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The world may soon be able to bid adieu to the environmentally harmful plastic and thermocol cups which restaurants use to serve cold drinks in. Dutch company AkzoNobel has developed a breakthrough technology to create fully compostable and recyclable paper cups.
The cups are coated with EvCote, which is made from plant-based oils and recycled polyethylene terephthalate bottles. The coating protects the paper surface against water, grease and moisture. This means the paper can be reused to produce other paper products.
“In some cases, due to the fibers being strengthened by the coating, paper produced from the waste can even achieve higher strength than the original, uncoated paper,” the chemicals, paints and coatings conglomerate claims.
At present, about 200 billion paper cups are used across the globe in a year. None, however, can be recycled without incurring prohibitive costs or greatly diminishing the quality of the paper fiber.
The technology can give a big boost to the paper mills which can make large savings by recapturing all the paper waste from the production process that is currently sent to landfill.
Gil Sherman, market development manager at AkzoNobel’s paper coatings business, said, “The cost of paper represents the highest single cost for cup makers, so recycling industrial scrap means there are both cost and environmental benefits. EvCote provides us with options to completely disconnect from the petrol supply chain, because now we can offer our customers a replacement for petroleum-based PE films.”
AkzoNobel executive committee member Conrad Keijzer called the technology an industry-changing innovation which could have a significant impact in terms of providing economic and environmental benefits along the value chain. “The new coatings technology will help restaurant owners and cup producers to reduce their waste,” he added.