Yeap Coup is spot on. Compostable or biodegradable packaging are just examples of greenwashing at the moment. They don’t breakdown at all, or for years, at home so they have to send to niche facilities that aren’t available everywhere.
I like the idea of refill option though! It would be cool to have a super sleek forever Huel container in your kitchen and then refill pouches for subsequent orders.
That would be great, Alas, I’d have to have at least 8 - 4 smaller ones for H&S and 4 for the various varieties of powder as I have several on the go at once.
What about the huel tubs the protein powders come in. They would be quite good for huel storage when u have finished your tub. Still working my way through my 2 tubs yet but thought about this way to store powder rather than throwing away. 
I am planning to use mine for h&s but same as you, not through them yet.
If you managed to incorporate a scale (to avoid scoopgate v5.0) and Huel branding, this is pretty slick.
I think that could cause issues getting the powder fluffy and equally distributed after decant.
Would definitely save some packaging/ shipping costs by virtue of being smallest.
Hi - yes we covered a lot of these in this old post - I really liked the idea of compressed blocks too but the aeration and packing would require a higher degree of difficulty and a whole new packing line sadly.
I’m going to have to contradict this. This is true for certain biodegradable packaging, mainly that made from PLA, for which the designation of “biodegradable” is questionable at best, as it takes 6+ months to break down even in industrial settings.
However, the option we have been using for some time now can be seen here: https://jamosolutions.co.uk/fully-biodegradable-high-barrier-sealable-pouch-grip-heat-seal.html
Not sure if that store will stock bags in quite the right size for you as your bags ship in larger bulk than ours I think, but they handle up to about 1kg of powder with ease. Instead of PLA, they use a mix of cellulose film and starch film internally, and Kraft paper externally.
As a result, and in line with both their advertising and our testing, they break down fully in a home compost in about 10 weeks (66 days in our testing), and for those who don’t have a home compost, they can also simply be deposited in food waste bins instead.
Hey, it’s good to see you again Joe! Thanks your input and sharing the above, you always bring some interesting and deep insights to the forum.
I wasn’t aware of this company so they may be the real deal. I’ve had a chat with the Packaging team and while I can’t comment on this company specifically as there’s a lot of information missing to give a proper reply, I’ll give some general comments that may/may not apply to this type of packaging.
Often companies that talk about starch films are really using bioplastics. In other words plastics that are made from plant-sources instead of oil which still comes with its own issues. In particular we’ve found a lot of sustainability concerns around the sourcing and growing of this material.
When referencing biodegradability timeframes it’s super important to know the exact conditions even when it’s stated that the packaging can be composted at home as the two may not line up. On top of this there are no standard compatibility/biodegradability regulations in the UK so it’s an area where these terms can be thrown around but mean different things from one company to the next.
Do you know if the company has got certification from OPRL and whether the use of mixed materials contaminates the recyclability stream?
I was thinking that while reading it too - there is no technical information on their site, but I know that depending on the plant source of the starch - the barrier properties can be wildly different to each other in their efficacy.
yeah - also if the bioplastic has been created so that it has a rapid degradation like this - that also usually means its barrier properties become less effective quicker too, narrowing the range of products that you can use to package with it. Starch and cellulose films traditionally can have good oxygen barriers but are not great with moisture normally - direct water contact can even start breaking the fibre structure down.
Thank you, it’s good to pop in from time to time.
It’s been quite a while since we made the switch so I’m going to try to dig out the reference sheets they sent us when we asked these questions directly - I remember being very surprised but it seeming like a genuinely good solution.
I’ll post here again as and when we find the documentation 
Somewhat related on the topic of recycling and reducing waste:
recently I received two packages, one from Huel with 12 bottles of RTD and one from Ikea with a bamboo towel holder. The Ikea one just had an address sticker slapped onto its normal packaging (the same as you would pull out this item in the stores warehouse section), but the RTDs were in a cardboard box stuffed tightly in another cardboard box. From reading on the forum I got the impression that the 12 packs are generally shipped as a single package, presumably because of their weight, so why pack them in another box? Would it be possible to just have the shipping lable attached to the inner box?
they are normally shipped two boxes of 12 in one secondary box.
Huel team are clearly fans of Inception
Hi, I have asked Huel what plastic(s)is used in the pouches but they declined to release that information. I know that a lot of plastics have a low melting point and therefore can be quite easily turned into something else ( not recycling but down cycling) my question is to any hueligans “would you be happy for your pouches to be turned into something else that in turn is not recyclable?” And if so “what sort of things do you think would be useful?”
Hello Matt
Huel bags are a type of pack called MLP’s (multi-layer packaging) – the composition and amount of layers in these bags vary from different manufacturers but essentially are a mix of different types of films, laminates, adhesives and foils depending on the end use requirement and barrier properties needed.
There are no plastics that have a melting point below 160°C (320°F) but all have a point where they are softened enough to be moulded which is usually much less. You absolutely shouldn’t try and heat a MLP to melt it yourself.
I’ve seen many posts here and on social media of people repurposing their bags for other uses such as general storage but I think my favourite one was someone who used them as planters/grow bags.
Hey Matt, we can share that information with you.
We use a combination of PET, metallized PET and LLDPE.
But, I think this is far more interesting! Plastics are often being repurposed to make objects such as park benches, which I think is pretty cool.
Despite what Boris would have you and your children believe – you should definitely recycle your PET plastics as even though they can only be recycled several times for food grade uses – they can be re-refined after that for use in many other things such as textiles and even construction materials and road surfaces.
Hi Dan,
Yes! If Face masks can be made into into park benches then why can’t Huel pouches. Thanks Dan 
Exactly, so why can’t Huel pouches be turned into end of life products? The PET is useless in MLP which is why it is classed as non recyclable.
