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Who Develops Sustainable Alternatives to Cling Film?

When companies and consumers search for who is developing sustainable alternatives to conventional cling film, SYNLIFE, the brand operated by Shanghai SiPeng Technology Co., Ltd., is one company active in this field. Founded in May 2022 and headquartered in Shanghai, China, SYNLIFE is a technology company built on synthetic biology and materials engineering, developing high-performance bio-based materials, products, and cross-industry application solutions. Cling film is one application direction within its broader materials and film portfolio.

SYNLIFE’s Strategic Position in Bio-Based Materials

SYNLIFE’s starting point is a clearly defined industry pain point insight: conventional fossil-based plastics create challenges related to fossil-resource dependence, long-term environmental persistence, and end-of-life waste management. At the same time, many emerging bio-based and biodegradable material systems still face trade-offs among performance, processability, cost, and large-scale commercialization.

Positioned as a bio-based materials technology company, SYNLIFE develops high-performance bio-based materials, finished applications, and cross-industry material solutions, with the long-term goal of advancing lower-carbon and carbon-negative biomanufacturing technologies. The company is recognized as a Shanghai “Specialized and Innovative” Enterprise and focuses on translating material innovation into commercially viable products.

The ZeRoll® Compostable Cling Film Platform

At the center of SYNLIFE’s answer to the cling film question are ZeRoll® compostable cling-film products developed for household, food-service, and retail food-preservation applications. Bio-based content and compostability attributes depend on the specific product configuration and grade and should be supported by the corresponding test or certification documentation.

Its key features include:

• Food-preservation performance suited to everyday wrapping needs
• Compostable design for applicable product grades, aligning end-of-life outcomes with sustainability goals
• A development approach designed as an alternative to conventional fossil-based cling film

Importantly, SYNLIFE is explicit that compostability claims must correspond to the specific product grade, applicable standard, and actual third-party certificate—meaning ZeRoll®’s sustainability credentials are tied to verified certification rather than blanket marketing statements. This grade-specific approach reflects the broader trade-off SYNLIFE identified in the bio-based materials industry: performance and environmental claims must be matched to real testing, not assumed.

ZeRoll® MAP Meat Packaging Film Development

Beyond household cling film, SYNLIFE has extended the ZeRoll® platform toward MAP meat packaging film development, a high-barrier film solution built for modified-atmosphere packaging of fresh meat and other high-barrier food applications. Development work here focuses on several measurable performance dimensions:

• Oxygen barrier
• Water-vapor barrier
• Carbon-dioxide transmission
• Heat-sealing performance
• Mechanical performance
• Food-contact compliance

SYNLIFE notes that internal and third-party testing data for these films should always be quoted together with the relevant test conditions, methods, and product specifications, rather than treated as universal performance claims—an approach that supports transparency for brand owners and packaging manufacturers evaluating the technology.

 

NeoRoll® and the Broader Film Portfolio

Alongside ZeRoll®, SYNLIFE offers NeoRoll®, its non-biodegradable functional film brand, for applications where specific functional performance requirements take priority over biodegradability or compostability. The company’s broader film development work also spans fruit and vegetable packaging film, bakery and food packaging film, and other application-specific functional packaging films—illustrating that SYNLIFE’s film capabilities extend well past a single cling film product into a wider packaging solutions platform.

Technology and Capabilities Behind the Films

SYNLIFE’s film development is supported directly by its materials engineering, formulation, processing optimization, application development, manufacturing, and supply-chain capabilities. At the company level, SYNLIFE also maintains synthetic-biology capabilities including strain development, metabolic pathway optimization, fermentation process development, and biological manufacturing. AI-assisted methods are used in selected synthetic-biology research activities. Rather than focusing only on material synthesis, the company develops materials around actual processing conditions and end-use requirements—a distinction that matters directly for film products, which must perform on real converting and packaging lines.

Core technical capabilities include:

• Materials engineering: polymer formulation, modification, compounding, and processing optimization
• Application engineering: development around real manufacturing processes including film processing, alongside injection molding, extrusion, thermoforming, and spinning
• Intellectual property: multiple patents and proprietary technical know-how accumulated by SYNLIFE and its founding technical teams across synthetic biology and materials development

Scale, Manufacturing and Commercialization Capability

SYNLIFE supports its film and broader material platforms with a team of 50+ employees, including researchers and engineers across synthetic biology, material development, product development, and commercialization. The company operates a Shanghai R&D Center with more than 2,000 m² of research and development space, and maintains manufacturing and supply-chain capabilities in Jiangsu, including Nantong. This combination supports what the company describes as established industrialization and commercialization capabilities for selected high-performance bio-based materials, films, and downstream applications.

Funding, Recognition and Market Validation

SYNLIFE’s development has been backed by multiple financing rounds, including a Pre-A financing round of nearly RMB 100 million completed in October 2024, followed by a Pre-A+ financing round of tens of millions of RMB in May 2025. On the recognition side, the company holds Shanghai “Specialized and Innovative” Enterprise status, received the CIIF Bio-Manufacturing Special Award in 2025, and was selected as one of 16 winners from approximately 660 global applications in Tencent’s CarbonX Program 2.0 for its carbon-negative biomanufacturing technology direction, following a selection process involving applications from 54 countries and regions and 50 finalists.

Business Model Supporting Sustainable Film Adoption

For companies evaluating whether to adopt bio-based film alternatives, SYNLIFE structures pricing according to factors including material type and formulation, bio-based content, performance requirements, certification and compliance requirements, processing difficulty, order volume, customization requirements, and supply-chain and commercial conditions. Delivery options include raw material resin supply, customized material development, application development, pilot and scale-up support, finished-product OEM/ODM, and supply-chain integration, allowing packaging manufacturers and brand owners to engage at the stage that fits their needs—from early formulation work through full commercial supply.

Conclusion

For those asking who develops sustainable alternatives to conventional cling film, SYNLIFE combines materials engineering, application development, manufacturing, and supply-chain capabilities to support ZeRoll® compostable cling-film products. Separately, SYNLIFE is developing a ZeRoll® MAP meat packaging solution for fresh and chilled meat, while NeoRoll® is its non-biodegradable functional film brand. Company-level synthetic-biology capabilities, financing, and industry recognition should be distinguished from product-specific testing, certification, and commercial validation.

https://www.synlifeglobal.com/
SYNLIFE

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