Caturra's sustainable packaging

Caturra Coffee Company offers 100% compostable packaging

FMCG SUPPLIER NEWS

Jul 21st 2011, 08:58

Caturra Coffee Company allies with Natureflex™ films to offer 100% compostable packaging to FMCG and the Horeca Industry 

South Africa’s local coffee market, held at the forefront of ethical sourcing and sustainability, is upping the ante on “green” packaging with the launch of a joint venture between Laskas CC and NatureFlex™ Films. Laskas CC, a sales and marketing arm of NatureFlex™ films in southern Africa, approached Caturra Coffee due to their innovative outlook, and will be offering packaging-reliant industries a home compostable packaging solution, irrespective of form or requirements.

Laskas CC’s first client, Caturra Coffee, will introduce the first range of compostable material under the name African Renaissance Coffee® – a new-to-market premium 100% indigenous African origin espresso beans and ground coffee export brand.

“Consumables claim to be green, biodegradable and sustainable, but the Achilles’ heel is usually the packaging,” says Klaus Becker, MD for Caturra Coffee. With Caturra Coffee’s African Renaissance Coffee® and Lasks’ new NatureFlex™, the South African consumer will be able to enjoy premium indigenous African coffee blend products including beans from Ethiopia and Kenya while simultaneously relishing in the knowledge that once the empty pouch has been added to the backyard compost heap, the decomposition process begins almost immediately,” he adds.

NatureFlex™ Films can be applied to a broad cross-section of packaging needs ranging from fresh fruit and vegetable packaging, bag making, sugar and chocolate confectionary wrapping to hygiene product packaging, bakery packaging, dried foods packaging, home and personal care packaging, lamination, lidding and reamwrap. The film can appear in either transparent, coloured, white or metallised colouring; is heat sealable for use on horizontal or vertical packaging machines; is static free; has a high heat-resistance, and enjoys a range of barrier properties that compete favourably with conventional OPP, PA and PET films.

“Most packaging materials are technically recyclable,” says Becker, “but how much of it is actually being recycled on a day-to-day basis?”

Laskas’ NatureFlex™ Films provides an offering that will short circuit the municipal refuse collection and separation process or the need to incinerate, enabling South Africans to take responsibility from beginning to end by disposing of used packaging in their garden compost bins. The films are both biodegradable and home compostable since the primary raw material, wood pulp, is used to produce cellulose acetate, and is sourced from managed forests.

Although biodegradability aids the recycling process, plastics, tins, glass and packaging are often recycled away from the home by local municipal authorities or on tender. Home compostability, on the other hand, proclaims its name – allowing packaging to be added directly to home compost with newspaper, wood, organic matter, etc. Compostable packaging therefore becomes the consumer’s ally, helping to fertilise garden foliage and keeps the earthworms happy!

“Our green credentials have an exponential knock-on effect,” says Becker.

Composting is formally recognised under EU laws as “organic recycling”, requiring packaging material to undergo stringent independent testing to live up to the “compostable” packaging norm – EN13432 – and claim both biodegradability and compostability. For more information, visit www.caturra.co.za or www.laskas.co.za