Polyolefin foam specialist Zotefoams (Croydon / UK; www.zotefoams.com) is currently marketing a mono-material packaging concept for liquid food products, which is intended as an alternative to the classic carton composite made of cardboard, aluminium and plastics. “ReZorce” is based on a microcellular foaming process: the foam layers alternate with solid layers so that the mono-material beverage carton has the required barrier properties as well as the necessary rigidity. Materials such as HDPE, polypropylene or polyethylene can be processed, as a representative of the company stated in response to an enquiry by Plasteurope.com.

Depending on the thickness of the layers, which the spokesperson did not wish to specify, the microcellular composite material is also suitable for flexible packaging. “ReZorce” can also be produced from 100% recycled components.

The company recently invested around USD 1m in a “ReZorce” pilot plant in the US. The technical centre in Leominster, Massachusetts, which employs approximately 20 people, offers brand owners and retailers the opportunity to carry out filling and packaging trials. Zotefoams is also working with the “Holy Grail” initiative, which uses chemical tracers and digital watermarks on each individual package to improve sorting quality in the recycling process (see Plasteurope.com of 16.09.2021).

Zotefoams specialises in the production of lightweight polyolefin foams, which are used for insulation applications, among other things. It also owns the rights to a microcellular foaming process that is designed to reduce plastics consumption in extrusion applications. Licences are also available for the mono-material barrier packaging “ReZorce”.

The UK company is headquartered in Croydon, and has production facilities in Brzeg / Poland, in the US – in Kentucky, Oklahoma and Massachusetts – and in the Chinese province of Jiangsu. More than 550 employees reportedly most recently achieved a turnover of GBP 82m (EUR 96.8m).