Outdoor equipment manufacturer Vaude, based in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, has for the first time created and launched into the market a bike bottle that is made of 100% biobased plastic materials.
The lid and the bottle itself are made from Braskem’s I’m Green sugarcane-based PE, while the bicycle bottle mouthpiece – a technical component featuring a soft valve - is produced from a customised biobased thermoplastic elastomer from the International compounding group Hexpol TPE’s Dryflex Green family, was developed specifically for Vaude.
The new bottle joins Vaude’s ‘Green Shape’ portfolio of functional outdoor products made from sustainable materials. "For Vaude, the idea behind the bicycle bottle was to shift reliance from fossil to renewable resources. We want to support a biobased circular economy and improve the ecological footprint of an article that all frequent bikers need to have,” said Clément Affholder, manager Innovation - Materials and Plastic Engineering at Vaude.
The bottle is manufactured by Adoma, a plastics processing company in Wangen in the Allgäu region of southern Germany. Existing machines and moulded parts could be used.
“The Dryflex Green TPE compound, developed individually for Vaude, is based on > 34% biobased materials, it can be processed using conventional production methods, as a drop-in solution without the need for tool modification,” said Kathrin Heilmann, sales at HEXPOL TPE responsible for Dryflex Green products on the German market.
For the family-owned equipment manufacturer, development of the bike bottle, which is available in four different colours and fits into all conventional bike bottle cages is an ‘important step forward’ – “it helps minimise the environmental impact of consumer goods and at the same time shows that renewable resources can be used in high-performance products,” Clément Affholder concluded.