traceless x Hachtel Terneo - Redefining Plastic-Free Products Together

Good news—we’ve partnered with Hachtel TerNeo to bring our traceless® materials to life across a wide range of everyday products!

How did this partnership come together? What exactly are we creating? And what does it mean for the industry? Read on for an interview with Steffen Hachtel, Managing Director at Hachtel TerNeo, and Michael, Sales Manager at traceless.

Left: Steffen Hachtel, Managing Director at Hachtel TerNeo, and right: Michael Kurtzke, Sales Manager at traceless.

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Congrats on your partnership! First things first—why did traceless and TerNeo team up?

Michael (traceless): ''At traceless, our goal has always been clear: offer industries and consumers plastic-free materials that safely return to nature. Right now, we're scaling up production of our traceless® granulate and preparing for commercial market entry. Teaming up with TerNeo—a true expert in industrial-scale injection moulding—is a massive step forward. Together we can deliver truly sustainable and high-quality products to even more businesses and consumers.''

Steffen, from Terneo’s perspective, why traceless®?

Steffen Hachtel (TerNeo): ''Plastics have experienced an impressive rise over the past decades: they are versatile, cost-effective, and durable – qualities that make many products indispensable in our daily lives. But this very durability becomes a problem when short-lived products – like disposable tableware or to-go packaging – end up in the environment. We urgently need real alternatives for such applications. traceless® fulfils precisely these requirements: it is made from natural raw materials, remains sustainable throughout its entire lifecycle, is naturally compostable  – and most importantly, it can be processed using industrial manufacturing methods.'' 

traceless is not a plastic, but you can use  the existing injection moulding machines?

Steffen Hachtel (TerNeo): ''It’s not as simple as just swapping in a new material, especially when you're aiming for large-scale production. Industrial injection moulding is a highly standardised process, and any new material has to reliably meet those standards to be processed at scale. That’s the benchmark materials like traceless® are measured against.

With decades of experience working with technically demanding plastics - and over 20 years of working with bio-based materials - we know what it takes to get a material production-ready.

Of course, traceless® came with its own processing requirements, but true to our motto “Doing makes you smart,” we’ve shown that with the right adjustments, it can be processed reliably on standard injection moulding machines at industrial scale.''

Michael (traceless): ''That’s been our goal from the start. We’ve developed traceless® so that it can be processed using existing manufacturing technologies. This means companies can switch over without major hurdles — enabling them to meet their sustainability targets and comply with regulations like the SUPD, without disrupting their operations.''

Speaking of regulations, how does traceless help businesses navigate those?

Michael (traceless): ''traceless® is naturally compliant with regulations like the EU’s Single-Use Plastics Directive because it's genuinely plastic-free. It’s made from natural polymers—the kind nature already created. Since we don’t chemically modify or synthetically polymerise our materials, our products aren't classified as plastic or even bioplastic. They're something new: natural biomaterials.

So while our products look, feel, and perform like conventional plastic, they fully break down in nature—without leaving behind harmful traces like microplastics. No plastic taxes. No regulatory burdens. Just peace of mind.''

Steffen Hachtel (TerNeo): ''Exactly - with traceless®, companies can offer products that combine sustainability and functionality without compromising on convenience for the end-user or making fundamental changes to their existing processes. This reduces barriers to adoption  and opens up ways to fulfil environmental and compliance targets.''

What kind of products can we expect from this partnership?

Michael (traceless): ''We’re starting with food-service essentials: friespickers, forks, knives, spoons, ice cream spoons—and we’re not stopping there. These products are perfect use-cases because they have short life cycles, but a high risk of ending up in the environment. traceless® offers a solution that fits both operational needs and environmental responsibility. And we're continuously exploring more product categories to build a complete portfolio that works in the real world.''

And what does this mean for the market?

Michael (traceless): ''The food-service industry is a critical area—because it's where real impact can happen. Despite all the awareness, it's still one of the biggest sources of single-use plastic waste. And while reuse is key, it's just not always an option—especially in fast-paced environments where hygiene, convenience, and safety matter most.

That’s where traceless® comes in. Our materials are naturally compostable, free from harmful additives like PFAs, and produced using a resource-efficient process that cuts CO₂ emissions by up to 90% compared to conventional plastics in production and disposal. Plus, we're using agricultural residues—not competing with food or feed production.

traceless® isn’t just a sustainable material—it’s a full-package solution backed by Life Cycle Assessment data. It ticks all the boxes.''

Steffen Hachtel (TerNeo): ''We are seeing a growing willingness to use sustainable alternatives - both among customers and therefore also among companies. But nobody wants to compromise on performance or convenience - traceless® offers a real solution here: it can be integrated into existing production processes and fulfils the usual everyday requirements. As functional as plastic - but with no environmental impact. That's what makes the difference.''

Any final thoughts on what this collaboration means for the future?

Michael (traceless): ''We believe sustainability shouldn’t be a luxury—it should be the default. At traceless, we're working hard to scale our production and build a solid supply chain that makes a real contribution to solving plastic pollution and decarbonizing the industry. Partnerships like this one with TerNeo are absolutely key to making that vision a reality.''

Steffen Hachtel (TerNeo): ''Together we prove that sustainable innovation can be simple and effective. With traceless®, we create products that work on an industrial scale while meeting the environmental and regulatory requirements of tomorrow. We are proud to be actively shaping this change.''