Ecolutions Aqueous Coated Bamboo Cups

Aqueous Coated Cups – The Solution to a Plastic-Free Cafe

by Learn More

Let’s face it, we’ve all bought coffee to go at some point in our lives. Whether its for us, our boss or so you can use the cafe’s bathroom. More often than not, that cup of coffee is packaged in a paper type cup masquerading as “paper = eco-friendly”.

It’s the worst kept secret that these “paper” packaging – while seemingly harmless – are lined with a polyethylene plastic (PE) coating to give it its waterproofing capabilities. And with that, the paper has been contaminated and unfortunately deemed as another single-use plastic.

And yes, there are other newer paper cups claiming to be eco-friendly as well, and these are most likely lined with poly lactic acid or PLA – which is a corn based bio-plastic. 

What’s the issue with PLA coated Cups

For some time, PLA-coated cups seems to be the answer to the paper packaging problem.

PLA is a bio-plastic made from corn. It is plant based and it does seem to be biodegradable and compostable. However, the issue is how to compost it successfully to be able to say that PLA is the best option for coating.

To be able to compost PLA items successfully, a special industrial composting facility will need to subject the items to an industrial heat of 60° C or above. Suffice it to say, we currently do not have such facilities here in the Philippines.

How about leaving it in your home compost? Its possible, but it’ll still take years (not months as they claim) to decompose and unfortunately, home composters are few and far between for now.

Enter Aqueous Coating

What is aqueous coating then? 

“Aqueous” pronounced as /ey-kwi-yows/ is a water based coating that’s been widely used in the printing industry for some time now. With newer research and development on a food-safe version of this coating, the food packaging industry has now started to adapt this technology and its proving to be the best alternative to PE or PLA coating.

As the name suggests, aqueous coating is a type of coating that is water-based and it contains no plastic whatsoever (bio or otherwise). It can give the same waterproofing and oil-proofing effect to any paper as PE or PLA coating does, but again, without the plastic.

Products with aqueous coating breaks down cleanly like any other unlined paper and wont need any special facility or treatment in order to truly decompose (unlike PLA or corn based bioplastic). They can also be thrown out in the paper recycling bin, and recyclers will be able to re-pulp these items with no danger of contaminating the pulp.

In the worst case scenario of people being lazy and careless and somehow products ending up in the ocean, these aqueous coated items can still break down at the same rate as any old newspaper.

Ecolutions Aqueous Bamboo Cups

Our new line of Aqueous products are:

  • 100% Plastic Free and PLA-Free lining
  • Bamboo Paper – Which means no trees harmed
  • Backyard compostable and clean biodegration (no micro plastics)
  • Recyclable & Re-pulpable (impossible with conventional paper cups)
  • Available in 8oz, 12oz and 16oz size
  • Achieve 100% plastic-free when paired with our sugarcane lids

We understand that cafe and restaurant owners will decide what packaging to use based on the options that are available to them as well as the price, and so we’re very proud to offer a newer and better alternative to paper packaging that is effective and truly 100% plastic free

We live in a time where being eco-friendly can be achieved and effective alternatives are available – we’d love to help your business transition and make the switch to a more sustainable packaging option.

Switching to any eco-friendly packaging can help significantly reduce the amount of single-use plastic trash that’s ending up in our landfill, oceans and environment.

When you’re ready, you may contact us for availability, or place your order HERE.

Start with switching to our aqueous coated cups today! 🌿🌏

Set of botanical background designs

Ecolutions Rewards Program

by Learn More

We know that running a business is tough and doubly hard with this pandemic situation where every 2 weeks something changes, and we’re very impressed and proud of you guys with your resilience and strength in staying committed despite these uncertain times.

 

That’s why in our little way, we’d like to reward your commitment and efforts in continuously using eco-friendly packaging in your business.

 

So we’re launching our Ecolutions Rewards!

This is for you guys and we hope you guys will like this!

