The Ukrainian startup is on a mission to scale biodegradable packaging

A German pharmacist invented polystyrene in 1839. Today, the production of polystyrene produces more than 12.5 million metric tons of CO2 emissions per year, and 15 million metric tons are produced each year, with a recycling rate of less than 1%.

In 2016, Tetra Pak was the first company in the food packaging industry to adopt its climate impact reduction targets from the Science-Based Targets (SBT) initiative. A year later, in 2017, Tetra Pak had a 13% reduction in its overall climate impact, despite a 19% increase in packs sold.

The biodegradable packaging market was valued at USD 473.74 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach more than USD 800 billion by 2032.

Scaling up biodegradable packaging

A Ukrainian startup, S.Lab, has been working to scale biodegradable packaging. The company was founded in 2021, but with the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the company moved its production facilities to Málaga, Spain.

Julia Bialetska, CEO and co-founder of S.Lab said they chose this area because the region is striving to become climate neutral by 2030, actively investing in sustainability, fostering the development of related businesses and serving as a convenient logistics center.

Bialetska says Spain is an agricultural country with a lot of agricultural waste, including hemp and flax, which the company uses in its production. The local government also granted S.Lab a manufacturing facility for five years.

In 2024, the company launched its first fully automated production line in Coín, with a capacity of up to 30,000 units per month. Bialetska says that this is a complete production cycle: from buying waste from local farmers within a radius of 50 km from the production site to producing the packaging itself.

said Bialetska Forbes that scalable biodegradable packaging solutions can be adapted for large-scale production to meet volume requirements while adhering to environmental regulations and consumer preferences.

“These solutions must balance sustainability with functionality, ensuring that no feature is compromised while remaining environmentally safe,” said Bialetska.

From the forest and fields to the laboratory

S.Labs relied on nature when developing its approach to biodegradable packaging using mycelia and agricultural waste.

“We borrowed the natural process of mycelium growth from nature as the basis of our process,” said Bialetska. “Michael is a network of mushroom roots, and it’s growing rapidly, creating long white webs that connect whatever it grows on.”

“This mechanic can be compared to a spider creating webs and spinning them around something nutritious,” she added. Bialetska says that, in their case, the agricultural waste acts as a skeleton/matrix for the material and the mycelium is a glue that binds all the particles together.

“The main challenge was to transfer this process from the forest to the laboratory and then from the laboratory to proper continuous production,” said Bialetska. “For this, we developed our own hardware technology.”

Agricultural residues of hemp stalks and flax

France grows the largest crop of hemp in Europe, but Spain has a history of growing hemp for industrial uses, and today, hemp is grown throughout the Iberian Peninsula.

“Normally, the stalks are left in the fields after harvesting or thrown away after processing as this part of the plant is not used,” said Bialetska. “So instead of throwing them away, we take those stems and transform them into packaging that can then be returned to nature and will completely biodegrade in 30 days in the soil.”

Equipment for continuous production

S.Lab filed two European Union patents in 2024 for the continuous sterilization process and the forming and shaping of the robot. Three new patents are in progress and expected by the fourth quarter of 2025. The company has several active packaging pilots with L’oreal, JTI and Nespresso and is an approved supplier with L’oreal.

“Our continuous, chemical-free sterilization method and innovative robotic mycelium-based packaging forming mechanism solves the main problem associated with bio-based solutions, which is scalability,” said Bialetska.

Bialetska added that while other companies may offer solutions using materials such as mycelium or agricultural waste, they may struggle to meet the demands on an industrial scale and rarely reveal their capacities.

“That’s why our production numbers matter, they demonstrate our readiness and reliability, making us a viable partner for industries moving to sustainable packaging at scale,” she said. “Our entire manufacturing process is controlled through advanced robotics, sensors and computer vision, ensuring accuracy and reducing human error through real-time data monitoring and analysis.”

Bialetska says their production line can also be adapted to different customer needs, including custom designs and sizes, without adding to production costs.

“Our production technology is the first to produce mycelium-based packaging with precise 90° angles, mirroring the functionality of conventional packaging, which offers many packaging options for different sectors,” she added.

S.Lab’s technology and manufacturing process can achieve up to three times the energy efficiency of traditional EPS manufacturing. “It is a closed-loop, energy and water production, and this results in 90% less CO2 emissions and 90% less water use than polystyrene production,” said Bialetska.

Innovation at CES 2025

Visitors to the S.Lab booth (Venice Expo, Eureka Park, Hall G—62659) at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in January 2025 will be able to see the prototype and mini-factory of the S.Lab production line, which it will also include a number of biodegradable packaging samples.

Their mini-factory prototype is a self-contained 40-foot container that contains an integrated production line for on-site packaging production at customer facilities.

“By offering mini production lines, we offer customers sustainable packaging produced on their premises without disrupting their existing processes,” said Bialetska.