WARSAW – Using disposable tableware when organising a dinner party or when having a

picnic at the park saves up time and cleaning efforts, but it does not come without a moral
burden. The general public is now more aware than ever about the perilous consequences of
the abundance of plastic and paper waste on earth, as scientific research institutions continue
to pile on evidence on the negative externalities of these materials. Unfortunately, awareness
raising has not yet translated into a significant shift in market trends, and both the widespread
availability of disposable plastic and paper products in the food industry, let alone the total
global annual output, and the lifestyles and behavioural patterns of consumers continue to
hamper the implementation of ‘greener’ solutions. However, the good news is that, in recent
years, new companies have emerged to propose a viable alternative to plastic and paper that
have shown to have profitable business models and the capacity to scale up across the world.
One of them is Biotrem, a Polish company that develops biodegrabable and edible wheat
bran-based tableware.
Bran is the broken outer shell of grain separated from flour after milling. It is usually used as
animal feed and as a source of dietary fiber in the manufacturing of foodstuff by the food
industry. However, large amounts of it are wasted every year as its characteristics make it a
liability for cereal producers. “Weight-wise bran is just 30% of the grain, but volume-wise
it’s almost 100% of the original, unprocessed grain. It requires storage space, handling and
it can’t be stored longer than 5-7 days,” stated Malgorzata Then, CEO of Biotrem, during our
interview. Bearing that in mind, Mr. Jerzy Wysocki, the inventor of Biotrem’s technology,
whose family’s milling traditions date back to the beginning of the 20th century, invented a
technology a couple decades ago to turn wheat bran into biodegradable tableware. In 2015,
driven by the increasing demand for environmentally-friendly packaging and backed by
national waste-related legislation, Biotrem built a production plant in Zambrow, in
northeastern Poland, and started to commercialise its products.
Photo courtesy of Biotrem.
Their unique technology operates a fully automated manufacturing process that turns locally-
sourced wheat into robust brownish pieces of tableware and cutlery in a matter of minutes.
A distribution system channels the milled bran through several pipes all the way from the
storage room into each one of the machines. Depending on the product and its size – they
currently produce plates, in different sizes, round bowls, oval bowls and cutlery – each
machine then pours an accurately metered amount of bran into each mold which, after being
pressed and baked during a two minute process, delivers the product onto a conveyer belt to
cool down. The whole process is very resource efficient as the only needed raw materials are
wheat bran and water – in small amounts and depending on the level of moisture of the bran.
Once ready, the final product is taken to the packaging department where it is prepared to be
shipped off to their distributors.
Biotrem’s innovative business model incorporates the core principles of a circular economy
and sustainability criteria. Regarding its circularity properties, the company’s valorisation
and conversion of wheat bran surplus alligns with EU FUSIONS’ theoretical framework, that
supports an agri-food system where resource flows are designed to prevent losses and waste
and to recover raw materials. “So the first goal for Mr. Wysocki, because he was a miller,
was to do something with wheat bran and to use it as a normal product, not as waste,” stated
Malgorzata. Their efforts to minimise the value loss of wheat bran and to extend its lifecycle,
which contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDG) 12.3
target on food waste, are supported by the European Commission as part of the EU Platform
on Food Losses and Food Waste.

Photo courtesy of EU FUSIONS.

With regard to sustainability criteria, the use of wheat bran and other raw materials in
packaging products constitutes an ecological alternative to materials such as styrofoam and
coated paper, as they create less environmental externalities and they are more resource
efficient, in comparison. Paper and plastic are overall the most widely used types of
packaging materials in the world. Their vast abundance, which makes perfect business sense
within a linear “take, make, dispose” model, poses serious economic and environmental
challenges. Economically speaking, the disposal or the conversion – incineration,
transformation to bio-energy and others – of products that could have been recovered and
upcycled means the loss of significant monetary and material value. Environmentally
speaking, their long decomposition time exposes nature to substances that could be
potentially damaging, as plastic products may take up to a thousand years to decompose and
paper products around half a year. Consequently, we are seeing more and more companies
take advantage of this market niche, who are using renewable alternatives, that have a smaller
ecological footprint, such as sugar cane, bamboo or palm leaves in packaging manufacturing.
Contrary to their non-renewable counterparts, they use zero or close to zero chemicals in the
production process, while also offering similar usage features such as stiffness and thermal
insulation. Biotrem’s wheat bran-based products belong to this group, though they have a
slight competitive edge when it comes to both functionality (they can be eaten) and scalability
(Wheat bran is virtually available everywhere in the world and their patented technology can
be replicated everywhere).

Only two years after starting to commercialise their products, Biotrem’s current production
output is estimated at approximately 15 million pieces a year. The viability and the success
of their business model has set an important standard for future similar companies to come.
At this rate it is only a matter of time before their worldwide expansion plans come to fruition.