 

Program Details:

 

THE REWARD: GET 10% OFF AND FREE SHIPPING* ON YOUR 10TH ORDER

 

This program is free and open to all our regular customers** and it takes less than 1 minute to sign-up and get a virtual reward card.

You will get 1 stamp for every completed order. On your 10th order, we will apply your reward!

 

How to Sign Up:

  1. Sign up here: Ecolutions Rewards
  2. Get your QR Code
  3. Send us your QR code so we can keep on record
  4. Done!

For a limited time (until Aug 30, 2021), we will also retroactively apply a stamp for all your past orders throughout 2021. That means you're not starting from zero, you may be starting with 2 or 3 stamps already and that much closer to your reward.

 

We are open to any suggestions you may have to improve this program. Please feel free to message us, we do appreciate it!

 

* Free Shipping - for metro manila deliveries only

** Corporate and Resellers are excluded from this program

 

top view food leftovers in compost bin on blue background, compost, vegetable peels concept. Copy space, zero waste

Difference Between Biodegradable and Compostable

by Learn More

This is a brief overview of the difference between what it really means when people say “biodegradable” and what it means when we say “compstable”

 

The word “biodegradable” can sometimes be used as a greenwashing terminology because in our head, when we hear “biodegradable” we think it means it’s “compostable”, and we imagine biodegradable items can degrade and melt and go back to the earth.

A quick way to distinguish the two is that all compostables are biodegradable, but not all biodegradable are compostable.

Compostable items can break down into something useful and nutritious, whereas biodegradable items can break down but into both natural and unnatural substances like micro plastics – and it can still be called “biodegradable”.

Knowing the difference will increase your awareness when you read claims and marketing materials of different products, and you can make an informed decision on what you are purchasing.

We at Ecolutions always check and make sure we are offering products that are truly compostable. We don’t want to sacrifice our environment just to be able to offer everything under the sun.

To check out our line of products, you can check them out HERE

Pass the knowledge on. ❤️🌏

 

Ecoresolutions

2020 Eco-Resolutions to Do This Year

by Learn More

We’re excited for 2020 – fresh year, fresh decade – everything feels fresh  and probably the best time to start something new.

Being a company that’s very eco-conscious, we have a few eco-resolutions that we’ve set for this year, and we’d like to share them here to give some ideas to anyone also looking to make some eco-conscious resolutions this year.

Our eco-resolutions are very practical, realistic and very doable. The goal is to make these easy actions become a habit and perhaps next year these’ll just all be a part of our lives and just something that we do.

 

Resolution 1 - bring your waterbottle-

Eco-Resolution #1 - Bring your own water bottle

 

Kicking things off with the easiest and most practical resolution - which is to bring your own water bottle. This will not only significantly reduce plastic waste, but will save you money as well. In our country (Philippines), we can't just drink out of the tap, so a lot of people do need to buy water, but buying them in refillable 5 gallon sizes is much much cheaper (35 pesos) vs buying bottled water one at a time (~10 pesos/500ml bottle). This is a no brainer in terms of money saved and it helps our environment at the same time.

Don't be fancy, you dont need a Klean Kanteen or Hydroflask to participate in this eco-resolution. Re-use anything, even the glass packaging of the nata de coco you consume during the holidays will do. We feel like sometimes the optics or the way it looks hinders people from doing this. Being eco-friendly is IG-worthy enough if that's important to you, so the water container you use can be anything and it'll still look great.

If you find that glass water containers are too heavy to carry, you can get the reusable BPA-free plastic ones that you probably already have. This'll make it more transport friendly. The easier it is, the more you'll do it.

Want a container for coffee? any aluminum vacuum flask or even the glass bottle is ok to use. At the end of the day, no one really cares or looks too closely as to what kind of bottle you are using so just use whatever you have at your disposable. The act is the main point, not the accessory.

Nowadays, even in the Philippines you can refill water everywhere... in your house ofcourse, at your office, in airports when travelling, at coffee shops when you dine in, and even some of the food courts inside the malls have filtered water too! So many possibilities.

