Aquapak is very proud to have received the Rushlight Resource Recycling Award 2020/21. Our submission highlighted how our patented polyvinyl alcohol-based resin, Hydropol™ can be thermally extrusion-coated onto paper to improve barrier and strength whilst allowing coated packs to be repulped/recycled with paper.
Mark Lapping, CEO at Aquapak, said: “Winning this award perfectly recognises Hydropol™ as a circular economy packaging solution and an environmentally safe alternative to non-recyclable polyethylene coated paper packaging.
“The innovation brings a wide array of benefits to improve paper recycling efficiency, enables brand owners/retailers to design and implement fully recyclable and functional paper packaging and provides consumers with easy-to-recycle solutions.
Hydropol™ is designed to replace single-use polyethylene-coated papers for food/non-food applications providing:
- High barrier resistance to oil and grease
- High gas barrier to prevent gaseous ingress/egress
- Increased paper strength to protect packaged goods during transit
- Heat-sealability, compatible with existing FFS machinery.
Hydropol™ solubilises at repulping temperatures/durations used by high-volume recycling mills and is mineralized in the mills’ effluent treatment plant as part of its intended use allowing 100% paper fibre recovery.
Due to COVID-19, there was no formal awards party this year, instead the announcement was made virtually on Thursday 28th January by Clive Hall, Founder of the Rushlight Awards.
Now in their 14th year, the Rushlight Awards are a celebration and a promotion of new technology, innovation and best practice across the whole environment spectrum for organisations throughout the UK and internationally.
Aquapak will be exhibiting and presenting/speaking at the Rushlight Show on 10-11 March. The event will be held virtually for the first time in its history due to the pandemic.
-ENDS-
Contacts:
Aquapak Polymers Ltd
Hannah Sookias
07946 096329
marketing@aquapakpolymers.com
Aquapak develops and manufactures marine-safe and non-toxic hydrophilic polymer resin pellets. These enable users to maintain the primary function of their products whilst designing in end-of-life such as recyclability, repulpability, biodegradability and anaerobic digestion.
Aquapak’s Hydropol™ can be used on its own to replace traditional, single-use polymers or combined with other materials to create products and packaging solutions for many different industries including food and food waste. Research and new application development are undertaken through collaboration with industry specialists and both UK and international universities.
Hydropol’s solubility makes it easy to separate from other materials and simplifies recycling. For example, products made from paper and board that are coated with Hydropol™ (such as such as food boxes and dried pet food bags can be easily repulped in paper mills, maximising fibre yield and reducing plastic rejects and stickies. Food waste can be collected in bags made from Hydropol™ which contributes to Anaerobic Digestion plants’ gas yield whilst eliminating the need to debag and reducing plastic waste.
For more information: www.aquapakpolymers.com
Eventure Media Ltd
Clive Hall
020 8870 9345 / 07712 554343
cjh@eventuremedia.co.uk
Rushlight Awards
Now in their 14th year, the Rushlight Awards are a celebration and a promotion of new technology, innovation and best practice across the whole environment spectrum for
organisations throughout UK and internationally. Designed to highlight innovation, initiatives and the holistic environmental benefit of technologies that are most likely to or are already creating a real impact in the market, they are a means of disseminating the successes to support further development.
Judges
The judging was performed by an independent panel of recognized experts covering all the clean technology sectors drawn from academia, trade associations and institutes, independent experts and government departments. In particular, the judges included individuals whose full or part-time roles extend to representing BEIS, Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership, UKERC, Carbon Trust, Innovate UK, STFC, The Knowledge Transfer Network, WWF, and UK Climate Investments. One of the unique attributes of the Rushlight Awards is the fact that the judges are entirely independent of Eventure Media.
Eventure Media Ltd
Eventure Media launched the Rushlight Awards in 2007 and the event has gained a substantial following. As the only awards for technology developers and innovation across the whole cleantech spectrum, it has attracted the interest of companies both large and small which are leading the development of renewable energy, clean fuels, power generation, energy efficiency, sustainable products, services and agriculture, water, waste and pollution management in the UK and internationally. In addition to the Rushlight Awards, Eventure Media runs the Rushlight Show, the Rushlight Summer Showcase, a range of evening Rushlight Briefings and the London Cleantech Cluster. The company also provides incubation services to early stage companies developing new clean technologies.
