Until now, masterbatch has generally been made using virgin material as a carrier resin. This means that at typical let-down ratios, the finished product would contain 3 to 5 percent non-recycled plastic. With major consumer goods companies actively defining sustainability goals of 100 percent PCR polyolefin packaging, Avient has responded by developing Rejoin PCR Masterbatch in customizable colors and special effects.

“We understand that many consider the use of colorants and additives that rely on virgin resin carriers to nullify the claim of 100 percent PCR, so we worked to develop a solution that could help our customers deliver fully on their sustainability commitments,” said Bob Lee, marketing director, Color & Additives Asia at Avient. “This leading-edge product answers a growing industry need and demand.” 

Rejoin PCR Masterbatch combines pigments and functional additives into a single solution without negatively affecting color or mechanical properties. It can be added during production using standard equipment with little to no impact on processing, and allows for full recyclability of the end product.

Rejoin PCR Masterbatch is commercially available in major global markets. 

The International FoodTec Award is an initiative of the German Agricultural Society (DLG) and honors projects, which bring improvements and advancement in the food processing and technology sector. Habasit is proud to receive this recognition for the Habasit Super HyCLEAN modular belt range, designed to improve cleaning efficacy on food processing lines, especially in the protein industries.

A new concept for hygiene

Food processing lines require efficient cleaning to ensure proper sanitation and compliance with demanding hygiene requirements. A significant amount of the cleaning time is dedicated to the removal of soiling and residues from components of the conveyors, including the belt. Habasit Super HyCLEAN belts have been developed with particular consideration for those food applications and present an entirely new concept in plastic modular belting.

The unique, patented design of the modules has been engineered to minimize places where organic residue can be caught. With significantly reduced hinges and rods, the belt has increased flat surface and minimal cavities on the running side, making it not only easier to clean but also limiting potential breeding grounds for microorganisms. Coupled with dynamic open hinges, Habasit Super HyCLEAN represents a completely new approach to hygiene, putting emphasis on the elimination of potential risks.

Food Technology Award

The International FoodTech Award is in its 11th edition this year. The initiative is led by the German Agricultural Society in cooperation with specialist partners to recognize innovative projects which positively impact sustainability, efficiency, and progress in food technology. Submissions to the award are assessed by an international jury of experts from research and academia, as well as industry practitioners.

The prize is awarded in the form of medals; gold for new products which significantly change the function and the use of which gives rise to a new process or materially improves an existing process, and silver to existing products which have been developed to provide a substantial improvement in their function and the process. Of the 73 submissions in 2021, five projects were awarded the gold medal, and 15 were recognized with the silver award, including the innovative Habasit Super HyCLEAN modular belt.

Gualapack offers a complete range of laminates for coffee packaging, featuring high mechanical performance and total protection from gas and moisture, in order to preserve fragrance and aroma.

Recently, we have launched new recyclable solutions specifically designed for the coffee business, including mono-material laminates and compostable lids for coffee capsules.

Recyclable laminates for coffee packaging
In the recent years, we have worked a lot in the direction of circular economy, developing more sustainable solutions in the world of flexible packaging.

For the coffee industry, we now offer mono-material PP laminates. Made of high-performance and tailor made polypropylene resins, they are designed for collection, sorting and recycling in the PP stream.

Gualapack has also developed LAMINEXT, a family of compostable and bio-based laminates.

Compostable bio-based lids for coffee capsules
Capsules are becoming the new most common way of getting a coffee, at home and on-the-go.

As part of our commitment to sustainability, we have developed our brand-new biodegradable and compostable lids for coffee capsules, made of raw materials certified according to the industrial composting norm EN 13432. (GMO free).

The beer brand, owned by Belgian beverage giant Anheuser-Busch InBev SA except for in the U.S., said Thursday that using barley straw--combined with fully-recycled wood fibers--instead of traditional virgin wood pulp uses 90% less water, along with less energy and fewer harsh chemicals. It took three years to develop the packaging, which behaves like paper when recycled.

Brewers use barley seeds to make beer, but barley straw is leftover from farmers' harvests.

