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John Roumanis, Mother Parkers’ seniordirector of single-serve marketing. Photo courtesy of Credit: Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee Inc.
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Photo courtesy of Credit: NatureWorks LLC
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Mother Parkers’ EcoCup for Marley Coffee a brand created by thecompany for the US market. Credit: Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee Inc.
By Thomas Schmid
When polylactic acid (PLA) emerged as a new “bio” material for coffee capsules, tea bags, and disposable brewing filters, it was hailed by many (not least the suppliers) as some sort of a miracle solution to address issues such as sustainability, recyclability, compostability, and overall environmental friendliness. But at that time, polypropylene (PP) already had been around for a couple of decades and — well-tested and proven — wouldn’t just yield the field to the new contender so easily. The two materials have since created two distinguished proponent camps: those who favor PP, and those who champion PLA. But when observed from different angles, both camps have made the right choice.
NatureWorks
The world’s PLA leader
NatureWorks is one of the globe’s best-known manufacturers of PLA pellets used in a very broad variety of industries, and which the company markets under its Ingeo® trademark.
“We were the first to manufacture Ingeo PLA at a commercial scale, with our polymer plant [in Blair, Nebraska] coming online in 2002, and we currently operate the world’s largest PLA manufacturing facility,” explained the firm’s global industry manager, Flavio Di Marcotullio. Over the years, NatureWorks introduced a variety of Ingeo® grades. “For example, we offer grades designed for the heat and pressure resistance requirements needed for applications like compostable coffee capsules. We also have fiber grades that are uniquely suited for compostable tea bags and filters in K-Cup style coffee capsules,” elaborated Di Marcotullio. While PLA manufacturing conventionally involves the use of natural sugars extracted from certain agricultural plants, the company’s r&d department is currently also “assessing new technology to skip plants altogether and use microorganisms to directly convert greenhouse gases into lactic acid [which is the base monomer subsequently polymerized into PLA].” If those efforts should succeed, it could be nothing short of a game changer.
Industrial composting: yes; home composting: no
Although, when compared with petrochemical plastics including polypropylene, PLA certainly is a more environmentally friendly, low-carbon “bioplastic” polymer, there is an issue with its “compostability,” a term that may confuse some end consumers. Yes, PLA is certified to be compostable, but only in the controlled environment of an industrial composting facility — the operative word being “industrial.” Although coffee grounds from PLA capsules can be thrown onto the backyard compost pile where they will naturally degrade, end consumers often misunderstand that the same will happen if the capsules themselves are discarded in the same way. This is not the case.
“We don’t recommend [that] Ingeo compostable coffee capsules be placed in home compost piles; in this environment, we can’t guarantee what will happen,” explained Di Marcotullio. He added that, “Unlike with industrial composting, home composting environments are not widely standardized and vary depending on geography. That’s why our product development efforts have focused on industrial composting, which is, globally, the most available recovery system for food waste contaminated packaging and is supported by regulations in North America, Europe, and Australia.”
The collection and composting challenge
Di Marcotullio pointed out that industrial composting infrastructure capable of handling PLA “is growing rapidly both in the US and Europe.” However, in other parts of the world such facilities are still greatly lacking. In many countries, household trash is rarely sorted (an indispensable prerequisite to effectively collect PLA for later composting) and commonly ends up in landfills. And even in Europe and North America, collection points for used PLA items are only very slowly increasing in numbers. Yet Di Marcotullio shared that, even in a landfill environment, it is still more preferable to discard a PLA capsule than a petrochemical-based capsule. “Ingeo will not do anything different [in a landfill] than a petrochemical-based capsule,” he said. “However, it is still preferable to use a biomaterial like Ingeo because it has such a smaller carbon footprint as it’s made from a renewable resource rather than continue to use the non-renewable resources needed for petrochemical plastics.“
A step in the right direction
All considered, PLA certainly is a step in the right direction but one that necessitates greater strides globally towards a much denser network of collection and composting facilities. NatureWorks is doing its part. The company is a member of several initiatives that push for a more rapid development of relevant infrastructure. Meanwhile, PLA has been catching on with increasing numbers of packaging manufacturers and coffee brands alike. In Europe, NatureWorks some time ago partnered with Flo, a major food packaging producer, to bring Ingeo capsules first to the A Modo Mio platform. “And [Italian brand] Covim Caffè was one of the early adopters of [A Modo Mio’s] compostable capsules,” Di Marcotullio remarked, adding that Nespresso, Lavazza Blu, and several Keurig-style capsule marketers had since joined as well, just to name a few.
Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee Inc.
Not everybody goes for PLA
While there certainly are a multitude of brands out there that have recognized the benefits PLA is offering, others decided to instead go for polypropylene as the material of choice for their single-serve capsules. And that choice is just as good as far as recyclability, thus waste reduction, is concerned. Take Canadian firm Mother Parkers Tea & Coffee Inc., for example.
Launching the “new” EcoCup®
The Ontario-based company quite recently rolled out its re-designed EcoCup®, a single-serve capsule now being made from PP. The capsule “allows the consumer to easily separate and sort the components that are clean, therefore helping to ensure higher recyclability rates,” according to John Roumanis, Mother Parkers’ senior director of single-serve marketing. “Coffee grinds can be composted, while both the outer plastic cup and inner filter can be discarded in the recycling bin.” Roumanis added that consumers were “more than willing to properly divert single-serve coffee pods from landfills when manufacturers make it easy for them to do so.” In terms of total weight of one EcoCup unit, 92% were recyclable, Roumanis said.
Check recycling facilities locally
That, of course, would require that recycling facilities for PP do readily exist in the consumer’s vicinity. But Mother Parkers has thought about that, too. “The EcoCup pod has been assigned a ‘check locally’ status by How2Recycle, a standardized labeling system that clearly communicates recycling instructions to the public,” explained Roumanis. He also pointed out that in Mother Parkers’ main market, the United States*, “approximately 60% of the population has curbside access to polypropylene recycling.”
So why PP instead of PLA?
Roumanis was eager to explain: “When we set out to develop the new polypropylene EcoCup we knew it had to offer consumers a high-quality coffee experience. This meant that the EcoCup pod not only had to provide reliable barrier properties and deliver a great-tasting cup, but also would enable access to end-of-use disposal, where available.” He insisted the company had performed extensive research across a number of different materials, including PLA, but came to the conclusion that polypropylene was best suited “to help us meet these goals today.” That being said, Mother Parkers also advocates that “there is room in the marketplace for more than one type of single-serve packaging solution.”
If nothing better comes along…
So it seems the tug of war playing out between PLA and PP is going to continue for the foreseeable future. Both materials come with their own inherent advantages and disadvantages. Yet, short of reverting back to aluminum capsules or the invention of a completely new, revolutionary material altogether, they are at the moment without doubt the two best options the single-serve industry has at hand for lessening the environmental impact while simultaneously providing great cup quality. Whether one eventually is going to prevail over the other, only time will tell.
*The “Mother Parkers” brand is only available retail in Canada and through online shopping. For the US market the company created and licensed several other brands, among them “Marley Coffee”.