Your specifications. Our manufacturing.
Circulera develops custom biodegradable packaging for brand requirements: size, shape, colour, print, material route and product use case. Typical custom programmes start from 100,000 units and take 8-16 weeks from design to full production.
What can be changed
Size and shape
Bagasse formats include clamshells, bowls, plates and trays. PHA formats include cups, lids, straws, cutlery, bottles, bags, films and labels. Custom dimensions can follow buyer drawings and tooling feasibility.
Branding and printing
Available routes include flexo printing, digital full-colour printing, embossing, die-cutting and biodegradable inks. Print location can be top, side, bottom or internal brand moments depending on product geometry.
Colours
Bagasse can stay natural or be specified in white, black, green or Pantone-matched tones. PHA can be transparent, frosted, matte or coloured depending on resin, additive and food-contact constraints.
Material blend
Some products can combine bagasse and PHA: hybrid strength, cost optimisation, barrier performance or transparent PHA windows on fibre products.
Special functions
Examples include hinges, compartments, handles, windows, grease-resistant coatings and deodorising additives. Each feature is evaluated against food contact, tooling and end-of-life route.
Two branding routes
Direct print
Biodegradable inks are printed directly on the product. This is usually the cleaner route because it uses fewer layers, less adhesive and fewer separate materials. It works best for stable, high-volume designs.
Biodegradable label route
Biodegradable inks are printed on a PHA/PBAT label and the label is applied to the product. This is more flexible for barcodes, composition, local languages, seasonal launches and many SKUs. It is more complex ecologically but sometimes commercially better.
Process
- Request: volume, product type and design direction. Initial estimate in about 2 days.
- Technical discussion: material, certification, budget and feasibility.
- Design and CAD: 3D mock-up and buyer iterations.
- Tooling: moulds, printing forms and first-article inspection.
- Trial production: 1K-5K samples, dimension, print and quality checks.
- Full production: full-scale batch, QC and shipment.
Print examples
Tiger-pattern coffee cup: paper cup with PHA coating, print on paper blank before forming, 10K-25K pilot, 100K+ series, approximate one-off prepress/proof/forms $300-1,500 and +$0.006-0.018 per cup at 100K+.
Tiger-pattern PHA/PBAT bag: flexo print with biodegradable inks on film roll, 20K-50K pilot, 100K+ series, approximate setup $500-2,000 and +$0.01-0.04 per bag depending on size, coverage and colours.
One container, many SKUs: base unprinted product plus external biodegradable label for ingredients, barcode, QR, language and seasonal versions.
Pricing logic
Indicative tooling is $5,000-20,000 depending on complexity. Unit price depends on material, weight, tooling, print area and volume. Volume tiers usually start at 100K-500K base price, then improve at 500K-1M, 1M-5M and 5M+.
Quote request
Send company name, product type, use case, expected annual volume, target unit price, timeline, existing artwork or brand assets and special requirements to partners@circulera.io.