The Capri Sun Group (Zug, Switzerland; www.capri-sun.com) wants to replace multi-layer films for the flexible beverage packaging of its Capri-Sun products with a mono-material. The new drinking pouch will initially be introduced in the UK and then gradually rolled out across Europe, the company said. According to the Swiss group, a total of more than 2 bn 200 ml and 330 ml pouches were recently sold in Europe and the UK.

According to the holding company, the new polypropylene packaging is gradually replacing the reportedly non-recyclable pouches made of laminated layers of aluminium, polyethylene, and PET that were previously used. The change in material would have no effect on the shelf life of the fruit juice drinks, Capri Sun said in response to a Plasteurope.com enquiry.

The new pouches consist of 85% PP, in addition to the paper straw, adhesives, and printing inks. The pouch has been individually certified by the institute for recyclability and product responsibility, Cyclos-HTP (Aachen, Germany; www.cyclos-htp.de), which confirms a recyclability of 95%, excluding the drinking straw. Capri Sun recommends disposing of the straw in the paper waste stream and the pouch via the yellow bins or yellow bags of Germany’s so-called dual system for recycling waste. Nevertheless, when the popular drink pouches are consumed on the go, this separation is likely to be difficult.

In the UK, the new 200 ml pouches still have to be recycled via special collection points in shops due to a lack of recycling infrastructure. The 330 ml packaging with the screw cap can, however, be disposed of through the UK’s regular recycling stream for plastics, as the cap allows the pouch to be recognised by sorting plants, according to a statement from Switzerland. Corresponding disposal instructions can be found on the back of the packaging.

Last year, Capri Sun divested its own film and bag manufacturing operations by selling subsidiary Pouch Partners (Baar, Switzerland) to Canadian label manufacturer CCL Industries (Toronto, Ontario, Canada; www.cclind.com).