The announcement follows news late last year that Papyrus Australia’s joint venture company Papyrus Egypt had signed a 12-month operational lease for the facility in Sharqia commencing 1 November 2021.

The company confirmed it can now produce 6,300 clam shell products per hour from the facility and will provide samples to potential clients including those interested in establishing a banana fibre food packaging products facility.

Papyrus Australia managing director Ramy Abraham Azer said the successful clam shell production proves the capabilities of the company’s technology “utilising banana tree waste to manufacture an array of environmentally superior products – ranging from veneer, musa liquid fertiliser and moulded fibre products with a zero-waste process”.

The successful outcome also represents a significant intellectual property gain in the preparation of banana fibre for moulding, the design of the moulds themselves, and the construction of moulding lines to successfully mould the company’s banana fibre products.

Egyptian packaging facility lease
Under the one-year lease, which also includes rights of renewal for the following two years, the Papyrus Egypt joint venture has immediate access to a toll manufacturing factory to fast track the commercial development of its moulded fibre packaging products.

The factory is being managed by the existing management and toll manufacturing staff and was initially expected to produce the equivalent of 5,000 clam shell food packaging products per hour at full capacity.

However, Papyrus Australia has now confirmed it has the ability to output 6,300 clam shells per hour.

Papyrus Egypt has an existing facility at Sohag, which supplies the processed banana fibre to the new leased facility. The company’s long-term objective is to eventually build a moulded fibre factory next to its Sohag facility but in the short-to-medium term, the focus is on fast-tracking development of the product range.

An offtake agreement is also being negotiated with the Halim family business Al Ahram, in which surplus output will be provided to the operation to replace plastic food packaging.

Papyrus Australia also intends to help Al Ahram to establish its own banana fibre food packaging products facility.

Banana fibre production process patent
In September, Papyrus Australia lodged an Australian patent application for its innovative banana fibre production process which produces a cost-efficient environmentally friendly fibre ideal for moulded food packaging products.

This Australian application is regarded as an important step in the company acquiring broad ranging international patent protection for its state-of-the-art zero waste process.

Mr Azer said the new patent would complement the two existing patents already held by the company covering the processes of treating waste banana tree trunks and creating homogenous banana fibre chips from veneered banana fibre with zero waste.

“This new patent represents a fundamentally important step, both in the process of refining raw banana fibre to enable it to be used in the production of food-quality, moulded packaging products, but also in our journey towards our end goal of replacing plastic packaging for a more sustainable future,” he added.

Evian Sparkling is now available at Tesco stores, with both packaging formats recyclable – a 33cl aluminium can and a 100% recycled one-litre PET plastic bottle.

Shweta Harit, VP of marketing at Evian, said: “Evian Sparkling represents new possibilities for the brand, as we reimagine our uniquely sourced water into an exciting new product.

“This new product contains the perfect level of sparkles with its fine bubbles creating a subtle taste and gentle intensity. Available for the first time in recyclable aluminium cans, this latest innovation demonstrates our longstanding pioneering spirit that runs through everything we do at Evian.”

Last year Evian launched a new in-home water ‘bubble’ solution, Evian re(new), with a significant reduction in plastic packaging.

The company was certified carbon neutral globally in spring 2020, and achieved its B Corp status certification in 2021.

“We invite the medical community to visit us at Booth 1825 and learn more about ProAmpac’s newly branded HC-series of materials and our expanded DuPont™ Tyvek® offering,” said Jeff Murak, manager of business development for ProAmpac.

Introducing ProAmpac’s HC-Series

HC-600 is a series of high-barrier films that suit a variety of market applications:

HC-600W films are specially designed to package normal (aqueous) and “hard-to-hold” products containing fragrances, alcohols, or germ-killing disinfectants;
HC-600LE are low extractable barrier laminations developed for those demanding applications where common trace contaminants found in most standard laminations could have a negative impact on the product;
HC-600Al FREE is an innovative alternative to laminations incorporating an aluminum foil barrier without sacrificing strength or sterility.
HC-400 POLY & HC-400 PAPER represents our customizable materials that provide stringent packaging options with excellent barrier properties. The material targets product that requires either poly/poly/foil/poly or paper/poly/foil/poly structures, customizable in one or all layers.

HC-48SG film offers reliable high-barrier options to meet industry requirements for sterility while providing features to enhance ease of use.

