Towards Sustainable Coffee Packaging: A Comparative Study of Current and Future Materials for Zoégas Coffee

Abstract: An important factor in preventing food waste is the ability to provide a product with a package according to its needs. The packaging material, in turn, needs to be recyclable in order to contribute to a circular use of materials rather than becoming waste. The aim of this thesis is to examine the difference between the current and future packaging material of coffee produced by Zoégas. The current plastic laminate consists of PE/SiOx/PET while the future laminate will consist of PE/EVOH/PP. The shelf life of coffee is determined by its sensory performance and its major factors for deterioration are volatile losses, oxidative reactions, and loss of moisture. The laminates used for the packaging will therefore be rated based on their performance as gas and water vapor barriers, as well as their environmental impact. A barrier calculator will be used for guidance and aid in the comparison between theoretical and experimental data to assess possible further use of theoretical tools. The report has found that the change of materials is beneficial since the future material will offer a better oxygen barrier. No changes were found in its effect on moisture. While the future material is recyclable given current recycling technology, the current material is not. However, there is no current standard on the handling of collected plastic waste, meaning that not all collected plastic waste will come in contact with the recycling techniques required to process the future material. Although more experimental tests would be needed for comparisons, the results indicate that the barrier calculator can be a useful guideline for assessing packaging materials under different conditions. Finally, further work is needed to attain the optimal coffee packaging material, but an examination of currently relevant materials has been conducted through this thesis.