MILKLAB and saveBOARD recycle waste into exhibition display

Plant-based and dairy milk manufacturer MILKLAB has used its stand at the Melbourne International Coffee Exhibition (MICE) to showcase a novel sustainable building material made from recycled waste including long-life milk cartons and coffee cups.

The new-look MILKLAB Lane stand at MICE this month incorporated cafes and coffee carts and a stand that was made with sustainable materials including saveBOARD – a low-carbon building material made from hard-to-recycle liquid paper board used in long-life milk and juice cartons.

saveBOARD is focused on building a circular economy by turning composite packaging waste – such as milk cartons, ingredients bags, coffee cups and soft plastics – back into low-carbon products that re-enter the supply chain minimising and reusing waste.

MILKLAB worked closely with saveBOARD to create a circular economy solution for the walls of the stand by integrating milk carton packaging waste into the board products.

There are no additives such as glues, chemicals and adhesives in the boards – the plastic in the packaging is the glue, and the colour is created from the original consumer packaging.

Each board saves 500 used beverage cartons from landfill, with each saveBOARD plant today capable of recycling 4 million kilograms of soft plastics and fibre every year at its facilities at Warragamba in Western Sydney and Hamilton in New Zealand.

saveBOARD Country Manager Chris Collimore said saveBOARD was a true solution to problematic waste management and the company was proud to partner with MILKLAB to showcase its products.

“We divert hard to recycle packaging waste from landfill and turn it into an aesthetically pleasing, functional and commercially sustainable building product.

“We then can recycle that product again and again back into saveBOARD. Supporting saveBOARD really is a circular solution to waste.”

Earlier this year, saveBOARD opened its new Warragamba beverage carton manufacturing facility in partnership with Tetra Pak, one of the paper suppliers used in the cartons for MILKLAB’s range of barista milks.

Tetra Pak Marketing Director Jaymie Pagdato said: “Through this collaboration, we are not only creating value through the life cycle of every carton, we are also contributing to a low-carbon, circular economy.”

Picture: Milklab