1. Where can I get NaKu-bags?
Here you'll find a map showing where you can buy our products. If no NaKu sales office is located in your area, you still have the option of either ordering our products online directly on our website or send us your project request.
> NaKu in store
> online order
> project request
2. What happens to my NaKu-bag when it gets wet?
At first, nothing. Our Naku-bags do not dissolve in water, they need heat, bacteria and moisture to decompose. In a wet environment the decomposition process takes several months.
3. Can I freeze food in my NaKu-bag?
Yes, it works very well. Our Naku-bag is developed to be used as
1. Carrier bag
2. Airtight bag
3. Freezer bags
4. and as biodegradeable composting bag
You should just make sure not to fill it with liquids or food, which temperature is above 60° Celsius.
4. Can I use my NaKu-bag more than once?
Of course. The repeated use, as well as the various applications, are the basic idea of sustainability, which we represent. You can use our Naku-bags again and again rinse, fill and reuse them. If, once in a while mould reaches the inside of the bag the rotting process begins. The bag now reached its final phase of the life cycle and can now fulfill its final destination as a biodegradeable compost bag.
5. How long do NaKu products last until they begin to decompose? What about their durability?
Although our products look like conventional plastic they are natural products and are therefore bound to a certain expiration date.
We guarantee the quality of our product for the first six months after purchase. Normally, we ship our products straightly after production. During the first 12 months nothing should happen. After about 14 months, the product can lose 10-15% of its carrying capacity. After about 36 months (depending on storage conditions), our bags become brittle and porous. They would disintegrate, as it is supposed to be at the end of product life cycle.
6. Can you certify the NaKu-bags to be free of genetically modified organisms and residues?
For us it was very important that the starch used in our bags is free of genetic engineered resources The corresponding certificates are available. In our opinion nothing we return to nature should be genetically modifed. Simply because this would be in contradiction to our philosophy. The only drawback: All the benefits (European cultivation, CO2-saving production, food-safety, biodegradable, breathable, etc. ....) of our products have at the moment, unfortunately, an impact on the production costs.
7. I would buy your product immediately, but I cannot get used to the idea that food is wasted to produce it. Is it not possible to use food residue?
Corn- or potato-starch has been used for decades in a number of industries. The larger share goes to the food and feed industry. The chemical industry also uses starch as a resource to produce adhesives, tags, cosmetic products or dyes.
At the moment it is not possible for us to produce Natural Polymers from food residues, as we are reliant in our choice of resources on the availability of existing technologies and offers of granule production. Huge efforts are undertaken to develop bioplastics based on by-products or waste of the food industry. However, it must be expected that it will take some time to expand these efforts to mass production. So unfortunately at the moment this kind of bioplastics can currently be counted to the next generation.
We see the production of Natural Polymers as an alternative for farmers, some of which are subsidized to ensure that they leave their fields fallow. Thus we have the opportunity to support the local economy. We hope that in the future more Austrian political bodies will decide to support the use of Natural Polymers.
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8. How high is the demand for NaKu products? What prices can be expected in the coming period?
Since we currently are a small company, and do not have the same budget as bigger companies, our public significance is still rather low. The potential is very high and the demand has, just in the last six months, increased by over 300%. Nevertheless, we still have a long way before we reach the limit of our production capacity.
More and more people are looking for alternatives to conventional plastic products. The motivation of the single customer ranges from environmental responsibility, CO2-reduction or to avoid the contact of food with conventional plastics to the increased fresh-storage ability of our products.
The production price of bioplastics has decreased continually over the last 10 years.
With the maturation of the production processes, increasing competition and growing public interest in bioplastics the price difference to conventional plastics has decreased. This trend is expected to continue even further.
9. What is the advantage of Natural Polymers with respect to CO2-reduction?
For processing NaKu granules similar amounts of energy are needed as for the processing of conventional plastics. Natural Polymer bags have, on the basis that they are compostable, and the fact that the raw material is produced from renewable resources, a slightly better energy balance.
The most considerable advantage of the use of Natural Polymers can be found in the CO2 balance and thus the impact on climate and climate change.
We believe it is important for our future (and that of our descendants), that modern technologies operate within technological and natural cycles and can renew themselves without permanently using up earth's resources. Natural Polymers are a big step in that direction.
10. How much longer do NaKu-bags keep your food fresh now?
The diagram below shows the results of a study performed in 2009 in which the storage in our NaKu-bag is compared to storage in a conventional PE-bag and to open storage.
(Click on the image above for better resolution.)
11. Are any other chemical substances added during the processing? If so, which?
Only materials that fulfill the strict requirements of DIN 13432 will be added, in order to ensure that after the decomposition process they can be classified as compost standard A, which is the best basis for new plants.
12. What happens to a NaKu-bag compared to a normal plastic bag, should it end up on a roadside? How long will it take to decompose?
We do not approve of our biodegradable NaKu-bag (un-)knowingly dispersing free nature, even though Natural Polymer is biologically degraded completely sooner or later. Its durability depends on several factors: humidity, circulation, oxygenation, etc.
In an industrial composting the conditions are optimal. There are always about 60°C, many bacteria and constant upheaval. In these circumstances our bags will rot within 3-5 days.
In an agricultural manure heap, which is dug over in regular intervals, it takes 9-12 weeks in warm weather until our Naku-bags are rotten.
If a Naku-bag actually ends up at the roadside or in the forest, nature is dependent on itself. Through wind, sunshine, rain and bacteria the bag will be degraded in about one to two years. This is obviously not ideal, but certainly better than traditional plastic objects. They are neither biologically degradeable, nor will they rot. Only after decades, they erode into smaller and smaller pieces, but are "de facto" still there. When they are washed into the sea, they will be eaten by fish, who mistake these small plastic parts for plankton and literally die with a full stomach.
Nevertheless, even our 100% biodegradable bag should not be thrown away carelessly!
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