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

英国每年扔掉超过130亿个塑料瓶和50亿件涂有塑料涂层的纸包装，如咖啡杯、纸盒和沙拉盒。尽管塑料瓶相对容易回收，但英国45%的回收率（WRAP;2018）意味着大多数塑料瓶最终会被填埋，或者更糟的是进入海洋。涂布塑料纸包装的问题更为复杂——尽管95%的材料是可回收的，但分离材料的高成本意味着每年有125,000吨垃圾要被填埋。经过12个月的研究，我们已经开发出了一个500毫升的原型瓶，完全由再生纸制成，内衬由100%天然可生物降解材料制成。衬里代表了包装行业的圣杯，该技术在瓶子的发展和更广泛的液体包装、即食食品和其他改性大气包装中都具有巨大的潜力，减少了对塑料和塑料衬里包装的依赖。我们目前依靠多个第三方来设计和制造再生纸瓶，在我们的生产设施手工进行衬里，灌装和盖盖。这是低效的，不可扩展的，阻碍了我们进一步研发的能力。在展示了衬垫和纸套管的潜力之后，我们现在需要改进衬垫并开发开发市场机会所需的独特硬件机械。在内部，该项目将；使我们能够快速进入市场，证明工业可行性（已经收到来自：Sky， Eurostar的意向书），批量生产（100便士/天- 1800便士/天），并通过自动化将每瓶成本从60便士降低到14便士，在规模上降至5便士-与PET相当。使我们能够进行进一步的研发，试验其他形式的回收材料包装（竹，木浆等），更小的瓶子（低至50毫升-一次性塑料废物的主要来源），不同的结构（即食餐或改性气氛托盘等），并作为开发独特内衬技术的平台。更广泛地说，这项技术将帮助英国将塑料瓶的使用量减少5英镑，节省超过14万公斤的二氧化碳，符合英国政府2025年“塑料公约”的承诺。

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.