Biodegradable packaging for mate

From Sustainable is Good

Beginning this month, Guayaki Yerba Mate's new San Mateo and Traditional Loose Yerba Mate "teas" featuring new compostable and biodegradable packaging will appear on store shelves around the country. In their quest to create the ‘greenest’ packaging possible, Guayaki learned about a technology called NatureFlex that is created by Innovia Films. Guayaki worked with their eco-minded friends at Superfood Snacks and Innovia to pioneer the first retail products that use this technology in a flexible stand-up bag format. The new bags for San Mateo and Traditional Loose Yerba Mate are made of 2 layers of cellophane and foil films and are printed using water-based inks.  The outside layer of the colorful package is transparent cellulose, and the inside film layer is made of cellulose with one side coated with a microscopic layer of aluminum that serves as a barrier to light, oxygen and moisture.
The outside cellulose layer is printed so that the eco-friendly water-based inks are trapped between the layers so that the ink can not scratch off.  The foil side is facing the outside so that the product inside is only in contact with the transparent cellulose layer.
Although cellophane films and aluminum foils are not new packaging concepts, the process for producing metalized cellulose films that are compostable and biodegradable and have the ability to be strong and flexible is truly groundbreaking.
First marketed in the U.S. in the 1920’s, cellophane was the most popular packaging film until the 1960’s. That was when poly based products began to dominate the packaging market.  In today’s more environmentally-conscious market, cellophane is returning to popularity because it is 100% biodegradable.
Aluminum acts as a very effective barrier to light, oxygen, odors, flavors, moisture, and bacteria.  The Guayaki bags are designed to provide the freshness benefits of an aluminum barrier, using the minimal amount of material necessary. 
This NatureFlex film is the only metalized biodegradable film suitable for home composting because the level of metal is minuscule (by overall composition less than 0.02% of the bag).  In the decomposition process, the thin coating of aluminum oxidizes and turns into aluminum oxide which is inert and non-toxic.