For decades, plastic has been a paradox. It is durable, versatile and endlessly useful—yet devastatingly permanent. Every bottle, jar and cap ever made still lingers somewhere on the planet, breaking down not into nothing, but into microplastics that infiltrate soil, water and even our bodies.
Vivomer, developed by London-based materials innovators Shellworks, challenges this contradiction head-on. It offers a future where everyday packaging performs like plastic, looks like plastic, and lasts as long as we need it to—but not a moment longer.
This is not a compromise. It is a redesign of the material itself.
Made from plants, not petrochemicals
Vivomer is not a modified plastic, nor a greener version of the same problem. It is a completely natural, bio-based polymer created by fermenting waste biomass, such as plant matter, using soil microbes. The process is often likened to brewing beer: controlled fermentation, followed by careful formulation, results in a material that behaves like conventional plastic without inheriting its toxic legacy.
There are no fossil fuels involved. No petrochemical derivatives. No hidden additives. Even the pigments and minerals used are selected to be compatible with home composting.
The result is a material that feels familiar in the hand but is fundamentally different at its core.
Performance without the environmental debt
One of the biggest barriers to sustainable materials has always been performance. Many alternatives degrade too quickly, lack strength, or fail under real-world conditions. Vivomer breaks that pattern.
It can be rigid or flexible, glossy or matte, thick or lightweight. It works seamlessly with existing manufacturing equipment, allowing brands to adopt it without reinventing their production lines. Bottles, jars, pipette droppers, caps and closures can all be made using Vivomer—at commercial scale, today.
In use, it is shelf-stable for years. It does not soften in bathrooms, degrade in showers, or dissolve when washed. Some formats can even withstand dishwashers. Vivomer only begins to break down once it is intentionally disposed of in composting conditions.
Engineered to last. Designed to disappear.
Unlike many materials that rely on industrial composting infrastructure, Vivomer is certified as OK HOME compostable by TÜV Austria. When placed in healthy home compost, it fully biodegrades within approximately 52 weeks.
It does not fragment into microplastics. Instead, it returns to its elemental building blocks—water, carbon dioxide and organic matter—closing the loop rather than polluting it.
Vivomer has also been tested across a wide range of environments. It is industrially compostable, marine biodegradable, and capable of breaking down even in landfill conditions. If it accidentally escapes into nature, it does not become a permanent contaminant.In a world where waste mismanagement is a reality, this distinction matters.
Plastic’s impact is not limited to the environment. Many conventional plastics contain substances such as BPA, PFAS and phthalates—chemicals increasingly linked to hormonal disruption and long-term health risks.
Vivomer contains none of them.
It complies with REACH regulations and avoids all substances listed as substances of very high concern. There are no toxic additives, no persistent pollutants, and nothing that does not belong in or on the human body.This makes it especially relevant for beauty, personal care, wellness and fragrance brands—industries where packaging comes into daily, intimate contact with skin.
From concept to millions of products
Sustainable materials often remain trapped in laboratories or pilot projects. Vivomer has already crossed that threshold.
Shellworks has replaced more than six million plastic products with Vivomer-based alternatives, working with forward-thinking brands across beauty, fragrance and personal care. From minimalist white jars to richly pigmented bottles, from droppers to caps, the material has proven its versatility in real commercial contexts.
Crucially, this has been achieved without sacrificing aesthetics. Vivomer does not look like a compromise material. It looks considered, premium and modern—proof that sustainability does not need to announce itself loudly to be effective.
Behind Vivomer’s credentials lies rigorous testing. At Shellworks’ headquarters, composting is not outsourced or abstracted—it is studied in-house. Products are placed in real compost systems fed by everyday food waste, replicating the conditions found in home gardens.
Degradation is documented both qualitatively and quantitatively. Surfaces pit, edges soften, small holes appear and expand. Each pattern is unique, shaped by nature’s variability, yet the outcome is always the same: complete breakdown.Fragments are sometimes removed and dried to pause the process, allowing teams to analyse and learn from each stage. These remnants are not seen as failures, but as quiet evidence of a material doing exactly what it was designed to do.
A material for the next generation
Vivomer is not positioned as a niche eco-solution. It is designed as a direct replacement for plastic in everyday life—from packaging to products as unexpected as cards and durable goods.
It asks a simple but powerful question: what if the materials we rely on every day were safe by default, not harmful by design?
By combining performance, beauty and responsibility into a single material, Vivomer demonstrates that the future of materials does not lie in choosing between convenience and conscience. It lies in refusing that trade-off altogether.
Plastic had its moment. Vivomer shows us what comes next.
Also read: Bottled water vs. Tap: Are you buying sustainability or just a brand?
