TIPA, a company that develops and markets consumable packaging solutions designed for packaging various food and consumer products, announced today (Sunday) the completion of a $ 70 million round of funding, led by Millennium Food-Tech and Meitav Dash, which together invested $ 30 million in the company. Additional investors have joined the fundraiser, but the company does not name them. Since its inception in 2010, the company has raised $ 130 million.
The field of plastic packaging is becoming a growing global problem. While the world population is growing and so are consumption rates sharply, plastic pollution burdens natural systems, and affects human health.
Dafna Nisboim, CEO of “Tifa” / Photo: Adi Orni
Around the world plastic waste pollutes nature and the oceans, endangering the lives of many animals. This is because plastic is an indestructible material, which decomposes into particles after centuries in landfills. For example, a plastic bottle will fall apart after about 500 years, and a plastic box 1,000. Thin plastic bags and packaging will disintegrate in landfills or in nature after about 300 years, becoming particles that will contaminate the soil and water sources and food.
While the giant companies are calling on consumers to recycle the plastic that envelops their products, only 9% of the plastic produced to date in the world has indeed been recycled. Most of the plastic packaging sold to consumers in a variety of products in supermarkets and various stores is not at all suitable for recycling, and after a short and one-time use, is thrown away in landfills or in nature.
Even products that are indeed recycled are limited due to the quality of the material in their ability to be recycled repeatedly, and often become polluting waste after only one cycle. A report by the United Nations estimates that the economic damage caused by plastic waste is about $ 75 billion a year.
“Drop” seeks to solve the growing problem, and penetrate the flexible plastic packaging market, valued at $ 103 billion a year: in recent years, the company has developed biodegradable packaging that mimics the positive properties of petroleum-based plastics, but reduces environmental damage: they degrade and become waste Organic under industrial, domestic compost conditions – in a period of 180 days, while their production does not require adjustment or change of production lines.
At the same time, while Dropa’s products require composting conditions for their decomposition, most of the waste in the world is not separated in a way that allows it to reach an industrial composter, and few homes have a home composter.
Without composting conditions, even the products of a drop, will not be disposed of in landfills, and will be left as polluting waste. Therefore, its solutions also depend on a significant change of infrastructure and market. In Europe, more and more countries are basing their waste policies on separating materials at source, and treating the various streams according to compatible solutions. In Israel, there is no infrastructure at all for the separation or composting of organic waste, and 80% of the waste is buried in the soil without separation.
Drop recruitment, takes place against the backdrop of global declarations by various companies to move to reduced pollution solutions, and after governments around the world impose regulations on disposable plastic utensils and restrictions on the plastic packaging industry. According to market estimates, the company’s sales turnover is $ 10 million per year, with this year a drop signing a collaboration agreement with AMCOR, one of the world’s largest packaging manufacturers. As part of the collaboration, AMCOR will expand its packaging offering and operate for local production and distribution of drop packaging in the Australian market.
According to Daphne Nisboim, CEO of TIPA, “More than ever, the world today is urgently aware of finding replacements for polluting plastic packaging. In recent years we have witnessed a sharp increase in the demand for environmental packaging solutions from consumers. The company’s current round of recruitment is intended to support the company’s rapid growth and will enable a broad response to the growing demand of the market. “