In Norway, Italian bioplastics producer Novamont has acquired BioBag Group, a company focused on the development and distribution of compostable applications and a leading manufacturer of environmentally friendly packaging in Northern Europe. 

The deal creates the most vertically integrated group in the bioplastics industry.  Novamont is focused largely upstream and has created a supply chain of agricultural raw materials, biobased monomers, bioplastics and low-impact formulations. BioBag has a growing e-commerce platform, which is an important market channel for their existing applications and for the expanded product range that will be derived from Novamont’s innovations and upstream integration.

According to Novamont, the two companies share a “strong cultural compatibility” developed over two decades of partnership. “This agreement allows Novamont to expand its model of circular bioeconomy,” Novamont CEO Catia Bastioli says. “By joining our best skills and energies and fully integrating our supply chains we can better serve our partners upstream and downstream while further accelerating circular solutions for different market sectors and for communities pursuing our goal of producing more with less.”

The two companies plan to initiate projects that enhance separate organic waste collection and composting systems, especially in North America, the Scandinavian countries, Eastern Europe and Australia. Financial terms were not disclosed. BioBag generates about €41 million ($49.5 million) in annual revenue.