First cups for ready-to-drink iced coffee made from chemically recycled PP

Kremsmünster, Austria, August 2021. Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE, one of the leading ready to drink iced coffee brands in Europe, has started to incorporate chemically recycled polypropylene into its packaging. The cups are produced by Greiner Packaging and the chemically recycled material comes from Borealis, one of the world’s leading providers of advanced and circular polyolefin solutions based in Vienna, Austria.

Emmi, Switzerland’s largest milk processor is committed to climate protection and the circular economy. The dairy company has the stated goal to make all of its packaging 100% recyclable and is committed to various measures to promote circularity such as packaging that contains at least 30% recyclate by 2027. Focusing on recyclable packaging and the use of recycled materials, Emmi is taking a first step with its successful Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE brand.

From September 2021, Emmi's successful brand of chilled coffee drinks, Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE, will use at least 100 tonnes of plastic based on the recycled material each year. Chemical recycling renews plastic back to plastic creating recycled materials with a level of purity equivalent to fossil-fuel based PP and hence, fit for protective, food-safe and other demanding applications. In this way, Emmi is utilizing difficult to recycle feedstock preventing plastic waste that would be likely landfilled or incinerated. In the future, depending on the availability of suitable material, the amount of recycled plastic in Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE packaging is to be further increased. 

The new technology to recover the polypropylene is currently still in its infancy, where Greiner Packaging and Borealis are leading the way. Only limited quantities of chemically recycled polypropylene are currently available, and Emmi is one of only a few food manufacturers to have secured a share of the chemically recycled polypropylene plastic through its early commitment and long-standing collaboration with the development companies. 

“We have had a long and rewarding partnership with both Emmi and Borealis,” says Greiner Packaging Key Account Manager Vincenzo Crescenza. “This achievement is in line with our stated goal to work towards achieving a circular economy. Our strategy is to develop innovative products, develop new service partnerships and business models, and pioneer materials partnerships.”

“Borealis looks forward to a world without plastic waste,” says Trevor Davis, Head of Marketing, Consumer Products at Borealis. “The chemically recycled polypropylene used in this new Emmi CAFFÈ LATTE cup is manufactured with Borealis Borcycle™ C portfolio of transformational chemical recycling solutions, giving polyolefin-based, post-consumer waste another life. It offers all-round benefits enabling the transition to a circular polyolefin industry whilst creating virgin quality plastic products. By staying true to our EverMinds™ ambition of accelerating action on circularity, together with our valuable partners along the whole value chain such as Emmi and Greiner Packaging, we are reinventing for a more sustainable living.”