Emballages Magazine devotes an article to KIK Compounds products using resins from used coffee grounds and cooking oils instead of fossil materials or from food resources
Kik Compounds proposes to replace fossil materials or materials derived from food resources with resins from used coffee grounds and cooking oils. –
Replacing traditional plastics with renewable and biodegradable materials with the same characteristics without disturbing the environment or removing food resources: this is the goal of Kik Compounds.
The company has developed different refining processes, depending on the type of products recovered. The manager clarified: “The methods of collecting this food waste are very different from each other, they are carried out by companies which each have their own operating method, their own sorting criteria, so we have to adapt”.
For the coffee grounds, the company first filters to extract any impurities, then dries at high temperature. The extract is then “melted” and analyzed. It will then be introduced into the plastic compounds in a percentage ranging from 5% to 35% depending on the final application and the quality of the batch. “When working with waste raw materials, and in particular with those that we use, there is no possibility of obtaining a regularity in the formulation which must, for the moment, be adapted each time, by batch, depending on the desired result ”, specifies Germano Craia.
Shoes and packaging
Kik Compounds targets both textile and apparel applications including footwear, toys, durable goods and packaging. The company says it has obtained certification from TÜV Austria, which today serves as a benchmark for compostability, as its products can degrade up to 90% of their composition in 180 days.
A project to produce disposable cutlery and cups with an industrialist is already in place. Eight other projects, one of which – the most important – concerns the production of checkout bags, have already passed the prototyping phase and are in the certification or industrial testing phase. They should be launched in the second half of 2021. Packaging applications are also in the sights: “We are working on the production of food films, but these are projects still in an embryonic state”, concludes Germano Craia, the CEO.
For more details:
https://www.emballagesmagazine.com/tous-sectors/des-plastiques-issus-de-dechets-alimentaires.64478