Weekly Roundup: Starbucks Japan eliminates plastic straws, Avantium secures EU grant for bioplastics

29 Nov 2019 --- This week in packaging, Starbucks announced that it will eliminate single-use plastic straws from nearly 1,500 stores across Japan and begin providing paper straws to customers starting in January 2020. Avantium secured €25 million in EU funding to support the establishment of an innovative value chain for the use of plant-based FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid) and PEF (polyethylene furanoate). Also, Canpack officially opened its US$150 million aluminum beverage can facility in Tocancipa, Colombia, with an annual capacity of 1.3 billion cans, expandable to 1.9 billion.

In brief: Sustainability
Starbucks Coffee Japan is set to replace single-use plastic straws with responsibly-sourced paper straws certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). The straws will be available in standard sizes for iced beverages and large sizes for Frappuccino blended beverages. The change will eliminate an estimated 200 million single-use plastic straws per year from nearly 1,500 stores across Japan. The new standard-sized paper straws will be available in select stores beginning in January, with a complete rollout to all stores across the Japan market by March. Large-sized straws for Frappuccino blended beverages will be available in all stores by May. All paper straws will come in paper packaging with positive messages about sustainability.

Pact Group, Australasia’s largest manufacturer of rigid plastic packaging, expanded its capacity of locally sourced post-consumer recycled resin. From December, Pact will be able to offer its customers substantial volumes of recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET), recycled high-density polyethylene (rHDPE) and recycled polypropylene (rPP) for inclusion in its broad range of packaging, including food, bottles, personal care, household and industrial products. Pact has a well-established Sustainability Division that has been recycling post-industrial resin since the company’s inception and has grown to be the largest recycler of post-industrial resin in the southern hemisphere. Every year the Group converts more than 30,000 metric tons of resin per annum.Pact has expanded its capacity of locally sourced post-consumer recycled resin.

Ecosurety launched a £1million (US$1.29 million) innovation and research fund for UK-based projects that seek to reduce the negative impact of packaging, batteries and WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) on the environment. The first-ever such fund to be launched by a UK compliance scheme, the Ecosurety Exploration Fund builds on Ecosurety’s experience in supporting innovative projects and new technologies across the waste and recycling sector by providing a visible funding route for companies, charities, not-for-profits and academic institutions. The fund will be spread across three years, with individual grant applications of up to £150,000 being accepted each year and judged by an independent panel of experts. Projects must be completed within 12 months and offer measurable impacts and tangible solutions.

In brief: Business
Avantium secured a €25 million EU Horizon 2020 grant for its FDCA flagship plant. The grant is regarded as an important financing milestone for Avantium on its path towards making FDCA and PEF commercially available. The “PEFerence” grant was originally awarded in 2017 to the PEFerence consortium under coordination of Synvina, the joint venture of Avantium and BASF. After the dissolution of the Synvina joint venture in January 2019, Avantium took full ownership of the YXY plant-to-plastics technology to produce FDCA and PEF. Avantium revised the scale-up and commercialization strategy for PEF, which includes a planned construction of a 5 kilotons FDCA flagship plant. As a result, Avantium needed to redefine the PEFerence project with BBI JU and its consortium partners. BBI JU has now agreed to the redefined project and has reactivated the PEFerence grant to the consortium, which will have access to the subsidy from 1 December 2019 onwards.Canpack opened its aluminum beverage can facility in Tocancipa, Colombia.

Canpack, a global manufacturer of aluminum beverage cans and packaging solutions for the food industry, officially opened its aluminum beverage can facility in Tocancipa, Colombia. Canpack Colombia has employed more than 200 Colombians in its new facility, built on the area of approximately 75,000 m2, with an annual capacity of 1.3 billion cans, expandable to 1.9 billion. “Following the increased demand for sustainable and innovative aluminum packaging, the CANPACK Group has decided to accelerate its expansion into the South American Market,” comments Peter F. Giorgi, President and CEO of Giorgi Global Holdings, owner of the Canpack Group. “This investment has been founded upon a strong and trust-based relationship we have established with AB InBev. We are looking forward to expanding our business operations in Colombia as we see great potential for growth within the Colombian market.”

Ringtons, a UK-based hot beverage supplier, purchased PFM Packaging Machinery as part of a “huge capital investment project” to automate coffee production at its factory in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Ringtons sought PFM’s expertise to automate its coffee packaging process and clear a bottleneck caused by the limits that could be achieved by the hand packing operation for the drinks firm’s popular brands of ground and beans. PFM’s solution was to supply two Zenith machines, which have significantly improved output from 300 kilos in an eight-hour shift to 800 kilos per machine every hour in different bag styles.Multivac gained the exclusive rights to market the InteliJet HD series of printing solutions with immediate effect.

Korozo, one of Turkey’s top exporters of flexible packaging and film products, announced the completion of its acquisition of a majority stake in Vitra NV and Creavit NV (Rask). Vitra/Creavit was founded in 1935 in Antwerp, Belgium, by the Laeremans family and is specialized primarily in film conversion for packaging applications in thin film packaging, labels on rolls and small-sized bags. Vitra has been producing high-quality packaging materials for several end-use markets including bakery, confectionery, snacks, protein and beverages in its modern manufacturing facility in Antwerp equipped with both flexographic and rotogravure technologies. Creavit (Rask) is the high qualified in-house design and pre-press department of Vitra.

In brief: Printing
Multivac gained the exclusive rights to market the InteliJet HD series of printing solutions from the US manufacturer BELL-MARK Sales Co. with immediate effect. The inkjet printers are based on the piezo technology, and their main features include a large print area and excellent print quality on a wide range of materials. They can either be integrated into new packaging lines or retrofitted to existing ones. The InteliJet HD series of printers are drop-on-demand digital printers, which can be configured for either one or two colors or even the full CMYK color scale. In contrast to CIJ (Continuous Ink Jet) printers, which produce a continuous jet of ink, the nozzles of DoD printers only supply the ink drops that are required for the print. This is very efficient and therefore particularly cost-effective, Multivac says.

By Joshua Poole