Don’t know how to recycle properly? Hero Packaging launches dissolvable product to fix that problem

It’s a startup that was born out of the co-founders mission to limit waste within their own lives, after recognising how much packaging went to landfill when running a previous product-based business.

Only a few years on and Hero Packaging is now an Aussie-born business that supplies its zero-plastic, home-compostable packaging products to thousands of other companies worldwide.

After raising $1.5 million in a recent crowdfunding campaign, Hero Packaging has now launched a new product: a completely dissolvable packaging solution, allowing retailers to ditch plastic entirely.

Speaking with SmartCompany at the Online Retailers conference, co-founder Anaita Sarkar explained that many retailers were still using plastic packaging inside their external Hero Packaging products.

That’s because when you order from certain fashion brands, and potentially order more than one product, often these brands will place the individual plastic packaging to separate items and avoid any damage occurring from price tags and the like.

The retailers will then pack these individual plastic packages inside the outer, original Hero Packaging product in a ‘two steps forward, one step back’ situation.

Many consumers don’t understand the correct recycling protocols for such packaging, resulting in more waste for our world — the opposite of the Hero Packaging founders’ quest.

So Hero Packaging found a solution; a product that had been in the works with overseas manufacturers for quite some time, and at one point even saw the business lose $55,000.

Yet the team persisted, knowing how much its retail customers were looking for a clear packaging solution.

And AquaHero was the answer: a see-through solution that allows retailers to scan barcodes through the packaging, meaning it can be used to store stock in warehouses and the like, co-founder Vikram Davé tells SmartCompany.

“It suits everyone’s supply chain.”

Science experiment

When demonstrating how the AquaHero product worked for SmartCompany at Online Retailer, Davé explained the product is made up of PVOH, a synthethic polymer that dissolves in hot water.

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“It needs hot, hot water,” he said. “So if it comes into contact with rain or cold water, it won’t degrade — so it’s still protecting garments [even in transit].”

Then, once the packaging is dissolved, Hero Packaging encourages its customers to pour the water into their garden and plants for a full lifecycle.

While it had been a long time coming to get the product consumer-ready, the team believe its well worth the wait.

“It’s just something fun and cool and different to what’s out there at the moment, and it means customers will actually dispose of waste properly — as opposed to putting in the recycling bin incorrectly,” Davé said.

“That’s the type of awareness we’re wanting to create.

“We’re all about trying to remove the excuses retailers can have not to switch to something more eco-friendly.”