*Cove bottles are made of PHA, a natural material that has existed for many millions of years. PHA is produced by microorganisms as a way to store energy. Cove’s PHA is made through fermentation in a process similar to that used for the production of beer or yogurt.
Plastic Free*
*PHA is consumed by a wide variety of microorganisms in nature, including in soils and oceans around the world. The speed of biodegradation in the natural environment is variable and depends on a variety of factors such as the product’s form factor as well as temperature, humidity, and microbial load. We estimate that in most reasonable natural environments, full biodegradation of Cove bottles and caps will occur in less than 5 years. We are conducting testing to provide more specific data.
Biodegradable*
*PHA is made by feeding sources of renewable carbon to microorganisms, including sugars, vegetable oils, wastewater, agricultural waste, and greenhouse gasses like methane or carbon dioxide. In the future, it will even be possible to feed old & used PHA to microorganisms to synthesize new PHA.
Renewable*
*There are zero toxic compounds nor microplastics contained within PHA, nor do they result from the molecular breakdown of PHA. In fact, PHA is biocompatible and bioresorbable, and the human body naturally produces PHA as part of a healthy microbiome. For these reasons, the historical application for PHA has primarily been in the biomedical industry where it has been converted into implants for use inside the human body.
Non-Toxic*
*Both home and industrial composting present optimized environments in which Cove’s biodegradation will accelerate. In the unlikely event that a Cove bottle will fail to fully biodegrade by the end of a composting process, un-degraded pieces do not constitute contamination as they will continue to be consumed by microorganisms in soil.
Compostable*
*Cove bottles are recyclable in principle, but significant scale is necessary for recycling to be economical in practice. As we grow our operations, we will work with local governments and recyclers to build a fully functional PHA recycling stream. Cove bottles do not pose a serious contamination risk to PET recycling streams.
Recyclable*
