Borealis, one of the world's leading providers of circular security solutions polyolefin and the European market leader for basic chemicals and fertilizers, has acquired a minority stake in Bocktech Limiteda green technology company UK based growth stage creator of innovative manufacturing technology platform EcoCore® for sustainable packaging.
The investment deepens the existing partnership between the two companies and underscores Borealis' commitment to the circularity of plastics. The measure involves the joint development of markets and materials in the long term, as well as the expansion of the EcoCore platform itself. The aim is to enable a greater number of global customers, value chain partners and supply chain players to benefit from a wider range of applications based on lighter foams, mainly in the packaging sector.
Borealis and Bockatech are leading the transition to circularity for plastics, building on the cooperation that began in 2016 to develop Foam injection molding solutions for reusable and recyclable packaging. The association has already been successful with the 2020 'Close the Loop' pilot project at the Borealis plants in Belgium; More than a million single-use drinking glasses were replaced by 30.000 lightweight EcoCore glasses, which can be collected and washed for reuse and finally recycled.
Bockatech EcoCore uses polyolefin resins optimized materials supplied by Borealis to create moldings that have leather-foam-leather walls with a high strength-to-weight ratio and excellent thermal insulation. Because only minimal investment in new equipment is required to produce secure moldings using EcoCore technology, converters can easily transition to more sustainable packaging formats for a wide range of industries.
While the collaboration will continue to focus on reusable coffee cups, additional applications are envisioned for technology licensing, including more sustainable types of reusable packaging and lightweight single-use solutions. Applications are also envisioned in non-packaging product ranges as EcoCore technology advances and expands even further.
