A ‘NEW REUSE MINDSET’ FOR COFFEE CUPS? The march towards reusables continues – and UK-based start-up Bockatech has been working on a reuse model for coffee cups around its patented EcoCore® plastics manufacturing technology. Victoria Hattersley spoke to company founder Chris Bocking and Director Martin Blacher to find out what makes their approach to reusables different.
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ive years ago UK-based start-up Bockatech was established with the purpose of bringing its patented technology, EcoCore, to market. EcoCore is a new technology that produces injection-moulded packaging – for food service, FMCG, industrial and healthcare – with PP skin-foamskin walls ‘almost instantly’. The company has ongoing partnerships with global polyolefins producer Borealis and in-mould labels expert Verstraete, among others, to bring this technology to the market. The sustainability challenges faced by the packaging industry are many and varied, as we all know only too well, and Bockatech believes EcoCore can address several of these with its light weight, insulation, durability and recyclability. But right now, one mammoth problem the company is focusing on is the mountain of waste resulting from our reliance on takeaway single-use paper beverage cups. And to do this, it favours a reuse and recycle approach.
‘A new area of reuse’
Courtesy of Borealis
It’s all very well, of course, talking about reuse and recycle but what does this mean in practice? According to Chris Bocking, firstly the EcoCore coffee cups have been designed with light-weighting in mind but, “Because of the process we use to expand the material the structure is very strong so we can offer this more traditional light-weighting without sacrificing strength.” Packaging Europe | 31 |
