Hembased Launches Cold-Compostable Filament Made From Palm Leaves

What "Cold Compostable" Actually Means

Dutch firm Hembased is launching a filament it describes as cold compostable — meaning a printed object should return fully to nature in an ordinary home compost bin, not just in an industrial facility with heated, controlled conditions. To qualify as cold compostable, a material has to degrade within roughly a year at ambient temperatures of 20–30°C, leave nothing harmful behind, and ideally feed the soil rather than just disappear.

That distinction matters. Most "compostable" plastics are industrially compostable, which sounds green but often requires infrastructure most households and municipalities do not have. A material that breaks down on a garden heap is a different, more credible end-of-life story.

The Material: A Palm-Leaf Byproduct

Hembased's filament is made from a palm-leaf byproduct, positioning it as a biobased alternative to petroleum-based printing materials. Founder Erik Janssen framed the motivation plainly: "3D printing is a powerful tool for rapid innovation, but current materials do not yet align with what the future demands. We believe that materials should not only perform well during use, but should also have a credible and responsible end-of-life solution."

The company says the hardest part of development was balancing reliable print performance with a genuine circular end-of-life. Under the right conditions, it argues, a printed object can ultimately act as a nutrient source within a biological system.

Not Quite "The First"

Hembased markets the launch as the first cold-compostable, biobased filament in the world. That claim is shakier than it sounds. Cold-compostable PHA filaments have been on the market for years from several players: ColorFabb's allPHA led the way (with blended PHA back in 2013 and a pure PHA variant in 2022), and companies including Phanbulous, Ecogenesis EcoFab, Regen, and Loopha all shipped PHA-based options before Hembased. PHA is typically derived from agricultural waste or byproducts, breaks down into water, biomass, and CO2, and prints well — albeit with different settings than PLA.

So treat the "first" framing as marketing, not history. What Hembased does add is a palm-leaf feedstock and another credible option in a still-small category.

Why It Matters for Makers

For most desktop users, a compostable filament is not about printing heirlooms — it is about the growing pile of failed prototypes, supports, and test cubes. If those can go in the compost instead of the trash, the hobby's material footprint shrinks meaningfully. PHA-based filaments also tend to have higher continuous service temperatures than PLA, making them usable for parts that would sag under PLA.

The honest caveat: "cold compostable" depends on the right conditions. A printed part sealed in a landfill bag will not break down on schedule. The benefit is real only if the object actually reaches a compost environment — which is on the user, not the spool.

The Bigger Picture

Hembased is part of a wider push toward genuinely circular 3D printing materials, alongside broader PHA efforts from firms like Genecis, which has worked on making PHA from food waste since 2018. None of this replaces engineering plastics, but it gives makers a defensible choice for non-permanent parts.

If you print a lot of disposable or short-life objects — planters, prototypes, packaging, educational models — a cold-compostable filament is worth a look. Just match your expectations to the conditions it actually needs to degrade.