A new packaging material backed by former Tetra Pak boss Hans Rausing is making an impact on the food and beverage industry, reports dotpackaging.com.
Developed in Sweden, Ecolean is a mixture of 40 per cent chalk (calcium carbonate) and polyethylene. Liquid food containers made from the material is said to save up to 60 per cent total energy consumption compared with comparable packaging solutions.
Ecolean was established in 1996 and employs 180 people. Its R&D centre and main production plant is in Helsingborg, and last month it opened a factory in Tianjin, China, 200km from Beijing.
"This is a big step for us," said Christian Tornakull, Ecolean's CEO. "We are still a relatively small company, but if you want to take part in the Chinese packaging business you must produce locally in China."
Parmalat Uruguay has begun selling drinking yoghurt in Ecolean's 1.5 litre LeanPack containers and Eker Dairy Industry based in Turkey is also using Ecolean packs for pasteurised milk.