Country: United Kingdom

Category: Packaging Materials and Components

ReZorce® is a pioneering mono-material barrier packaging range designed for the circular economy by UK-based Zotefoams plc, a global leader in advanced cellular materials. ReZorce will shortly debut on supermarket shelves in beverage carton applications, as a credible alternative to the current composite material, liquid packaging board (LPB). Its performance across a range of metrics, including oxygen and moisture barrier properties, is equal to or better than LPB cartons.
ReZorce is made from more than 95% HDPE, a single material that is easily managed in standard recycling streams, with the balance made up of printing inks and functional additives common in food packaging applications. A ReZorce beverage carton looks, feels, folds and behaves like a standard LBP carton. Patented technology creates foamed layers in the core of the extrusion surrounded by a solid outer skin. This allows the foamed layers to prevent the transmission of water and oxygen and, ultimately, create a physical barrier.
Current composite LPB beverage cartons contain layers of paperboard (73%), polyethylene (24%), and, for ambient (aseptic) applications, aluminium (3%) laminated together. This creates a complex issue for recyclers because the different materials need to be separated using a specialist process before they can be successfully recycled. And, even then, the recycled material cannot be reused in the same application. This issue leads to standard LPB cartons often being transported over long distances - creating a higher carbon footprint - to specialist facilities for recycling, landfill, or incineration.
It’s estimated that about 250 billion multi-layered beverage cartons are produced annually worldwide, so demand for a sustainable alternative is growing.
ReZorce is designed for recycling. It has been tested with all standard recycling processes and can be easily streamed to provide high-quality recyclate for the circular economy. Recent European legislation on tethered caps presents no problem, since the cap and the carton are made from the same material and can be recycled together.
Overall, ReZorce beverage cartons will offer the same performance, convenience, aesthetics and packaging processes as a standard LPB carton but in a format that is fully recyclable via standard streams, producing recyclate that can be reused in the same applications. Until now, the beverage carton market has been a linear economy but with ReZorce, the prospect of circularity is real.