BioVeris™ | Kaimarra — Performs Like Plastic. Biodegrades Like Paper.

The Problem

The biodegradable plastics market has carried four unsolved problems for thirty years.

No one has solved all four at once. The problems are interlocking — fixing one usually breaks another. BioVeris addresses all four simultaneously.

Problem 01

Materials that biodegrade reliably fail mechanically — or thermally.

Whether the failure mode is a high-filler composite, a virgin biopolyester, or a molded fiber pot, the outcome is the same: parts that can't hold up in the real world. Push for biodegradation by removing polymer matrix and adding bioavailable filler — the part goes brittle. Reach for a virgin biodegradable polyester instead and many fail out of the box on either mechanical properties or heat resistance — often both. Molded fiber and pulp pots biodegrade but can't survive automated handling. Starch blends only get past their typical loading ceiling using expensive non-biodegradable compatibilizers, which defeats the purpose.

Brittleness · heat sensitivity · line-handling fragility

Problem 02

Materials with adequate strength don't biodegrade.

Polylactic-acid based polyesters soften at 58°C and only compost in industrial facilities most consumers can't access. PHA-class polyesters degrade in soil, but biodegradation slows sharply in thick cross-sections because microbial and oxygen access is surface-limited. Compostable aliphatic-aromatic copolyesters are compost-only — they meet industrial-compost standards but don't reliably biodegrade in real soil or marine environments. Everything billed as "biodegradable" carries an asterisk.

PLA HDT: 58°C · thick-section biodegradation: surface-limited

Problem 03

Whatever does work is too expensive to compete.

Specialty biodegradable resins price at multiples of conventional polyolefins. PHA-class polyesters land at roughly three to four times the cost of commodity PP or PE at production volumes. Certified biodegradable resin businesses have so far depended on regulatory tailwinds — single-use bans, EPR mandates, production incentives — rather than self-sustaining unit economics. Without that policy support the segment doesn't yet stand on its own.

Specialty premium: ~3–4× commodity polyolefins

Problem 04

Biodegradable resins don't process well.

Even when a biodegradable resin makes the strength or biodegradation spec on paper, getting it through a real production line is hard. Many thermally degrade in the extruder, lose yield, and can't be reground or reprocessed without losing properties. Some are so crystalline that finished parts shatter when trimmed. The result is high scrap, short campaigns, and equipment downtime — the operational costs that turn a promising material into a commercial dead end.

Thermal degradation · non-reprocessable · trim-shattering

The Answer · Pillar 01

Real Biodegradation.

BioVeris biodegrades in soil, home compost, and industrial compost — the polymer carbon mineralizes and returns to the natural carbon cycle rather than persisting as microplastic fragments. Independent screening under the ISO 14855 protocol supports the pathway. Formal certification testing is underway across all three.^†

Pillar 01 / Proof

Screening data indicates full carbon mineralization. No microplastic residue. On a predictable timeline.

A common failure mode in "biodegradable" plastics is fragmentation: a part appears to disappear, but in fact breaks down into microplastic particles. Oxo-degradable plastics are the worst case — the fragments are genuinely persistent and accumulate in soil and water. Other biodegradable polyesters eventually break down further on the order of years, but they still pass through a measurable microplastic phase along the way. The relevant distinction is disintegration vs. mineralization. Disintegration means a part visibly falls apart. Mineralization means the polymer carbon is fully metabolized by microorganisms and returned to the natural carbon cycle as CO₂ and biomass. Many products marketed as biodegradable only ever disintegrate. They never mineralize.

ISO 14855 is the recognized international standard for distinguishing real biodegradation from fragmentation. It measures actual carbon mineralization — the conversion of polymer carbon into CO₂ by soil microorganisms — under controlled conditions. It is the test that separates marketing claims from material reality.

BioVeris has undergone independent screening tests at a third-party laboratory under the ISO 14855 protocol. The screening data is consistent with full carbon mineralization and indicates no microplastic residue at the conclusion of the test cycle. Formal certification testing is now underway across the relevant pathways — home compostable, industrial compostable, and soil biodegradation. Certification marks have not yet been issued.^†

The biodegradation rate is not fixed; it is a formulation lever. Different blends produce different degradation curves, allowing the material to be matched to the application — a propagation pot intended to plant directly into soil has different lifetime requirements than a hard-walled retail container. The mechanism is repeatable, formulation-controlled, and built into the chemistry rather than added as a coating or post-treatment.

Illustrative degradation profile^†

Conceptual representation of formulation-driven degradation tunability. BioVeris formulations are matched to crop cycle, irrigation intensity, and end-of-life environment. Curves are illustrative; actual rates depend on conditions, geometry, and formulation. Independent ISO 14855 screening data on file.^†

Standard

ISO 14855 International standard for measuring carbon mineralization under controlled composting conditions.

