Can bio-based plastic go in the oven? If Ubite and Rodenburg have their way, it certainly can!
We’ve all seen them: the plastic plates, trays and cups on planes, in canteens or at festivals. Handy, lightweight and affordable. However, they are made from fossil fuels, a polluting and finite resource. There is another way. And things must change.
Bio-based plastic tableware
Plastic tableware for the catering industry must meet strict requirements: it must be heat-resistant, lightweight, durable and affordable. In practice, this means that ceramics and porcelain are ruled out, and fossil-based plastic wins out. There are bio-based alternatives, such as PLA, made from sugars derived from maize or sugar cane, but these have one major drawback: they cannot withstand high temperatures. They are simply not suitable for use in an oven (>200 °C).
The solution: bio-based and oven-safe tableware
UBITE and Rodenburg Biopolymers are therefore joining forces to solve this problem. Rodenburg Biopolymers, in collaboration with partner Wageningen University & Research (WUR), is developing a bio-based PLA compound with a unique crystal structure that can withstand extreme temperatures, from freezer to oven. The raw material? Agricultural waste streams. UBITE then processes the compound into reusable, heat-resistant tableware for the catering industry. The result is sustainable tableware that can simply be put in the oven, without compromising on functionality.
This project marks a new step towards sustainable, circular and practical tableware for the catering industry. By replacing fossil-based materials with materials derived from renewable waste streams, the carbon footprint of tableware is significantly reduced. Over the next 10 years, the target reduction is as much as 95% compared to current fossil-based tableware.
From lab to practice
The project partners have developed and validated prototypes of the renewable tableware at laboratory scale, receiving positive feedback from the aviation and catering sectors. In this project, the product and production process will be further developed by scaling up the compounding and injection moulding processes to produce pilot batches for end-users in the catering sector.
In the summer of 2025, InnoFunding successfully secured a DEI+ pilot project grant for UBITE and Rodenburg Biopolymers. This grant will enable the technology to be validated at pilot scale, the production process to be optimised, and the tableware to be tested in real-world settings. The results will form the basis for further upscaling and commercial application.
Would you like more information about this project? Please contact Rodenburg Biopolymers (Rick Hagenaars: rick.hagenaars@rodenburg.com) or UBITE (Thomas Tesink: thomastesink@ubite.com).
Curious about funding opportunities for your project?
Would you, for example, also like to start a DEI+ pilot project to scale up your innovation? Please contact us at info@innofunding.nl, where our passionate team of engineers and finance professionals is ready to assist you.
This project is being carried out with funding from the Ministry of Climate and Green Growth
This article is a repost from www.innofunding.nl