Innovative New Zealand packaging company, Ecoware has developed an alternative environmentally friendly solution to traditional oil-based takeaway cups, which are not able to be recycled, and have no end of life option other than ending up in landfill.
Ecoware has worked for the past decade on solutions to the problem of coffee cups being consigned to landfill, producing a product derived from naturally-occurring plant sugar, and actively encouraging the composting of coffee cups.
Following recent media reports that have highlighted many takeaway cups being labelled recyclable, when the vast majority of them actually end up in landfill due to the inner lining of the cups being made from polyethylene or PE, a plastic material derived from oil.
Ecoware partnered with US based company NatureWorks six years ago and using alternative raw materials have slowly transition the coffee industry towards a greener future.
A key part of their solution has been developing a product made from plants, instead of oil-based plastic. The product used to line their EcoCups is a BioPlastic called Ingeo, derived from naturally occurring plant sugar.
