Ma Balise Wins LuxePack in Green Award 2025 with Breakthrough Biodegradable Connected Tags
Ma Balise, a Belgian startup specialising in sustainable connected traceability solutions, has been awarded the prestigious LuxePack in Green Award 2025 in the Eco-designed Packaging category. The award was presented at the international luxury packaging exhibition in Monaco, recognising the company’s Ephém™ technology as a milestone innovation that bridges the gap between smart connectivity and environmental responsibility.
For its first participation at LuxePack, Ma Balise achieved an extraordinary feat by winning against leading international players in the luxury packaging sector. The company’s Ephém™ tags represent a major step forward in the evolution of connected packaging, replacing traditional multi-layer PVC and PET structures with a fully biodegradable alternative.
Traditional NFC or RFID tags often require up to seven layers of synthetic materials and chemical etching. In contrast, Ma Balise’s design uses just four layers, all biodegradable, including a conductive ink antenna printed on FSC-certified paper. The result is an eco-engineered tag that delivers equivalent RFID and NFC performance to conventional solutions while achieving a 43% reduction in material layers. The tags are certified for 30-day biodegradability (DIN CERTCO, TÜV Rheinland) and are recyclable within standard paper and cardboard waste streams.
The innovation arrives at a crucial time for the industry. From 2027, the Digital Product Passport (DPP) will become mandatory for products in the cosmetics and luxury sectors, requiring traceable, connected solutions. The Ephém™ range enables brands to comply with this regulation while maintaining environmental integrity.
Founder Philippe Henin explained, “The jury understood that luxury packaging’s real challenge is not only about optimising materials, but solving the impossible equation between connectivity and sustainability. Our tags offer luxury brands a competitive advantage: technology that knows how to disappear.”
Beyond compliance, the Ephém™ tags enable practical benefits for luxury and cosmetic brands:
- Full traceability of ingredients and product origin
- Authentication against counterfeiting
- Personalised customer engagement through NFC connectivity
- Native DPP compliance without adding electronic waste
With an estimated 150 billion cosmetic units produced annually worldwide, even a modest 10 percent adoption of biodegradable connected tags could prevent 15 billion plastic chips from persisting in the environment for over a century.
Ma Balise will showcase its innovation next at Cosmetic 360 in Paris (15–16 October 2025), highlighting applications of Ephém™ for the beauty and skincare sectors.
Certified and produced in Europe and Asia, the Ephém™ RFID and NFC ranges reinforce Ma Balise’s mission to redefine connected packaging for a more sustainable future.
Visit Ma Balise website for more information.