Technological watch

NEXE Innovations Inc., a leader in plant-based materials science and advanced manufacturing technologies headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, has developed and is now seeking to further commercialize its fully compostable coffee capsules designed for use in Keurig Brewing Systems.

According to a statement earlier today, the company NEXE placed orders early 2020 for custom-built high-speed automation in order to scale its NEXE Keurig-compatible (“K-Cup”) pod production capacity from 20 million annually toward capacity of up to 120 million pods/year. Delivery and commissioning of the equipment is expected by mid-2021.

The company also announced that pilot-scale composting and sieving tests for measurement of disintegration had been performed on its NEXE Nespresso-Compatible Pods by OWS Labs, and that these conformed to international standards.

“We are extremely pleased that our NEXE Nespresso-Compatible Pods achieved 100% disintegration within 10 weeks, which is a significant improvement over the testing standard of 90% disintegration in less than 12 weeks. Our NEXE Nespresso-Compatible Pods have set a high standard for our competitors,” said Darren Footz, CEO of NEXE.

The results meet critical international standards required for certification as compostable materials, including American standards ASTM D6400 and D6868, European standard EN 13432, and International standard ISO 17088. The trials also found that NEXE Nespresso Compatible Pods had no negative effects on the quality of the resulting compost. The launch of these capsules is targeted for the second half of 2021.

NEXE’s pods are among the only patented compostable single-serve beverage pods designed to store more volume of product per capsule than other leading brands. Over 40 billion non-compostable single-serve beverage pods made from traditional plastic are currently discarded annually to landfills around the world.

In order to accommodate the new equipment and to satisfy the high level of demand expected for the products once commercially launched, Nexe is also planning a major expansion of its production facility, both in terms of physical space and personnel.

Source: Bioplastics MAGAZINE, 2021-01-06.