LIPLID and One Planet Café to Explore Banana Fibre as a Next-Generation Packaging Material

LIPLID AB, the Swedish innovator in plastic-free, plant-based foodservice packaging, and One Planet Café Ltd., the Tokyo-registered sustainability company behind an internationally recognised Fair Trade banana fibre value chain in Zambia, today announced a strategic collaboration to investigate the use of banana fibres in future sustainable packaging products.

The partnership brings together LIPLID's expertise in developing renewable alternatives to fossil-based packaging with One Planet Café's established, community-rooted supply chain, one that transforms an agricultural residue into a valuable, ethically sourced material. Banana fibre, a byproduct of banana cultivation typically discarded or burned as waste, offers a compelling opportunity: reducing agricultural waste while creating new economic and environmental value for the communities that produce it.

One Planet Café's Fair Trade value chain already delivers measurable social and environmental impact in Zambia, supporting local livelihoods and encouraging farming practices that reduce pressure on surrounding land and wildlife habitats. LIPLID sees strong alignment with its own sustainability ambitions and is keen to explore how it can actively support and amplify this impact as the collaboration develops.

"This collaboration is about more than testing a new material," said Jesper Berthold, CEO of LIPLID. "It's about proving that circularity and commercial scalability can reinforce each other, and that the packaging industry can source responsibly without compromising on performance."

Peo Ekberg, Co-founder of One Planet Café, added:

"Our Fair Trade value chain in Zambia was built to create long-term, local value that helps reduce poverty and protect endangered species such as elephants, transforming what would otherwise be waste. Partnering with LIPLID lets us explore how that value chain can extend into an entirely new category, while staying true to the communities and principles it was built on."

Over the coming months, the two companies will jointly evaluate the technical feasibility of incorporating banana fibres into LIPLID's product range, develop early-stage demonstrators, and explore funding pathways to support further research and development, including potential collaboration with FibreFlow AS in Norway.

The two companies also note that One Planet Café is already developing banana fibre applications, including bioplastics and packaging, with several Japanese university and industry partners. LIPLID is the first Scandinavian company to join this collaboration, a milestone both parties are excited about.

The collaboration is in its early, exploratory phase. No commercial agreement, product launch, or timeline has been finalised; the companies describe the work as a shared ambition to build knowledge and test ideas together, with further updates to follow as the partnership progresses.

About LIPLID AB LIPLID AB is a Swedish innovation company developing sustainable beverage lids and fibre-based foodservice packaging, replacing fossil-based materials with renewable alternatives without compromising functionality or scalability.

About One Planet Café Ltd. One Planet Café Ltd. is a Japanese-registered sustainability impact company that has built an internationally recognised Fair Trade value chain for organic banana fibres originating from Zambia, with the aim of reducing extreme poverty, protecting wild elephants, regenerating biodiversity and increasing climate-resilient food production.

Media contact: Jasmine Blum Cohen, Head of Marketing, LIPLID AB jasmine@liplid.com