STiR coffee and tea magazine

14 STiR coffee and tea / Issue 4, 2017 (August / September) Q A NEWS P By Dan Bolton Peter Delain OPTIMA Machinery Corporation OPTIMA Machinery Corporation sales director Peter Delain eter Delain has been involved in the packaging industry since 1985 with his first role as a mechanical engineering intern. A 1986 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Stout, Peter has worked with paper and plastics equipment as well as converting systems his entire career. Since 2003 he has been with OPTIMA Machinery Corporation in Green Bay, WI, a wholly owned subsid- iary of OPTIMA packaging group GmbH of Germany. In his role as director of sales for the consumer products group, Peter is responsible for the primary and secondary packaging equipment for cosmetics, chemicals, filtration, as well as with food and beverages. His love of coffee keeps him tied closely to the single-serve markets. STiR: In the past 50 years manufacturers created 9.1 billion tons of plastic of which only 9% has been recycled, and 12% incinerated. The remaining 79% is buried in landfills and floating at sea. Consumers are increasingly outspoken about the billions of single-use capsules, billions of plastic degassing valves, and billions of tons of foil and multi-layer film generated by the coffee industry. Peter Delain: People around the world are aware of the waste issue, and it is gaining momentum. Control of these waste streams is very high in the minds of leading coffee companies in these markets. Nestle, for example, has long been recycling their aluminum capsules. Keurig has vowed to have a fully recyclable K-Cup soon (2020). The science behind creating a high-quality product, with low environmental impact – while keeping the cost as-is is a difficult task. People are not only aware of the environ- mental effect, but they are voting for this when they make choices in the market place. STiR: The single-serve format pioneered by Nespresso and Keurig is deeply entrenched in Europe and North America and spreading globally. Describe from your vantage the trends driving growth. Delain: The world has multiples of single-serve coffee systems. The Espresso pods that defined the market in the 1960s and 70s still exist. However, the Nespresso capsule and Keurig K-Cup have leapt to the front of these markets. Consolidation around these formats has been very simple in reality. People want a reliable system that offers quality and convenience. Both systems now have alternative manufacturers for consumers to choose from which creates a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. There is more competi- tion which has lowered the average price and offers more selection.

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