Corona said the new packaging will start with 10,000 six-packs as a pilot in Colombia this month, followed by Argentina later in the year, as the company looks to scale the packaging across the world.

Called “Sustainability Facts,” the added panel was modeled after a nutrition label and is printed on the packaging. Cocokind used the Department of Energy’s Life Cycle Inventory Database to determine its carbon footprint and worked with Carbon Calories to validate all the featured information. Now, each product is labeled with its quantified impact on sustainability across four life cycles, from sourcing to consumer use to end-of-life. It also offers instructions for curbside recycling, as well as how much of its packaging and cap are recyclable, and what they’re made from. A QR code on the box allows customers to scan to be directed to more sustainability resources on the brand’s e-commerce website.

Six-year-old Cocokind is sold through Target, Ulta Beauty and Thrive Market, among other retailers. Priscilla Tsai, Cocokind founder and CEO, declined to provide financial figures but said its direct-to-consumer sales make up more than 50% of total revenue.

The “anti-aspirational” brand is one of many beauty companies trying to figure out how to elevate its sustainability ethos. Since its launch, Cocokind has relied on glass bottles or bioplastic materials and ocean-waste plastic as its primary packaging materials, Tsai said. But amid 2020 and its environmental side effects, Tsai began asking herself and her team if these efforts were enough to call the brand sustainable. She also questioned what it means to be a sustainable brand.

“As the beauty industry continues to launch products, ourselves included, there needs to be [a more transparent] way to substantiate claims around sustainability,” she said. “[The beauty industry] has been looking at this through a limited definition of sustainability, which is only focused on packaging, and it’s so much more than that.”

Sara Miltenberger, sustainability expert and founder of Restore Media & Strategy consultancy expressed concerns regarding how well customers would understand the metrics behind Cocokind’s sustainability, such as carbon footprint, which is measured in grams. Alternatively, she suggested that Cocokind use more tangible conversions to demonstrate the measurements, such as stating that the energy produced to make a product is equivalent to a certain number of flights or offering a visual representation.

“If you’re going to use secondary packaging, make it powerful and make it educational. It is really great real estate to talk about your brand and what you’re doing,” said Miltenberger.

Cocokind’s packaging initiative arrives as brands are rethinking their sustainable packaging options and understanding that their secondary packaging is underutilized real estate. Traditionally, secondary packaging is the outside carton that houses a product and hosts an ingredient list, instructions on use and other basic information. Codex Beauty recently began printing efficacy panels on its packaging to show customers how well its products perform.

Online, each Cocokind product page also includes the sustainability panel on the brand’s e-commerce and will be consistently updated over time. In addition to updating its packaging, Tsai said Cocokind plans to improve sustainability efforts and produce an annual sustainability report, similar to those shared by conglomerates like L’Oréal Group and Estée Lauder Companies.

“People are no longer buying something because of superficial reasons. People want substance, and packaging should reflect that,” said Tsai.

Besides, its factories and manufacturing units would become carbon neutral by 2025, using renewable energy, it said in a statement.

Garnier is a mass-market cosmetics brand of French cosmetics company L'Oreal.

The company would use either reusable, recyclable or compostable materials in all packaging, which will save 37,000 tonnes of plastic every year, under its sustainability programme -- Garnier Green Beauty,

Moreover, from 2022, all plant-based and renewable ingredients used by the company for its products will be sustainably sourced, it noted.

"We pledge to lessen our impact on the planet and innovate for a sustainable future. It will take time, but Green Beauty will transform Garnier, and we hope the beauty industry as a whole," Garnier Global Brand President Adrien Koskas said.

Garnier India General Manager Zeenia Bastani said under the initiative, the company is also working with its suppliers and the communities.

It has partnered with Plastics For Change to help with the social impact of plastic pollution.

"Through this association, Garnier will support the holistic development of waste picker communities in India," it said.

Plastics for Change supports education for children, healthcare, nutrition, financial literacy and empowerment of girls and women.

By 2025, Garnier will empower 800 communities worldwide as part of its solidarity sourcing programme, it added.

