to the EU REACH definition, and are SUPD-exempt.
Dr Marc Rodriguez Garcia, co-founder and CTO at Xampla, said, “Given the rapid pace of regulatory change, packaging companies desperately need credible assurance about any plastic-free product they buy. We hope this approach — the first of its kind as far as we know — can now be replicated by others to support plastic-free innovation more broadly. For Xampla, this work with NPL conclusively proves that our Morro materials are plastic-free at a chemical level and so meet existing regulations. Having the data from world-leading independent measurement scientists lets us alleviate doubts of even the most cautious customers.”
