Trade Aid Launches Revolutionary New BioBags
Convex Plastics, February 4th, 2011Trade Aid demonstrated their commitment to becoming more sustainable in October by launching their Organic Instant Coffee in a revolutionary new BioBag, which is the first of its kind in the world.
Trade Aid BioBags
The combination of the three films in the Econic packaging provides optimum moisture and oxygen barrier properties and high sealability through coffee granules and other contaminants. All three films have been internationally certified to EN13432 for composting and biodegradability.
Trade Aid Marketing Manager, Katie Sheehan, says their new BioBag is a big step in the right direction towards more sustainable, earth-friendly packaging for Trade Aid products. Most importantly, she adds, the BioBag keeps the coffee fresh and at its best.
Trade Aid is a New Zealand not-for-profit organisation that supports disadvantaged producers, artisans and growers through fair trade. You can find out more about them by visiting their website: www.tradeaid.org.nz
Katie says the new BioBags are well aligned with the organisations values and will enable Trade Aid to pack their coffee in New Zealand for the very first time.
Trade Aid is in the process of gradually rolling out the new BioBags into their stores and selected supermarkets.
As well as developing the new Econic packaging, Convex also carried out a controlled composting trial at a Waikato bark composting facility to confirm its breakdown rate. Coffee bags made from Econic film almost completely disappeared just fourteen weeks after composting, with only small fragments remaining.
Convex Technical Manager Andrew Sheerin says the bags had started to soften after just two weeks and had almost completely broken down in just over three months.
Andrew says, “We were always confident that the renewable materials we use to make these bags would break down well in a typical composting environment, and we are pleased to have been able to verify that.”
The Econic bags are believed to be the world’s first fully renewable compostable coffee bags for both cold and hot roasted coffee, and have been specifically developed by Convex Plastics to provide the ideal sealing and barrier properties for coffee and dry foods. They are available both with and without an innovative bio-degradable vent strip to allow the CO2 gases given off by hot roasted coffee beans to be vented through the top and bottom bag seals. This optional vent, also developed by Convex Plastics, replaces the traditional non-renewable one-way valve button, and is activated by positive pressure inside the bag.
Andrew says the new Econic coffee bags offer equivalent barrier properties and shelf appeal to those made from fossil fuels.
He says, “We are very pleased to have been able to provide Trade Aid with very functional sustainable packaging that ties in well with the values of both the organisation and their growing number of eco-conscious consumers.”