"The Garnier Green Beauty initiative is our journey towards contributing to a better and more sustainable planet, while also creating a community of our consumers and supporters who can take this journey with us," L'Oreal India Director of Consumer Products Division Pankaj Sharma said.

The company  explained that move was designed to make its series easier for consumers to recycle, and follows in the wake of its wider environmental commitments, including a recently launched impact investment platform for eco-aware businesses.

The change means that the full Easter egg range, spanning Cadbury, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury Bournville, Fry’s, Green & Black’s, Maynard’s Bassets and OREO is plastic window free.

In addition, the company also reviewed the cardboard cartons for its shell egg range and were able to remove a further 108 tonnes of cardboard using 100% sustainably sourced cardboard. Mondelēz International has also continued its season specific on-pack recycling labelling, ‘Be A Good Egg’, in partnership with OPRL – the UK’s most recognised recycling label, across its entire Easter egg range to help people dispose of packaging correctly.

This move is part of the company’s ‘Pack Light and Pack Right’ strategy and its ongoing efforts to remove, reduce, replace and recycle packaging across its portfolio in support of its long-term vision of zero net waste packaging. Last year in the UK, Mondelēz removed 1.1 million plastic trays from its Christmas adult selection boxes, delivered a 15% reduction in the plastic used in its iconic Cadbury large share bags and also reduced its shelf ready packaging for the nation’s favourite chocolate bar, Cadbury Dairy Milk 360g sharing tablet, saving over 40 tonnes of cardboard on this product alone.

Louise Stigant, UK Managing Director, Mondelēz International, said: “Increasing the recyclability of our products and reducing the amount of packaging we use overall are important steps in contributing to the creation of a circular economy. In the last six months alone, we have removed over 192 tonnes of packaging in the UK and Ireland and removing the plastic windows from all our Easter eggs further supports our existing position as one of the most efficient users of plastic packaging in the consumer goods space.”

Mondelēz International has committed to global goals of making 100% of its packaging recyclable and labelled with clear consumer recycling information by 2025. To date 93.3% of its total packaging is already designed to be recyclable. Recently the company announced a new commitment to reduce its use of virgin plastics in its packaging and is aiming for at least a 25% reduction in virgin plastic use in its rigid plastic packaging, or a 5% reduction in virgin plastic use in its overall plastic packaging portfolio.

The company is a member of the UK Plastics Pact and a signatory of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and has recently announced that Philadelphia cream cheese sold in the UK and Europe will be made using recycled plastic packaging from 2022.

Mondi uses the retailer’s corrugated waste to produce the EcoVantage grade, in which recycled and fresh fibres are combined to create a recyclable shopping bag.

According to Mondi, the use of fresh fibre in combination with recycled fibres has multiple benefits. EcoVantage paper reportedly combines the strength, printability and appearance of a fresh fibre top layer with the sustainability advantages of a recycled fibre bottom layer.

As of today, Tesco has rolled out the shopping bags created with the EcoVantage paper in an initial pilot across Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia in November 2020.

Paulus Goess, sales director for speciality kraft paper at Mondi, comments, “Our EcoSolutions approach means we collaborate very closely with our customers to create the best possible product for their needs – using paper where possible and plastic when useful.

“We have been working on this project with Tesco for over two years, with the aim of reusing their warehouse waste to create a quality product that is strong in terms of performance, based on renewable resources, uses recycled materials and can, in turn, be fully recycled and ultimately contribute to a circular economy.”

Nóra Hevesi, head of communication at Tesco in Hungary, adds: “Our target is to make packaging 100% recyclable by 2025 and to reduce packaging wherever possible. We’ve already made great progress by removing 454 tonnes of hard-to-recycle material from our packaging so far, and it is exciting that we are able to close the loop by recycling our warehouse paper waste and use the recycled fibres in our shopper bags.

“We know how important sustainable and high-quality shopping bags are to our customers, so we are communicating the recycled fibre content and the closed-loop concept on the underside of the shopping bags as part of our consumer information.”