The disposable tableware Biotrem is completely biodegradable – through composting – in a mere thirty days. Wheat bran is a by-product, which forms during the milling of wheat grain. Biotrem’s production process uses only pure, edible wheat bran and a very small amount of water. No chemical additives are used, giving the tableware no adverse human health effects and no negative environ-ment impact. About one ton of wheat bran can make up to 10,000 disposable plates or bowls. The Biotrem tableware can be used for hot and cold meals, and is also suitable for oven or microwave use.
Małgorzata Then and Jerzy Wysocki from the company Biotrem tell about the future of disposables
Who we are
The idea for investing in Biotrem came from the fact that Mr. Jerzy Wysocki, i.e. the co-owner and vice-president of the company, whose ancestors were millers as well, decided to look for a method of utilizing the main problem in the milling enterprise, which is bran.
Milling was our family tradition. My grandfather started it in 1900, my father built mills in 1945 and I took over in 1980, when we regained full economic independence. In the 80’s it seemed like there was so much bran in the mill, that we need to find a way to utilize it sensibly. It is the most useless component in the mill, meaning that you produce 30 % of something that has virtually no value. The best miller in Europe, Otto Greff warned me that many have tried and no one managed this but when he heard that the product that came out was serial, he stated quite clearly that he was impressed and I felt the satisfaction that it can be done.
What is circular economy for us?
The biggest difference between us and our competition, that produces biodegradable and compostable products is that we use a raw unprocessed product, i.e. the bran that comes out of the mill, we do not subject to any chemical processes. It simply arrives to the plant in “big bags” and a small amount of water is added. So what distinguishes us and proves that we represent circular economy at best is that we do not rework the bran, we do not subject it to any chemical processes, we simply take what used to be waste and use it in 100 % to make plates from it.
My grandfather always said that the mill should be clean and that nothing should be thrown out of the mill. This is what circular economy is about. Everything that is brought here is managed in a sensible way and nothing is wasted and thrown away. The only things we find unusable are strings, stones or nails, while everything else is used in a logical manner. Mills are probably the first enterprise to close the economy like that.