Moulded fibre or bioplastic

Not a fluorochemical

Base materials. Also written bagasse, moulded fibre, PLA, compostable, plant based.

Pressed plant fibre, usually sugarcane bagasse or wheat straw, or a plant derived plastic such as PLA, in disposable tableware and packaging.

Compostable is not a synonym for PFAS-free, and this is the clearest case of the two being confused. Moulded fibre needs a grease barrier to work, fluorochemical sizing was the usual way to provide one, and a compostability certification covers how the item breaks down rather than what was added to it. Read this term together with the grease resistant one.

What the makers actually said

Of the 90 graded products whose materials record moulded fibre or bioplastic alongside a coating or finish, 100% name no coating chemistry anywhere in their published materials. This is a count of what companies published. It is not a statement about what any product contains.

Named a fluoropolymer
0
Named a coating that is not a fluorochemical
0
Named no chemistry at all
90

A further 70 products record moulded fibre or bioplastic with no coating or finish at all, so there is nothing for a maker to have disclosed. They are outside the split above.

Free to quote with a link. Of the 90 graded consumer products that record moulded fibre or bioplastic together with a coating or finish, not one of them names a coating chemistry anywhere in their published materials, according to PFAS Authority's October 2026 spec sheet decoder edition.

How those 160 products graded on our rubric

These are model-based estimates, not laboratory tests, scored on one public rubric. Read the spread against the categories underneath it rather than as a verdict on moulded fibre or bioplastic in the abstract, because the rubric gives every category a baseline and a term concentrated in one category will carry that category’s spread with it.

Median grade 50 out of 100, across 9 categories.

GradeProductsShare
Excellent1710.6%
Good6741.9%
Poor7647.5%
Bad00%

Where moulded fibre or bioplastic turns up

The 6 categories holding the most of it, out of 9. Each one links to the live ranking for that category, best graded first.

Best graded with moulded fibre or bioplastic

One per category, best first, so the list is not five of the same thing.

Worst graded with moulded fibre or bioplastic

One per category, worst first. A low grade here is usually something else on the product, not the term.

Decode a whole listing instead

A product usually names several of these at once, and the one that matters is rarely the one in the title. Paste the full materials line into the decoder and it will pick out every term it recognises, the most open-ended first.

Other base materials

Edition 2026-10-08, read from 11,337 graded products carrying a material string, and frozen at that date. A term is matched against the material and construction string recorded for each product, written from its published materials, specification and ingredient list rather than from a laboratory test. Products count under every term they match, so the totals across terms overlap. Found something wrong? Tell us.