ProAmpac Healthcare with Dupont™ Tyvek®

ProAmpac’s laminations, pouching and material science expertise coupled with Dupont™ Tyvek® provides an incredibly durable substrate that is both breathable and offers a superior microbial barrier.

Dupont™ Tyvek® product offerings includes rollstock and pouches

Slit to width
Chevron peel
Extended sizing capabilities
Flexographic printing
To set up a meeting during the show or learn how ProAmpac’s Healthcare team can help you, please contact Jeff Murak at Jeff.Murak@ProAmpac.com or visit our website at ProAmpac.com/health.

The "Defiance!" series by Lemonati Family Farms will raise $1 from each sale to support Freedom Grow, a nonprofit 501c3 organization that works toward helping and freeing cannabis prisoners.

The strains are named after positions within the cannabis industry — "The Caregiver" (Strawberry Shortcake), "The Grower" (Zkittles and Wedding Cake), "The Patient" (Wedding Cake and Gelato #33), and "The Plug" (Sophisticated Punch and Candy Rain).

"Whether as a caregiver, patient, grower, or a plug, many have found themselves facing 20-40 years or more in prison for actions now considered legal in more than a dozen states," the company says in a statement.

The nugs are sold in cardboard milk cartons, with packaging meant to mimic the missing-persons advertisements that used to be found on milk cartons. The labels include a QR code that can be scanned with a smartphone, which pulls up stories about cannabis prisoners, as well as more information about the various strains.

"Freedom Grow is thrilled to announce our relationship with Lemonati Family Farms," Freedom Grow vice president Randy Lanier said in a statement. "We are grateful for their compassion, kindness, generosity, and willingness to pay it forward. It is a blessing to the many families still suffering from this failed War on Drugs."

Happier Beauty, a British eco-friendly dental brand is developing a refillable toothpaste dispenser with biodegradable refill capsules after receiving a Smart Innovate grant of £150,000 ($202,925). 
 
The brand is on a mission to tackle the tons of plastic waste produced by regular toothpaste pumps and tubes by developing a new toothpaste dispenser that eliminates single-use plastic tubes or pumps.

About the Dispenser
The innovative toothpaste dispenser will be made of aluminum and 50% recycled plastic, and has been designed to be used over and over again. The refill capsules are biodegradable meaning the new dispenser and refill capsules are completely zero-waste.
 
Together, the offering provides an alternative to standard toothpaste tubes that are notoriously difficult to recycle and result in 1.5 billion plastic toothpaste tubes ending up in landfill every year. The brand wants to create a more circular solution to the climate crisis.

Biodegradable Refill Capsules
The new toothpaste dispenser will allow consumers to refill using biodegradable capsules. The refill capsules will be sent out to customers as a subscription, along with the reusable dispenser in their first subscription. Customers will be able to choose the frequency of their subscription.
 
The design will be elegant and sleek, and the dispenser comes in four colors: mint, pink, peach and white.
 
Founder of Happier Beauty, Faye Wilson, said, “It is becoming clear that recycling will not save us from the climate crisis, and so Happier Beauty wanted to take it one step further by creating a truly circular refillable and reusable solution.
 
“We are so excited to be the world’s first toothpaste company to bring a refillable toothpaste dispenser to market. Refills are becoming more popular across food and beauty so why not dental care? Toothpaste is a product we all use twice a day but innovation in this market has been pretty slow up until now.”

Researchers at Empa, a Swiss materials research organisation, have developed a protective cellulose coating for fruit and vegetables. The coating is made from pomace, a substance that can be extracted from fruit and vegetable peels.

Empa researchers developed the coating together with the retailer Lidl Switzerland. The coating can be applied to fruit and vegetables to extend their shelf life.

Researchers have spent more than a year developing the coating. Tests done on bananas resulted in bananas staying yellow after ten days. Bananas without the coating went brown. The shelf life of bananas was extended by more than a week, significantly reducing food waste. “The big goal is that such bio-coatings will be able to replace a lot of petroleum-based packaging in the future,” says Gustav Nyström, head of the Empa lab.

The coating can either be sprayed onto the fruit or applied to the produce as a dip. In addition, it is easy to wash off. It is also harmless to the consumer and can be consumed without harm.

The time lapse video above shows how two cucumbers, one with the coating and one without it, deteriorate over time.

The cellulose layer will be tested and further improved over the next two years together with Lidl Switzerland and a fruit and vegetable supplier. The aim is to eventually rollout the new technology across all 150 Lidl stores throughout Switzerland.