Elopak claims industry first with beverage cartons with renewable coating

As an industry first, Elopak uses second generation renewable PE, made of European-sourced biomass not in competition with food supply.
Elopak aims to replace all fossil-based raw materials with renewable alternatives as part of its ambitious Future Proofed Packaging Strategy. “This is a key milestone in Elopak’s efforts to reduce the environmental footprint of our products. We have a vision to deliver products with zero net impact on the environment, and this is an important step towards that goal”, says Elopak’s CEO Niels Petter Wright.
With this move, Elopak is working in partnership with key customers wanting to boost the environmental merits of their packaging. An increased use of bio-based PE helps reduce the use of fossil-based materials. In addition, this reduces one of the largest sources of CO2 emissions in the beverage carton value chain.
“The beverage carton is the environmentally superior packaging choice, consisting of at least 75% renewable paperboard derived from responsibly managed forests. The remaining materials are mostly made of polyethylene, a polymer usually produced from fossil-based raw materials. Renewable PE brings us much closer to our vision of a 100% renewable carton. At the same time, we are further reducing the carbon footprint of the carton; a footprint which was already best in class within beverage packaging”, says Kristian Hall, Director Corporate Environment at Elopak.

Bio-based plastics are generally made from crops; however in this case the renewable or bio-based PE is produced from biomass from second generation feedstock. This is locally sourced within Europe and is not in competition with human food supply. In addition, the bio-based PE is certified through the entire value chain, by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification system (ISCC PLUS). ISCC PLUS sets strict requirements for sustainability and traceability through the entire value chain, with chain of custody certification based on a mass balance system.
Elopak’s plants in the Netherlands and Denmark are already certified according to the international standards of ISCC PLUS by the third-party auditing company TÜV Rheinland. (KL)

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