Green-tech company Bockatech, the inventor of the innovative EcoCore manufacturing technology platform for sustainable packaging, has received an investment from Borealis, a leading Austria-headquartered provider of polyolefin solutions, base chemicals and fertilisers. The funding will see Borealis take a minority stake.
The investment deepens the existing partnership between the two companies. Their collaboration dates back to 2018, with the development of foam injection moulding solutions for reusable and recyclable packaging.
The investment is aimed at the long term advancement of joint market and material development, as well as the scaling of Bockatech’s proprietary EcoCore manufacturing platform.
EcoCore uses optimised polyolefin resins supplied by Borealis to create mouldings that have skin-foam-skin walls with high strength-to-weight ratios and excellent thermal insulation. As only minimal investment in new equipment is required to produce safe and reliable mouldings using the EcoCore technology, converters can readily move into more sustainable packaging formats for a wide range of sectors.
EcoCore also aligns with the Borealis circular cascade model on all three levels — design for eco-efficiency, reuse, and design for recycling — helping to achieve plastic circularity and greater sustainability.
As Lucrèce Foufopoulos, Borealis Executive Vice President Polyolefins, Circular Economy Solutions and Innovation & Technology noted: “This is proof positive of our EverMinds approach and commitment to collaboration and innovation to bring about plastics circularity.”
While the collaboration will continue to focus on reusable coffee cups, additional applications for technology licensing are foreseen, including more sustainable reusable packaging types and lightweight single-use solutions. Applications in non-packaging product ranges are also envisioned, as the EcoCore technology moves further forward and is scaled up.
“Working together with Borealis, we’ve already been able to develop packaging for several leading foodservice and fast-moving consumer goods brands in North America and Europe. This new funding will help us advance our EcoCore technology even further and increase the number of applications,” said Henri Gaskjenn, Bockatech CEO.
It will also help to fulfil the aim of enabling a greater number of global customers, value chain partners, and supply chain players to benefit from a broader range of lighter weight foam-based applications, primarily in the packaging sector, thus driving the development of circular packaging solutions