Elopak teams up with SABIC to create drink cartons with second generation renewable coatings

Drink cartons coated with plastic made from SABIC’s Certified Renewable Polyethylene will shortly be available on the shelves of shops across Northern Europe, owing to a unique partnership between SABIC and leading liquid food packaging firm, Elopak.

SABIC is the first petrochemicals company to be able to produce renewable, second generation polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) which, while using a totally renewable feedstock, is not in competition with the food chain. The products are certified under the ISCC Plus certification scheme and are made to the same high specification as existing PE and PP products.

Elopak will be the first company to offer drink cartons with second generation renewable coating to the European market. SABIC developed its renewable polyolefin product range last year, in recognition of the growing importance consumers are placing on sustainable packaging, as well as the competitive nature of the industry.

"We are delighted to be playing a key role in helping Elopak come closer to its vision of creating the industry’s most renewable cartons,” said Rob Balk, Segment Leader Extrusion Coating, SABIC. "SABIC is committed to sustainability, and we recognise its importance to Elopak and Elopak’s customers. Consumers are becoming more and more environmentally conscious and it is great to be able to support these values and offer innovative solutions.”

The renewable polyethylene that SABIC is supplying to Elopak – SABIC LDPE nExCoat5 – directly addresses the plastic packaging industry’s growing demand for high performance extrusion coating films.

"The carton is the renewable choice for packaging of drinks and with renewable polymers from SABIC, we are able to supply packaging which is virtually 100 % renewable. This helps us continue on our journey to replace all fossil-based raw materials with renewable alternatives, as part of our Future Proofed Packaging Strategy,” said Kristian Hall, Director Corporate Environment at Elopak.

"This is a key milestone in our efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of our products. The carton already had the lowest carbon footprint among liquid food packaging and with this we have strengthened that position. We have a vision to deliver products with zero net impact on the environment and this is an important step towards that goal,” Hall continued.

SABIC is confident that the market for renewable packaging market will continue to grow from year to year.