but another finnish alternative does have the tough, mouldable qualities needed for cosmetics or food. it s almost impossible to guess that these aren t plastic. it is only close up that you can see its natural origins, and that is wood combine with natural binders and dyes. so our material biodegrades almost exactly the same time period as the same thickness of wood. microbes are able to eat our material and then our material biodegrades into c02, water and biomass. ingredients can be put through existing moulding machines. the material would struggle with housing hazardous chemicals though, and it s end of life is proving problematic. it can be mechanically or chemically recycled. the problem is that the volumes are so small that it doesn t make any sense that the current plastic recycling infrastructure collects and sorts our material out.