Latest news with #Vytal
Irish Times
05-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
‘In time, society will view disposable coffee cups much like we now view plastic bags'
Coffee lovers in Malahide and Rush are in for a perk this summer. The two North Co Dublin communities are spearheading an ambitious bid by Fingal to become Ireland's first single-use cup-free county in Ireland. Beverage drinkers there are in line for a discount for their efforts. Inspired by the hugely successful Killarney Cup Project in Co Kerry , which has already kept over a million disposable cups out of the bin in just one year, Fingal County Council has set its sights on making the administrative area single-use cup free by 2026. Rush and Malahide have been chosen to pilot the project. The hope is that the Fingal Reusable Cup Project will make the blight of takeaway coffee cup waste in these seaside towns a thing of the past. Supported by environmental charity Voice , passionate volunteers from both communities have been visiting local businesses and running information events since last year. Rush Tidy Towns, Malahide Lions Club, St Sylvester's Parish Council, Malahide Chamber of Commerce and Malahide Tidy Towns have been to the fore in rallying support. READ MORE The response from local retailers has been overwhelmingly positive, organisers say, showing that the communities are ready for change. To date, 47 cafes across Fingal, 11 of which are based in Rush and 36 in Malahide, have committed to participating in the Fingal Reusable Cup Project. In Killarney, it's mostly independent coffee shops that have stepped up to the plate. Some big retailers with self-service machines, however, have lagged, refusing to ditch paper cups. Malahide and Rush will be hoping for better engagement. Beverage drinkers will have three ways to take part. You can sit in and drink your coffee from a real cup; you can bring your own reusable cup to get a discount on your coffee; or, if you've forgotten your cup and want to take a beverage away, you can borrow a reusable cup for free. [ Latte levy: 'Now, you'd be ashamed to be seen with a disposable cup' Opens in new window ] Participating coffee shops are offering reusable takeaway cups from social enterprise Vytal . Vytal cups can be returned to any participating coffee shop. Do it within 14 days and the cup is free; otherwise you'll be charged €9. This seems a lot, but it's why Vytal cups have such a high return rate. Where a deposit is too low and the cups do not have a high value, customers end up hanging on to them and taking more home. There's little point replacing a glut of disposable cups with a glut of reusable cups. The project makes sense for businesses too. Disposable coffee cups cost them at least 15 cent each. Compostable cups can cost 25 cent or more. Vytal's reusable cups will only ever cost coffee shops 15 cent. For the six-month pilot, Vytal is giving retailers the cups for free. After the pilot, each time a cup is scanned out to a customer, it will cost the retailer 15 cent. The introduction of a 'latte levy' later this year makes this a good time for the Fingal project. The 20 cent tax on disposable coffee cups aims to deter Irish consumers from dumping half a million disposable cups a day. The cost of a disposable cup and the levy on it means about 45 cent of your coffee could soon be packaging costs. Takeaway coffee drinkers at participating businesses in Malahide and Rush will be spared at least some of this. In addition to consumer and business savings, there are plenty of benefits to going disposable cup-free. The cups are among the top three most littered items, according to the annual Irish Business Against Litter report. 'We believe that, in time, society will view disposable cups much like we now view plastic bags: a dirty habit we were right to leave behind,' says Voice. [ 'Latte levy' will halt dumping of 500,000 cups a day, says Government Opens in new window ] Only 1 per cent of cups marked as 'recyclable' end up being completely recycled, according to the Killarney Coffee Cup Project. The rest never make it to a recycling facility. Drinking from a reusable cup means you know you are doing the right thing. Vytal's tracking technology means Malahide and Rush will see in real time just how many disposable cups they are sparing. There's the community cohesion that can come from working together towards an impressive goal too. Malahide and Rush will deserve a cuppa.
