TAGS: Green and Bioplastics
Bio-on and Rivoira has announced a strategic agreement to develop new materials for food packaging of fresh fruits and vegetables. The agreement involves creation of new company ZEROPACK S.p.A., founded by Bio-on and of which Rivoira acquires the 50%. The partnership aims to meet the constantly increasing demand for new eco-sustainable materials.
- The new company ZEROPACK is created by Bio-on for the exploitation of the patents aimed to revolutionize the world of food packaging in the fruits and vegetable sector through the use of bioplastics.
- The aim is to allow all distributors to serve customers with sustainable and environmental friendly products.
- Rivoira enters the capital of ZEROPACK buying 50% of the shares: a strategic operation that aims to quickly acquire a leading position in the new frontier of food packaging for fresh fruits and vegetables.
- To accelerate the development of the technology, ZEROPACK acquired an exclusive worldwide license for 10 million euros from Bio-on.
Entering the World of Packaging for the Future with Bioplastics
Based on bioplastic, 100% natural and biodegradable, ZEROPACK will be able to produce:
- Films
- Crates
- Small and large containers
- Fruit supports and completely natural labels
This bioplastics can be produced also from fruit and vegetable wastes.
To accelerate the development of these solutions and quickly gain a leading position in this rapidly growing sector with a high demand for quality, ZEROPACK has acquired from Bio-on an exclusive license to exploit the technology for 10 million euros.
The technology is based on the research activities that Bio-on researchers have been conducting for 4 years in this field of application in Italian and US laboratories. Itt will help to limit the new environmental emergency represented by the enormous quantity of plastic waste. As it is known, the traditional plastics nowadays used to package food products do not allow efficient recycling processes and often contain highly polluting components.
Marco Astorri, President and CEO of Bio-on said: "The investment announced today represents to us the entrance of a large company and we are particularly proud that a prestigious group like Rivoira, through Marco Rivoira and Gualtiero Rivoira, recognize the innovation and the potentiality of the new technologies developed by Bio-on in the field of food packaging. The basis of our bioplastic has all the qualities to revolutionize the world of food packaging through ZEROPACK. This is what people are asking for and we will do it together with ZEROPACK and the Rivoira group".
Moreover, thanks to the diversification of the Rivoira group, Zeropack will have the possibility to use Bio-on technology also in the mineral water field.
Marco Rivoira, CEO Gruppo Rivoira further added: "We are happy to enter the world of packaging for the future and in particular to contribute with our experience and daily production quality to the creation of completely different products compared to those we can find on the market today. ZEROPACK anticipates the strategies of the Rivoira Group, always looking for innovations. The mission is to provide total quality of both product and packaging. To study materials to revolutionize this sector, starting from nature and naturally, will allow the giants of distribution to have a 100% sustainable alternative".
Naturally-derived PHBs for Food Packaging
All the bioplastics developed by Bio-on (
PHAs or polyhydroxy-alkanoates and
PHBs or poly-hydroxy-butyrates) are:
- Obtained from renewable plant sources without any competition with food chains;
- Guarantee the same thermo-mechanical properties of traditional plastics
- Completely eco-friendly and 100% biodegradable in a natural way
Thanks to the exclusive characteristics of its materials, Bio-on now extends its use to another of the most innovative and interesting field of application such as food-packaging. The researches in this field of application are based on PHBs,
the only organic material that derives from the nature having piezoelectric properties.
Rivoira completed the acquisition of 50% of ZEROPACK S.p.A through RK Zero Srl with Carlo Lingua and Paolo Carissimo partners. Following the transaction, the share of Bio-on and RK zero is equal to 50.00% each. Bio-on has granted ZEROPACK an exclusive license for the direct and indirect exploitation of technology for this specific sector for a total amount of 10 million euros. This agreement fully contributes to the 2018 Bio-on results and is part of the business plan presented in 2016. From 2019 ZEROPACK will present new patents and will begin various collaborations with distributors and producers worldwide.
Source: Bio-on