STiR coffee and tea magazine

48 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 2, 2019 (April / May) Plastic Progress in Capsule Design By Dan Bolton Joe B. Grubbs, senior polymer scientist at Danimer Scientific presents at AMI Single-Serve Capsules, Atlanta s the self-imposed 2020 industry deadline for the ideal coffee capsule nears, doz- ens of companies are formulating their way to the finish line. In 2015 Keurig, the largest US supplier of coffee capsules, promised 100% of its K-cup capsules would be recyclable by 2020. A year later the company switched from its original multi- layered blend of plastic (#7) to more environmentally friendly polypropylene (#5) which is a plastic that "not only is recyclable but that actually gets recycled." Notable advances followed with Club Coffee's PurPod ring (made from coffee chaff) and the RealCup (which required disassembly) along with a number of bioplastic capsules made of cornstarch, sugarcane, and vegetable fibers. Most are compostable on land in six to 12 weeks, but not in a marine environment. In November Harney & Sons Fine Tea, working with TC Transcontinental Packaging, Dow Packaging and NEX Films, intro- duced the first two-ply EVOH flexible pouch that is 100% single-stream recyclable. In March a roomful of engineers, scientists, and inventors attending AMI's Single- Serve Capsule conference documented a decade of progress. In her overview AMI's Martyna Fong estimates global demand for capsules at 60 bil- lion with compatibles comprising 14 billion (23%) of the total. The five top systems are Nespresso (#1) and Dolce Gusto (#3) with Keurig (#2), Tassimo (#4), and Caffitaly (#5). "Demand is still growing but starting to saturate," she said. Fong predicts heightened merger and acquisitions and expansion. Innovation is haphazard: There are 200 Nepresso- compatible plastic capsule designs, but only 10% are said to deliver on quality, she said. Promising compostable solutions include RPC+BASF's B2Nature, FLO+Natureworks GEA, and Capsul'in Compost. Joe Grubbs, senior polymer scientist at Danimer Scientific, described PHA as a next generation bioplastic that is food safe, certified 100% biode- gradable, and backyard compostable. PHA (polyhydroxyalkanoate) is made by fermenting renewable biomass. It has polyester-like properties suitable for films, sheets, nonwovens, and molded capsules. It degrades in water both fresh and marine. Marketed as Nodax, this thermoplastic polymer is printable with excellent barrier performance, said Grubbs. It now appears the coffee industry will have sufficient options to claim its supply chain can meet the basic goal of manufacturing recyclable and compostable capsules. It is unclear whether the public will be convinced. As everyone in the room attests, recycling plastic has proven to be a complex chal- lenge. Meeting the performance requirements of high-speed fill and pack equipment while protecting coffee from staling is easily accomplished if you disregard the most difficult requirement of all – closing the loop. Husky multi-layer technology next generation coffee capsule A

• Cover