Status

Independent screening data Third-party laboratory screening run under ISO 14855 protocol. Not internal data; not vendor claims.

Certification

Formal testing in progress Submissions filed across the relevant pathways — home compostable, industrial compostable, and soil biodegradation. Certification marks not yet issued.

Result

Consistent with full mineralization Screening data indicates polymer carbon converts to CO₂ via microbial action across the test cycle.

Residue

No microplastic fragments observed At the conclusion of the screening test cycle. Distinguishes BioVeris from oxo-degradable and disintegratable alternatives.

Profile

Tunable by formulation Degradation curve matched to application, environment, and required service life.

Environment

Soil + home compost (target) Targeting home-compostable and soil-biodegradation pathways — not industrial-composting-only.

The Answer · Pillar 02

Real Performance.

BioVeris is engineered with mechanical and physical properties between PP and PS — the workhorse plastics behind most consumer and industrial parts. Different formulations land at different points in that range, all of them in the commodity-plastic class, and our formulated products run on standard industrial equipment at production-line speeds. That combination is the real proof point.

PP/PS-class mechanical performance.
Alone among biodegradables.

BioVeris combines the tensile strength of commodity polyolefins with the elongation-at-break that lets a part flex under load instead of shattering. Most biodegradable alternatives either cap out at low strength or fail catastrophically at very low strain — and many can't survive the production line in the first place.

Tensile Strength

22–28 MPa

In the PP / HDPE class — sized for real load-bearing parts.

Tensile Modulus

800–900 MPa

Stiff enough for thick-wall structural geometry without going brittle.

Elongation at Break

180–220 %

~40× the ductility of PLA at break. Won't fragment under stress.

Falling Dart Impact

8 ft·lb

Real impact resistance — the property that lets parts survive handling.

BioVeris™ OR8-1 (Thermoforming Grade) · ASTM D638 / D5420 (film 1 mm) · Comparison values: industry-typical ranges for each resin class

Format

Production-format parts Validated at full part thickness and finished geometry — not test bars or coupons.

Line

High-volume automated thermoforming Fully automated commercial thermoforming line at industry-standard speeds.

Process Compatibility

A material system that fits your existing line Formulated BioVeris products run on thermoforming, injection molding, blown film, cast film, sheet extrusion, and blow molding equipment — one chemistry platform, grades tuned to the process you already operate.

Cycle Time

Matches conventional plastics No cycle-time penalty. No throughput loss.

Tooling

No changes required Drop-in on existing tooling. No capital expenditure to adopt.

Processability

Reprocessable. No trim-shattering. Stable in the extruder. Regrind-friendly. Doesn't fail the operational tests that sink most biodegradable resins on a real production line.

Lifecycle

Structural integrity through service window Holds up through use, then degrades on a predictable, formulation-controlled timeline.

Pillar 02 / Proof

Production parts. Production speed. Production line.

The real test of a biodegradable material isn't a flexural number on a datasheet — it's whether it can run on the same equipment your existing plastic runs on, at the same rate, with the same scrap rate. Most biodegradable resins quietly fail that test long before they reach commercial volume.

BioVeris has been validated on a high-volume, fully automated commercial thermoforming line — not pilot equipment, not test bars. Cycle times match conventional plastics. No tooling changes. No process modifications. The material flows through standard equipment the same way a PP or PS compound would.

And it's a material system, not a single grade. Our formulated products run through thermoforming, injection molding, blown and cast film, sheet extrusion, and blow molding — the grade is tuned to the process. A manufacturer adopting BioVeris is betting on a material system that fits the line they already operate, not on one universal pellet.

The Answer · Pillar 03

Real Economics.

High natural-filler loading drives material cost toward commodity plastics — without subsidies, premium channels, or niche markets.

Pillar 03 / Proof

More filler. Less polymer. Lower cost per part.

The economics of biodegradable polymers are governed by one variable: how much polymer is in the part. Most certified-biodegradable alternatives are mostly polymer — high-cost specialty resins (PHA-class polyesters, PLA, compostable aliphatic-aromatic copolyesters) that price at multiples of commodity polyolefins. Even with bio-based feedstocks, the underlying chemistry is expensive, and the businesses built on it have so far relied on regulatory tailwinds — single-use bans, EPR mandates, production incentives — rather than self-sustaining unit economics.

BioVeris turns this equation around. The KREX chemistry enables natural-filler loading at levels well above industry norms — agricultural residues, starches, cellulose, and similar materials that cost a fraction of any synthetic polymer. Industry-standard composites typically cap below 30% natural-filler loading before mechanical performance collapses; competitors who push past that ceiling do so by adding expensive, non-biodegradable compatibilizers — which solves the strength problem and breaks the biodegradation one. BioVeris's covalent compatibilization is the chemistry that lets us run up to 60% filler, formulation-dependent, with the biodegradation pathway intact.

