100% rPET sustainable cup packaging
German company Harvest Moon is dedicated to producing plant-based yogurt and milk alternatives that are good for both consumers and society. Now the business is also taking a major step forward in terms of sustainable packaging, opting for cardboard-plastic combinations in which the cups are made of 100% rPET. These are produced by Greiner Packaging.
Greiner Packaging’s stated aim is to keep plastic circulating in the economy for as long as possible. To this end, the packaging specialists look to work together with their customers to create new packaging solutions that can be recycled themselves and, ideally, contain recycled material, too. This was also the declared goal of Harvest Moon, and the plastic cups in the new cardboard-plastic solutions for its fermented yogurt alternatives are produced from 100% rPET, making them sustainable. No virgin material is used at all, and the new cups significantly cut down on carbon emissions.
Sustainable material
A sustainable plastic, rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) is lightweight, shatterproof, and free of plasticisers. Because the new cups are made from 100% recycled, unprinted rPET monomaterial, they can be processed into 100% food-safe cups again and again if the appropriate collection streams are used. Recycling the cups requires less energy than using virgin material and produces less waste.
Sustainable packaging
Aside from the material used, cardboard-plastic combinations have a few other sustainable properties. The cardboard wrap, which can be made from recycled material, lends sturdiness to the plastic cup so that it can be produced with particularly thin walls. This wrap is especially easy for consumers to detach from the cup thanks to a new tear-off system, with the two components then disposed of separately and recycled. Since the white or transparent plastic cup is unprinted, it can be recycled effectively. In addition, the carbon footprint of K3 cups is significantly smaller than that of alternative packaging solutions.
