Nope, it’s not a kitchen hack gone viral—it’s next-gen packaging made straight from potato peels. That’s right: the skin you toss is being turned into compostable containers that could replace plastic. Meet the circular economy’s new MVP.
According to Springwise, a Swiss startup called Peel Pack Company has created a high-performance biopolymer made entirely from waste potato peels. The result? Containers and punnets for fresh produce that are both biodegradable and compostable—you toss it, it breaks down, and the Earth says thanks.
Before your brain fries, consider this: Italian designers Simone Caronni, Pietro Gaeli, and Paolo Stefano Gentile came up with “Peel Saver,” a street-food packaging concept that uses macerated, dried potato-peel pulp to form food-holding cones. These peel-based cones hold up just fine under hot fries—and not a single flake of plastic in sight.
Turns out, potato peels are packed with starch and fiber—perfect for forming durable, paper-like sheets when mashed, pressed, and dried. Once you’re done munching and tossing the container, it naturally decomposes into fertilizer or feed. Zero waste. Full circle.
This isn’t just foodie fun. The real mission? Tackling the mountain of food and packaging waste piling up globally. Billions of tons of plastic waste come from packaging each year—and we’re not just talking chip bags. Peel-based alternatives reduce the need for single-use plastic and make use of a product that would otherwise end up rotting in landfills.
And with more than 8 million tons of potato peel waste projected by 2030 (source: Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery), the raw material is practically begging to be reused. The best part? It’s local, abundant, and cheap.
This is where it gets exciting. Imagine your supermarket apples wrapped in peel-based trays. Your takeout box? Compostable and made from the fries that almost made it. As this technology scales, we could see packaging that skips fossil fuels altogether and returns to the soil where it came from.
“Packaged in Paris, composted in your backyard” doesn’t sound so far-fetched anymore.
Hungry for more sustainable swaps and innovation inspo? Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Instagram and Facebook to stay in the loop. No peel left behind.
Sources:
Published June 20, 2025 6:51PM
Eveelife is an eco-oriented lifestyle platform that helps consumers make more purposeful choices about how they live and what they consume. We do it by curating content and products that help them make more conscious, carbon-free choices while amplifying their EV ownership experience.
