The key to designing a recyclable bag-in-box
Recyclable bag-in-box packaging solutions help coffee businesses expand their product portfolios, attract more audience attention, and improve their sustainability credentials.
As cold brew continues to grow in popularity, offering consumers greater variety, different sizes, and packaging options that are easy to recycle is a smart way for coffee brands to get ahead of trends and carve out a slice of the segment.
When designing your recyclable bag-in-box cold brew packaging, several key elements must be considered: what are the most sustainable materials, how important are branding and aesthetics to success in a highly competitive environment, and what are the company messages you want to convey?
To learn more, we spoke to Chris Gaag, operations director at Truth Coffee in Cape Town, South Africa.
What materials are used in recyclable bag-in-box cold brew products?
A recyclable bag-in-box packaging solution consists of two main elements: a protective outer cardboard box and an aseptic internal bag or bladder that houses the cold brew. When seeking your own bag-in-box packaging for your coffee products, you should ensure the materials used are sustainably sourced and sustainable themselves.
For the outer packaging, the most recycle-ready materials are kraft paper and corrugated cardboard. Kraft paper is naturally biodegradable and breaks down into cellulose fibres in only a few weeks, just like tree leaves. These fibres are easily absorbed by the environment, and some industries leverage the compostability of kraft paper, too.
Corrugated cardboard is similarly eco-friendly. Its density means it takes slightly longer to degrade completely, but still, your recyclable bag-in-box outer packaging will be no more in less than a year. It is also comprised of cellulose fibres, which mitigate any adverse effects on the environment.
Cardboard is also robust and resilient, which makes it suitable for upcycling and reuse and, hence, more environmentally friendly. By minimising waste generation, using corrugated cardboard is doubly sustainable.
Make sure that the internal bag is aseptic and built from LDPE and PLA plastics. These materials are necessary for flexibility and retaining product quality ambiently, but the aseptic nature also bolsters health and safety. In the aseptic process, food or beverages are sterilised separately from the packaging, offering consumers greater peace of mind that their cold brew is safe to drink.
PLA, or polylactic acid, is a highly sustainable material explicitly used by the thermoplastics industry to combat the environmental problems caused by other types. The primary component polymer is created by fermenting vegetables, typically corn, sugar cane, and cassava, contributing to a more closed-loop packaging system.
LDPE, or low-density polyethylene, is a highly flexible, corrosion-resistant plastic ideally suited for packaging liquids. It is not only recyclable but also low-cost, reliable, and easy to process.
Ensuring your recyclable bag-in-box is comprised of the above components, or similarly environmentally friendly materials, is essential to building sustainable business practices that demonstrate to consumers that you take such topics seriously.
How to approach branding and design as a specialty coffee company
“Branding, packaging, aesthetics, is everything when it comes to coffee,” says Chris.
“Coffee is a packed product – you can’t experience it unless you’ve bought it. Customers need to see it, look at it, be intrigued, pick it up, have a read, etc., before deciding to buy it. That initial decision, the reason you might pick up one cold brew product vs. another one, is because of the way it’s packaged. The way it looks, the colours, the packaging type, all these factors are critical.
“As an example, there has been research done on taste perception based on the colour of the coffee cup or vessel that you drink out of. Three identical cups of different colours were filled with the same coffee, and all the subjects reported experiencing different flavours and tastes cup by cup.
“That alone tells you how important colour is to a brand or packaging. You’re making an impression on the consumer straight away, and you want to get it right. Now, retaining those customers is a different story, but that initial decision to even consider your products is all to do with packaging, aesthetic, and branding.”
As Chris points out, nailing the aesthetics and branding of your recyclable bag-in-box cold brew is crucial to success. Choosing the best and most sustainable materials is just one part of a larger winning strategy.
Make sure that your packaging partner offers vast customisation options. Supermarket shelves are competitive environments, and leveraging the full scope of your creative team will help you make the biggest impact.
Eye-catching designs, compelling brand storytelling, and clear advertising of the sustainable properties of both the packaging and your company more broadly contribute greatly to success.
At Cold Brew Pak, we offer compostable, biodegradable, and recyclable bag-in-box packaging solutions for the specialty coffee sector. To guarantee maximum sustainability, we use white or natural kraft paper corrugated cardboard outer shells and LDPE and PLA aseptic plastic bags.
Moreover, the ergonomic design helps consumers dispense every last drop via a recyclable, anti-leak, vitop or screw cap. Our recyclable bag-in-box is immensely customisable, and you can leverage the large square panels to create engaging brand messaging and broader environmentally friendly credentials. Plus, they come in six sizes, from smaller 1.5-litre units perfect for personal home consumption to massive 20-litre boxes to caffeinate a whole office.
To source your one recyclable bag-in-box cold brew packaging solution, visit our website or get in touch directly.
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Recyclable bag-in-box
