Why We Choose Plants, Not Fossil Fuels
Where our raw materials come from matters just as much as where they go next.
At Salty, we believe good packaging design starts long before the packaging is made. It starts with the raw materials we choose to make it from.
Most conventional plastic packaging begins with oil and gas — fossil resources containing carbon that has been stored underground for millions of years.
We choose a different starting point.
We use renewable raw materials and renewable carbon already moving through the natural carbon cycle.
It starts with plants
Plants naturally take CO₂ from the atmosphere and use the carbon to grow. That carbon becomes part of the plant — its leaves, stems, roots, wood and crops. Together, this plant matter is known as biomass.
As plants grow, they continually capture carbon from the atmosphere. This makes plant-derived carbon fundamentally different from fossil carbon extracted from oil and gas reserves underground.
We use these renewable resources across the materials and packaging we develop at Salty.
Our Wayfarer paper and board packaging uses renewable plant fibre combined with a bio-based barrier coating.
Our biopolymer flexible packaging uses renewable raw materials to create films for bags, pouches, sachets and other flexible packaging formats.
The materials and manufacturing processes are different, but the principle behind them is the same: Start with renewable raw materials rather than newly extracted fossil resources.
Why the source of carbon matters
Carbon itself isn't the problem. Carbon is everywhere in nature and is essential to life. The important question is where that carbon comes from. Plants take carbon from atmospheric CO₂ as part of today's biological carbon cycle.
Fossil fuels contain ancient carbon. It originated from living organisms millions of years ago and was eventually transformed into coal, oil and gas and stored underground.
When we extract oil and gas to manufacture conventional plastic, we bring that ancient carbon back into today's active carbon system.
We also think about where the material goes next
Choosing renewable raw materials is only part of the story. Packaging still needs to perform. It needs to protect the product, provide the right barrier, withstand transport and maintain its integrity throughout its useful life.
But when that job is finished, the material needs somewhere to go. For our certified home-compostable packaging, we design for a biological end-of-life pathway.
Under home-composting conditions, microorganisms digest the compostable material, converting it into biomass, CO₂ and water.
The carbon becomes part of the biological cycle again.
Plants - renewable raw materials - packaging - use - home compost - microorganisms - biomass + CO₂ + water = biological cycle
This is the renewable carbon cycle we are designing our materials to work within.
A different approach to fossil plastic
Conventional fossil-based plastic follows a predominantly linear journey:
Oil + gas - plastic production - packaging - use - sorting - waste - lost to environment + 9% recycling
Recycling plays an important role for plastics where collection, sorting and recycling systems exist. But many flexible plastic packaging formats remain difficult to recycle in practice.
When plastic escapes waste-management systems, it can persist in the environment and fragment into progressively smaller pieces, including micro- and nanoplastics.
Our approach is different.
Rather than beginning with ancient fossil carbon and trying to solve the problem only at the end of the packaging's life, we think about the whole material journey from the beginning.
Where did the raw material come from?
What are we asking it to do?
And where is it designed to go when that job is finished?
Designing packaging as a system
Renewable doesn't automatically mean impact-free.
Growing raw materials, energy, transport, manufacturing and end-of-life conditions all have an environmental impact. These things matter, and they need to be considered as part of the complete system. But the source of the material matters too.
That's why renewable raw materials sit at the heart of what we develop at Salty. We choose plants over newly extracted fossil resources. We engineer those renewable materials to perform. And where we design packaging for home composting, we create a biological pathway for what happens after use.
It is a different way of thinking about packaging:
Grow. Make. Use. Compost. Cycle.
Instead of simply:
Extract. Make. Use. Waste.
Because we don't just ask:
“What is this packaging made from?”
We ask:
“Where did it come from — and where is it designed to go next?”
THERE IS NO AWAY.
Ready to rethink where your packaging starts?
If you’re looking to move away from fossil-based packaging, talk to us about renewable packaging designed for performance and a considered end of life.
From flexible films, bags and sachets to paper and board solutions, we work with businesses to find the right material and format for their product.
Start with better raw materials. Design for what happens next.
Talk to Salty → enquiries@saltoftheearthpackaging.nz
www.wearesalty.nz