STiR coffee and tea magazine

34 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 6, 2018 (December / January 2019) SOLUTIONS Delivery Dilemma Home and office delivery of coffee and tea is experiencing unprecedent- ed demand – which brings single-use packaging to the forefront for consum- ers who want convenience and envi- ronmentally responsible containers. Styrofoam is on the way out. The city of San Diego banned its use in restaurants this summer and a New York City ban withstood legal challeng- es and goes into effect January 1, 2019. Dunkin' will eliminate polystyrene sty- rofoam cups by 2020. Utensils are next. In July Seattle banned plastic straws and utensils. Expect other cities to follow. The Dining Alliance, a group purchasing organization representing 20,000 independent restaurants, reports orders for paper and plastic to-go containers have soared 130% in the past year. Paper straws, hot cups with compostable linings, and utensils made of sus- tainable and renewable raw materials are the choice of Millennials and GenZ. "If a brand with a sustainable/organic food program uses non-organic, non-biodegradable, eco-unfriendly disposable products, the marketing discon- nect can damage the reputation of the brand," writes Dining Alliance president Christina Donahue. Donahue said the alliance estimates paper and plastic containers are dou- ble the cost of foam to-go items ($58 per case versus $25 per case). "Don't just think about the increased cost of higher end containers," she advises. "Also consider the increased opportunity for more profits. Better con- tainers can mean better presentation, which can mean happier, more frequent customers," she said. Sustainable Filter Paper OHKI is a leading Japanese manufacturer of environmentally conscious filter materials. The company uses plant-based materials and embraces a manufac- turing philosophy that it calls "sustico" a combination of the words "sustainable" and "ecology." Tea bag papers include non-woven materials that feature excellent extract- ability and great value. The company also produces transparent mesh- type materials that optimize flavor extraction for premium tea leaves. The Osaka-based company also produces a line of single-use drip fil- ters for pour-over coffee and tea. De- signed to fit various size cups, the filter ma- terial consists of high-quality fibers manufactured in one of three ISO14001 certified facilities. The company is committed to supplying its superi- or products to customers worldwide. OHKI is continu- ously evolving filter materials with its expertise and insists on developing better solutions to better serve its customers and the planet. Learn more: www.ohki-okilon.co.jp Next Generation NatureFlex/Futamura Biodegradable packaging and filter materials were a prominent theme at this year's COTECA exhibition in Hamburg, with well over a dozen companies showcasing their respective products. But Futamura UK, a member of Japan's Futamura Group, certainly stood out thanks to its revolutionary new packaging film, NatureFlex. According to the company's market development manager Claire McKeown, the only recently launched material is already used by a number of coffee and tea brands, either on its own or as an aroma-sealing inner liner laminated with paper. It serves as an excellent oxy- gen barrier (0% r.H.: 1 at 23 0 C), giving complete aroma protection and is also resistant to fats. Furthermore, the material, produced from FSC and PEFC-certified bio cel- lulose under Futamura's patented process, serves as a proven functional barrier against mineral oil migration for at least five years. But its truly outstanding property is its tested biodegradability and home compostabil- ity. Given the right environmental conditions (warm and wet), NatureFlex only takes weeks to fully degrade on the backyard compost heap where other purported bio- degradables may take months if not years. And as ocean pollution becomes an increasingly serious global problem, Futamura UK is currently in the process to carrying out a tests for the marine biodegradability of NatureFlex. Fully printable, the material's environmental friendli- ness would of course fly straight out the window if con- ventional inks were deployed that may not easily biode- grade, although when used on food packaging they are generally required to be non-toxic. Futamura recognized that issue and apparently has entered into a collaboration with German packaging company, L.F.C. Nocke, the lat- ter sharing a booth with the former at COTECA. Nocke's managing director Carsten Haaks divulged to STiR at the show that his company exclusively deployed water or ethanol-based inks on NatureFlex substrates whose pig- ments simply dissolve naturally when composted, leaving behind no pollutants. The intriguing combination of a fully compostable packaging material paired with fully degradable printing inks drew a lot of interest from visiting industry profession- als at the show, Haaks said. - Thomas Schmid Styrofoam bans gaining traction Biodegradable packaging is in demand

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