Sugarcane Pulp Hot and Cold Cup Lids
Country: Australia and New Zealand
Category: Non-Alcoholic Beverages
While environmentally friendly hot and cold paper cups were a packaging product already developed, there was a requirement to complete the story by creating matching, fitting lids for coffee roasters, cafes and QSR situations, like, slurpees and milkshakes.
Bagasse, also known as sugarcane pulp, is a fibrous material left behind in the sugarcane harvesting process. It has a multitude of uses and is a sustainable alternative to conventional plastic packaging.
BioPak have released these lids, certified home and industrially-compostable to Australian standards (AS4738/AS5810) and made from plant-based, renewable resources and are PFAS Free.
While many paper-based products can also be composted, the advantage of bagasse is that growing it does not have the same environmental impact as paper, which comes from trees.
We spent a considerable time fixing the bagasse weight/thickness to ensure they hold onto cups firmly with a distinctive snap feel when applied to cups.
Switching from single-use plastic packaging derived from finite fossil resources to sugarcane packaging makes a big difference. if a large QSR swapped out 10 million conventional plastic lids to sugarcane pulp BioCane alternative they could avoid 37,400 kgs of fossil-fuel plastics, offset 83,478 kgs of carbon emissions and if all were composted at home, the organic waste would create 25,900 kgs of nutrient-rich soil which in return sequesters even more carbon from the atmosphere, reversing climate change.
Category: SPECIAL AWARD - Sustainability
Special Award: Gold Award
Up until recently, bagasse was usually disposed of or left to rot. But today, it is used as a renewable resource. After the sugarcane plant has been harvested and the liquid has been extracted, the leftover substance (bagasse) is kept wet and then blended with water to form a pulp.
While many paper-based products can also be composted, the advantage of bagasse is that growing it does not have the same environmental impact as paper, which comes from trees.
Trees take a long time to grow to maturity before they can be harvested (7-10 years), and to harvest them, acres of land are cleared, making it a resource-intensive process. Sugarcane, on the other hand, can be harvested annually, making it a rapidly renewable resource.
Natural bagasse products are commercially and home compostable. Under composting conditions, bagasse will break down into a nutrient-rich compost that can be used as fertiliser and soil conditioner.
As the world is grappling with a recycling crisis and climate emergency, the spotlight is on pioneering brands to reduce the waste associated with doing business.
While environmentally friendly hot and cold paper cups were a packaging product already developed, there was a requirement to complete the story by creating matching, fitting lids for coffee roasters, cafes and QSR situations, like, slurpees and milkshakes.
Our sugarcane pulp lids are PFAS free as drinks don’t contain grease and these lids perform well as a takeaway lid. We spent a considerable time fixing the bagasse weight/thickness to ensure they hold onto cups firmly with a distinctive snap feel when applied to cups. Bagasse gives us the freedom to emboss branding and come in 2 colours: natural and white.
According to a report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, Timber production has been identified as one of the four key contributors to deforestation. “Wood production has been shown to cause around 380,000 hectares of deforestation annually in key countries”.
Why does deforestation matter? Forests—especially tropical forests—store enormous amounts of carbon. When forests are destroyed, that carbon is released to the atmosphere, accelerating global warming. Deforestation accounts for around 10% of total heat-trapping emissions—roughly the same as the yearly emissions from 600 million cars.”
Trees take a long time to grow to maturity before they can be harvested (7-10 years), and to harvest them, acres of land are cleared, making it a resource-intensive process. Sugarcane, on the other hand, can be harvested annually, making it a rapidly renewable resource.
Unlike plastic or polystyrene products, bagasse products are commercially and home compostable. Under composting conditions, bagasse will break down into a nutrient-rich compost that can be used as fertiliser and soil conditioner which in return sequesters more carbon from the atmosphere, reversing climate change.
Switching from single-use plastic packaging derived from finite fossil resources to sugarcane packaging makes a big difference: if a large QSR swapped out 10 million conventional plastic lids to sugarcane pulp BioCane alternative they could avoid 37,400 kgs of fossil-fuel plastics, offset 83,478 kgs of carbon emissions and if all were composted at home, the organic waste would create 25,900 kgs of nutrient-rich soil which in return sequesters even more carbon from the atmosphere, reversing climate change.
In comparison to other packaging products in its class we maintain the ability to increase or decrease the gauge of the pulp, the density of the pulp and its composition. Our blend of wheat straw pulp with bagasse ensures a stiffer package at a reduced weight. Our production facility is certified to ISO 14001 environmental standards, our products are made from rapidly renewable plant-based agricultural byproducts designed to be compostable at the end of their life.
Our packaging is manufactured in production facilities certified to ISO14001 environmental standards; this ensures the production facilities implement processes and procedures to protect the local environment in which they operate. We also consolidate freight to create efficiencies and reduce our carbon footprint even further.
Our Sugarcane cup lids are recyclable (when not contaminated with food) and certified home compostable to AS5810 and European NF T51-800 standards, and industrially compostable to Australian AS4736 or European EN13432 standards. They are independently tested and verified to completely biodegrade within 120 days in a commercial compost facility, the end product is a non-toxic, nutrient-rich compost.
Often referred to simply as “circularity”, the circular economy re-imagines the current linear take, make, dispose model and redefines economic growth focusing on positive society-wide benefits, and is endorsed by the 2025 National Packaging Targets.
To ensure more compost-friendly items don’t end up in landfill, BioPak has created a new brand-agnostic network called Compost Connect that connects foodservice businesses to industrial composters to help compost all certified compostable packaging and food scraps. So far, Compost Connect has diverted over 1,500 tonnes of waste from landfill, equivalent to taking 1,100 cars off the 975 cars off the road.
Compost Connect has just released brand new research that has identified that 74 Australian councils accept compostable packaging into their residential green waste collection stream (FOGO). The Australian government has mandated that all councils across Australia must offer residential FOGO by 2025. This is great news for businesses and consumers alike.