Development and scale-up of the Choose Water recycled paper bottle -the world’s first long-shelf life, plastic-replacement bottle made from 100% biodegradable materials

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Each year the UK throws away over 13bn plastic bottles and 5bn items of plastic-coated paper packaging such as coffee cups, cartons and salad boxes. Although plastic bottles are relatively easy to recycle, UK recycling rates of 45% (WRAP;2018) mean the majority end up in landfill, or worse the ocean.Plastic-coated paper packaging presents a more complicated problem -- despite using 95% recycled materials the high cost associated with separating the materials means 125,000 tonnes going to landfill every year.Following 12-months research, we have developed a prototype 500ml bottle made solely out of recycled paper, with unique waterproof lining made out 100% natural, biodegradable materials. The liner represents the holy grail within the packaging industry and the technology has significant potential both in the development of bottles and use in wider packaging for liquids, ready meals and other modified atmosphere packaging- reducing the reliance on plastic and plastic lining for packaging.We are currently reliant on multiple third-parties for the design and manufacture of the recycled paper bottle, with the lining, filling and capping taking place manually at our production facility. This is inefficient, not scalable and hinders our ability to undertake further R&D.Having demonstrated the potential of the liner and paper casing, we now need to refine the liner and develop the unique hardware machinery needed exploit the market opportunity.Internally, the project will;Enable us to get to market quickly, demonstrate industrial feasibility (EOIs already received from: Sky, Eurostar) aProduce at volume (100p/d - 1,800 p/d) and reduce our cost per bottle from 60p to 14p through automation, down to ~5p at scale - comparable to PET.Enable us to undertake further R&D, experimenting with other forms of recycled material packaging (bamboo, wood pulp etc), smaller bottles (down to 50ml - a major source of single-use plastic waste), different structures (ready meal or modified atmosphere trays etc) and act as a platform to develop the unique liner technology.More widely, the technology will help the UK reduce its plastic bottle usage by 1mi items by Y5, saving over 140,000 kg in CO2 in line with UK GOVs 'Plastic Pact' 2025 commitment.