This is structural cost reduction, not a process trick. It compounds as filler loading increases, and it scales with volume rather than against it. The result is a cost trajectory that bends toward commodity plastics, not away from them.

Regulatory pressure pushes the gap closed from the other side. As Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulation raises the cost floor on conventional plastics by attaching mass-based end-of-life fees, commodity plastics get more expensive while BioVeris gets less. Cost parity stops being a stretch goal and becomes the baseline.

Material composition by weight

BioVeris™natural filler + polymer

60%+ NATURAL FILLER

polymer ~40%

Filler-loaded starch blendsindustry-standard cap

<30% FILLER

polymer ~70%+

Polylactic-acid polyestersneat resin

100% polymer (high-cost biopolymer)

PHA-class polyestersneat resin

100% polymer (~3–4× commodity polyolefins)

More filler · less polymer · lower cost per kg of finished part

Filler Load

Up to 60%, formulation-dependent Industry-standard composite chemistry typically caps below 30% before mechanical performance falls off. Competitors who push higher do so using expensive non-biodegradable compatibilizers.

Filler Cost

Fraction of polymer cost Agricultural residues, starch, cellulose — commodity feedstocks at scale.

Polymer Reduction

Polymer fraction drops as filler rises Less of the expensive component per kg of finished part — without the non-biodegradable compatibilizer workarounds the industry has had to use.

Scale Behavior

Cost bends downward with volume Filler-dominated cost structure benefits from commodity-feedstock economics.

Policy Support

Doesn't depend on it — benefits from it Most certified-biodegradable businesses depend on bans, mandates, and incentives to close their unit economics. BioVeris stands on filler-loading economics and gets additional lift from EPR tailwinds.

Regulatory Tailwind

EPR raises the cost floor on alternatives Conventional plastics get more expensive; gap closes from both sides.

The Chemistry

The filler is structural. Not ballast.

In conventional composites, fillers are inert dispersions. In BioVeris, they are covalently bonded into the polymer network — load-bearing and bioavailable at the same time.

Conventional Composite

Filler dispersed

Particles physically mixed into polymer matrix. No chemical bond.

→

Interfacial Weakness

Stress concentrators

Filler particles act as defects under load. Mechanical properties degrade.

→

Result

Hard cap at ~30%

Higher filler loading causes structural failure. Industry ceiling.

The industry standard: filler limits performance

KREX Reactive Chemistry

Covalent compatibilization

Reactive chemistry forms bonds between filler surface and polymer chains during compounding.

→

Structural Network

Filler carries load

Filler becomes part of the load path. Stiffness increases instead of decreasing.

→

Result

60%+ filler with strength

Bioavailable filler dominates the part by weight — without sacrificing mechanical performance.

With KREX: filler unlocks performance

US Patent

12,163,004 B2

Granted December 10, 2024

Scope

Covalent compatibilization mechanism — not tied to a single formulation.

Claims

29 issued claims spanning chemistry, formulation, and manufacturing process.

Polymer Families

Polyolefins, biodegradable polyesters, thermoplastic polyurethanes, styrenics.

Filler Classes

Organic, inorganic, metals, glass, carbon, aramid.

Processes

Thermoforming, injection molding, film extrusion, blown film, sheet extrusion, blow molding — covers the equipment manufacturers already use.

Assignment

100% assigned to Kaimarra. No licensing encumbrances. Hard to replicate performance without infringing.

Why It Matters Now

"Forever plastics" are restructuring the economics of plastics.

Public awareness of microplastics, PFAS, and the "forever chemicals" problem is no longer fringe — it is mainstream consumer pressure, retailer pressure, and regulatory action. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) laws are translating that pressure into balance-sheet economics by shifting end-of-life costs upstream onto producers. For three decades, biodegradable materials competed against conventional plastics on price and lost. That equation has changed.

Awareness

Forever plastics, no longer ignored

Microplastics are now documented in human blood, lungs, placentas, and drinking water. Consumer brands, retailers, and institutional buyers are publicly committing to phase out persistent plastics. The reputational cost of selling a "forever" material into single-use applications is rising every year.

Law

End-of-life costs shift upstream

EPR laws impose mass-based fees on packaging tied to recyclability and end-of-life behavior. Producers now pay for the disposal externalities their products create. Coverage already reaches more than 30% of the U.S. population and is expanding into additional states and international markets each year.