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Vytal Global secures funding to expedite international growth
Vytal Global, a German company specialising in reusable packaging solutions, has secured €14.2m ($12.6m) in growth funding to boost its international expansion efforts. Vytal raised €8m from Inven Capital, a growth capital fund, alongside the venture capital division of Through this investment, Inven Capital and have become part of Vytal's group of investors, which also comprises Emerald Technology Ventures, Grazia Equity, Kiko, Rubio Impact Ventures, and Chi Impact Capital. Founded in 2020, Vytal has grown into a digital reusable packaging network, licensing its technology. It operates subsidiaries across Europe and beyond. This additional funding will strengthen Vytal's technology-based solutions, making reusable packaging more cost-effective for both businesses and consumers, the company said. Additionally, the company will open new economic opportunities through brand collaborations and increased consumer involvement. The company said that a large portion of the funds will fuel its expansion into the US while strengthening its position in Europe. This funding comes after Vytal's acquisition of specific assets from its US rival, Turn, in December last year. Vytal co-founder and managing director Dr Tim Breker said: 'This new funding comes less than nine months after our last raise and reflects an incredibly successful 2024 for the Vytal team. 'With Inven Capital's expertise in supporting international growth strategies, we are well-positioned to scale our impact further and make tech-enabled reusable packaging the new standard in gastronomy, events, and entertainment globally.' "Vytal Global secures funding to expedite international growth" was originally created and published by Packaging Gateway, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Plastics technology company unveils project to revolutionize packaging — here's how it can succeed where others have failed
A new project will help implement reusable plastic packaging in multiple countries across Europe. As explained by Packaging Europe, the plastics technology center AIMPLAS announced the launch of the Buddie-Pack project, which aims "to implement a circular system for the large-scale deployment of reusable plastic packaging." Examples of products that Packaging Europe provided included "a semi-rigid skin pack for meat distribution (Dawn Meats), semi-rigid catering trays at schools and nursing homes for 1 portion and 8 portions (Ausolan), pre-packed food in supermarkets (Uzaje), and catering trays for takeaway food consumption (Vytal)." On the one hand, this news gives vibes of "the best way to cut down on plastic is to produce more recyclable plastic" — even though it may never actually get recycled. That could be worse in many ways if the plastic items are made with more plastic and then still get tossed at a similar rate. If there are single-use items that can become multi-use items, it's generally better to make them with something less polluting such as metal, ceramic, or glass. But if those would be easily damaged or broken, it could be beneficial to use plastic products designed to be reused or recycled — if those who use them actually do so enough to drive down virgin plastic production. That's a big if without knowing more about how it will play out in practice. But while the Buddie-Pack project is coordinated by the Industrial Technical Center for Plastics and Composites, it's funded by the European Union research and innovation program Horizon Europe, which says it "tackles climate change" and "helps to achieve the UN's Sustainable Development Goals." The report said 19 partners from six countries have committed to participate in the project, which is set to take place over the next three-and-a-half years. "The project is anticipated to cut down the production of single-use plastic packaging, reduce water and energy consumption, and avoid the release of microplastics into the oceans," Packaging Europe stated. Reusable plastic packaging incurs skepticism from many who question the safety and cleanliness of repeatedly using the same products. The Buddie-Pack project plans to address this by analyzing consumer habits and promoting "cleaning solutions to guarantee consumer safety against the possible contamination and ageing of all reusable business cases during their repeated use, and the durability of their functional properties and recyclability," per Packaging Europe. When you think about a product's packaging, which of these factors is more important to you? The way it looks The information it provides The waste it produces I don't think about packaging at all Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. The project will apply mechanical recycling, which Packaging Europe said is "'the most widely adopted method' for plastic recycling, said to have relatively low energy requirements, minimal infrastructure needs and be highly scalable." This effort is one of the latest positive steps in the fight to reduce plastic pollution across the world, as many big-name companies have begun lending a hand in hopes of making a difference. For example, ShopRite partnered with TerraCycle to launch a program that provides kiosks for recycling flexible plastic packaging. Similarly, Nestlé expanded its use of innovative paper packaging across major brands to make 95% of its plastic packaging recyclable by the end of this year. These projects are part of a commitment to help consumers make smarter recycling choices and keep plastics out of landfills, where they can take decades to break down. By reducing our reliance on single-use plastics, we can all contribute to a healthier planet. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
