Paccor presents recycle-enhancing plastic food and beverage cups for carbon savings

19 Apr 2021 --- Paccor is unveiling several new foamed polypropylene (PP) cups with oriented PP (OPP) sleeves for improved shelf life and reduced carbon costs. The company is also launching recycled PET (rPET) solutions and Digimarc barcode availability for enhanced recyclability.

The German-headquartered company says it is the first packaging manufacturer to offer OPP sleeves on PP cups.

OPP sleeves are detected as mono-material PP, meaning they can be sorted and recycled with the PP cup. The cups are available in white or colored (non-transparent).

According to Paccor, the PP foaming technology allows a 10-15 percent weight reduction with full skeleton reincorporation and increased thermoforming cycle time.

The technology was developed at Paccor’s production site in Szombathely, Hungary, which included a “significant investment” on an existing extrusion line. 

“The results of the foamed PP cups are very satisfactory: up to 16 percent less CO2 emissions when we produce our DuoSmart solutions and 15 percent less plastic compared to the production of traditional DuoSmart cups,” outlines Yves Caunegre, group director for innovation at Paccor.

“These new products allow significant sustainability improvements compared to oriented polystyrene (OPS) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) sleeves and support Paccor’s Care strategy by providing leading circular offers to our customers,” adds Nicolas Lorenz, Paccor CCO.

“Mono-material solutions can make sleeving interesting for other applications in a conical or curved shape. To support our customer’s sustainability agenda, life cycle analyses of our new products are available.”

Recycle-by-design solutions
Paccor is also introducing RecycleDuo, which are DuoSmart products without glue and new DuoSmart solutions with rPET or foamed PP inlets.

DuoSmart with rPET inlet responds to market demand for recycled content, mainly possible today with rPET incorporation, the company indicates.

RecycleDuo offers “the advantages of paper with the functionality of plastic” and contains up to 50% less plastic than standard injection molded solutions (Image credit: Paccor).The packaging combines “the advantages of paper with the functionality of plastic.” It contains up to 50 percent less plastic than standard injection molded solutions.

RecycleDuo is first being implemented on all PP DuoSmart Light products. Without glue, the packaging’s “zip” function allows consumers to easily separate the plastic inlet and the cardboard segment for recycling.

The brand also offers a renewable biopolymer option, and PP, PET and barrier PP for more demanding shelf life requirements.

The packaging is designed to protect food product’s nutritional value, color, aroma and taste, including food stored in ambient, chilled, or frozen conditions, and hot filling and microwaving.

DuoSmart runs on standard food industry filling lines and is available in various sizes and shapes. Standard and light shapes are popular with dairy, convenience food, dry food, foodservice and pet food brands.

Digimarc barcodes
The DuoSmart standard version design places the barcode at the bottom of the packaging, enabling easy scanning without disturbing the brand design, which can include see-through windows.

The new generation of DuoSmart solutions also offers the Digimarc barcode printed on the outer paper layer and engraved on the plastic cup.

The barcodes can be scanned with any smartphone camera, providing consumers and recycling companies with information about the packaging.

The Digimarc initiative assesses whether a pioneering digital technology – digital watermarks – can enable better sorting and higher packaging recycling rates. Digital watermarks are almost imperceptible codes and the size of a postage stamp.Paccor and six other packaging manufacturers have filed legal action against the EU’s new marking specifications for single-use beverage cups wholly or partially made from plastic.

Paccor aims to make all its products recyclable “in practice and at scale” by 2023, ahead of the EU timescale. The EU Plastics Strategy requires all packaging to be recyclable in an economically viable way by 2030.

Legal action against EU 
On 11 March 2021, Paccor and six other plastic packaging manufacturers united via their national trade associations brought an action for annulment before the EU General Court against the new marking specifications for single-use beverage cups wholly or partially made from plastic as defined in Article 7 of the Single-Use Plastic Directive (SUPD).

The co-applicants – Paccor, Flo, Dopla, ILIP, Aristea, Dart, and Intraplas – reaffirm they are fully committed to the European Green Deal and the Circular Economy Policy. As an industry, they aim to achieve higher recycling levels and recycled materials for their beverage cups.

The manufacturers claim the marking specifications for beverage cups now established by the Commission are “unnecessary and unsuitable” to achieve SUPD aims to prevent and reduce the impact of beverage cups on the environment. They add that beverage cups have been found the 35th most polluting item on beaches.

Moreover, the additional markings adopted by the Commission for beverage cups – like pictograms and information phrases – are likely to mislead consumers about effective recycling behavior, the co-applicants insist.

The aim of the action is to establish “the unlawfulness of the marking requirements outlined in the IR 2020/2151 for beverage cups, and the annulment thereof.”

The co-applicants want the Commission to reconsider the markings and support “justified and appropriate other, better, measures and actions taken to effectively encourage the recycling of beverage cups partially and wholly made of plastic and to reduce marine littering of single-use plastic products.”

A judgment from the EU General Court is expected in 2023.

By Joshua Poole