Cost

Conventional plastics get more expensive

In categories where industry has modeled EPR fees into product economics, regulatory cost adds a meaningful percentage uplift to the per-unit cost of non-biodegradable materials. The "cheap" of conventional resins has shifted — permanently — in regions with active EPR enforcement.

Relief

Biodegradable materials qualify for relief

Materials that meet certified biodegradation standards gain structural economic advantage — lower fees, faster compliance pathways, fewer regulatory exposures. BioVeris is positioned for exactly this regulatory environment: biodegradation supported by independent ISO 14855 screening data, with formal certifications across home-compostable, industrial-compostable, and soil-biodegradation pathways now in process.^†

Competitive Landscape

One row says yes all the way across.

Anonymized resin classes scored on the dimensions that decide whether a biodegradable material reaches commercial scale: real biodegradation, mechanical performance, processability on standard equipment, cost competitiveness, and EPR relief eligibility. Not a Kaimarra claim — an observation from publicly available resin datasheets.

Resin class	Real biodegradation (soil + home compost)	Mechanical performance (PP / PS class)	Processability on standard equipment	Cost competitiveness at scale	EPR relief eligibility
BioVeris™Covalent-compatibilized biodegradable composite	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Polylactic-acid polyestersHDT 58°C · industrial compost only	−	brittle	partial	partial	−
PHA-class polyestersSoil-biodegradable but low melt strength	✓	limited	−	−	✓
Compostable aliphatic-aromatic copolyestersIndustrial-compost-only certification	−	soft	✓	−	partial
Filler-loaded starch blendsPast ~30% loading requires non-biodegradable compatibilizers	partial	limited	partial	partial	partial
Cellulose / molded-fiber potsBiodegradable but mechanically and logistically fragile	✓	−	−	−	✓
Conventional petroplastics (PP / PS / PE)Cost floor · not biodegradable — reference only	−	✓	✓	✓	−

Cell values: ✓ meets the test · partial meets the test only in certain conditions · − does not meet the test

What this shows

Only one row is "yes" all the way across.

Every other resin class on the market fails at least one dimension that matters for reaching commercial scale — some fail several. This matrix isn't a Kaimarra ranking; it's a summary of publicly disclosed properties and behavior, made directly comparable.

Why competitors miss

Each chemistry trades one problem for another.

Polylactic-acid polyesters trade real biodegradation for stiffness (HDT 58°C, industrial-compost only). PHA-class polyesters biodegrade in soil but have inherently low melt strength, which limits melt-state processes like blown film; their unit cost also sits at multiples of commodity polyolefins. Compostable aliphatic-aromatic copolyesters meet industrial-compost standards but don't reliably biodegrade in real soil. Filler-loaded starch blends can only push past their typical loading ceiling using expensive non-biodegradable compatibilizers, which defeats the purpose. Molded-fiber pots biodegrade and look natural but don't survive automated handling.

How Kaimarra breaks it

KREX unlocks the band.

The KREX covalent network enables natural-filler loading well above industry norms, formulation-dependent, without the non-biodegradable compatibilizers competitors fall back on. The filler stops being ballast and becomes structural reinforcement. The result is PP/PS-class performance at commodity-trajectory cost, with the biodegradation pathway intact and supported by independent ISO 14855 screening data.^†

Field Validation

Validated where it actually has to work.

Lab data and real-world performance often diverge. A material that passes mechanical specs on standardized test pieces may behave very differently when it has to survive automated material handling, fertigation chemistry, mechanical jostling during shipping, and the weight of a growing root ball.

High-volume thermoforming manufacturing line

Manufacturing Floor

BioVeris materials produced into production-format pots on a fully automated high-volume thermoforming line. Industry-standard cycle times. No tooling changes. No process modifications. The compound runs through standard equipment the same way a conventional plastic would.

Commercial Greenhouse

Trial conducted at an industry-leading horticulture grower under standard commercial conditions. Production-format pots planted with live crops. Real irrigation, real agricultural chemistry, real handling — the same conditions any conventional pot would face.

Lifecycle Result

Structural integrity confirmed at planting and through the early-grow window when crop weight and root pressure peak. Degradation behavior varied predictably with environment and formulation — confirming the controllable levers that govern degradation timing.

Biodegradation comparison: cellulose pot, BioVeris plantable pot, and conventional bioplastic pot over time

Performs Like Plastic.Biodegrades Like Paper.

The biodegradable plastics market has carried four unsolved problems for thirty years.

Real Biodegradation.

Real Performance.

Real Economics.

The filler is structural. Not ballast.

"Forever plastics" are restructuring the economics of plastics.

One row says yes all the way across.

Validated where it actually has to work.

Patented chemistry.Proven performance.Drop-in compatible.

Performs Like Plastic.
Biodegrades Like Paper.

Patented chemistry.
Proven performance.
Drop-in compatible.