This is an easy one and all the benefits definitely make this eco-resolution a must do. If you do nothing else from this list, do this one.

 

Eco-Resolution #2 - Make your own eco-brick

 

If you're not familiar with an eco-brick, its basically an empty plastic bottle that you fill up with all your clean soft plastic trash to a certain density, and when filled up these bottles are dropped off with organizations who can use them as building materials.

The main objective is to reduce the amount of plastic trash going into the landfill and ocean, and they are instead being collected in a bottle which can be turned into something useful down the line.

There's an argument being made that just because you can make an eco-brick doesn't mean you should continue and increase your consumption of plastic, which is true in some way, but also in our practical day to day life, until the food we consume or the things we buy are packaged with eco-friendly alternatives to plastic, it could be hard to avoid and options are super limited. So our choice becomes to buy or not buy if we strictly adhere to zero-waste philosophies.

That's why we believe that companies should think about switching to eco-friendly alternatives to plastic.

In the Philippines, there's a number of places and organizations that participate in collecting these bricks, some of them even give monetary incentives in exchange for the bricks (check SM and Robinsons malls). Organizations like The Plastic Solutions PH occasionally organizes eco-brick drives to collect your eco-bricks.

You can read more about the proper way to collect trash inside the bottles here - https://www.ecobricks.org/how/

The main struggle we see with this eco-resolution is that this is not something that we're used to doing - cleaning the plastic wrappers or films and collecting them in a bottle - but we're hoping once it develops into a habit, it becomes much easier to do. Also, think of the amount of plastic films and wrappers we encounter on a daily basis, and all of these will be saved from the landfill if we successfully collect them in the bottle!

Resolution 1 - bring your waterbottle-
Resolution 4 - utensils

Eco-Resolution #3 - Bring your own utensils

 

This one is also pretty east and we've been doing this for a while note. its really not that heavy and they don't need to be a fancy bamboo cutlery set. Just take spare utensils you have in you house and if you must buy (because you don't have any to spare), then you'll really only need to purchase it once and that's it forever (just dont lose it).

Our kit actually includes a teaspoon, 2 sets of metal straws, and a set of chopsticks - all stainless steel. We carry it in a pouch that came with the straws when we got it, super non-fancy set.

Ok so practical use of this: when you're outside and you buy any cold drink - they usually give a plastic straw, so having your own reusable one is handy. Sometimes, even when you dine in and ask for chopsticks, they'll usually give you the disposable wooden ones (why?), and if you had your own chopsticks, then you save that wood chopsticks from going into the landfill. Even if its wood and its biodegradable, not consuming it is better than thinking its ok because its biodegradable.

Remember that usually these utensils are being used once and for less than a few hours max, then its thrown out. Trash is trash so if we can reduce it, that's ultimately the ideal scenario.

By carrying your own utensil, you just don't realize it but the amount of plastic trash you can remove from the landfill is astounding.

Eco-Resolution #4 - Commit to No Meat Mondays

 

our 4th eco-resolution this year is to (really) commit to a no meat monday. We've actually been doing no meat mondays for a while now, and its not always perfect but even at 95% success rate, we're pretty happy with that
⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
There's a lot of articles written about how the livestock industry is a big contributor to climate change through deforestation to clear ways for these livestock, and cows produce a lot of methane which is a potent greenhouse gas. You can read more about it to get educated, but whether you agree or not, it doesn't hurt to atleast lessen your beef intake, if for nothing else but the fact that you can save money that way and eating vegetables is good for you.
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Relaxed or cheat days often happen over the weekend, so for us having no meat mondays are a great reset for the week. it feels really good and will make you feel clean and light, and for us we always aim to eat more plant based foods anyway. Great news is these days there's so many options to choose from so it doesn't really feel like such a sacrifice.

Resolution 3 - no meat monday
Resolution 5 - reusable bag

Eco-Resolution #5 - Bring your own reusable bags

 

The last eco-resolution we are implementing this year is to bring your own reusable bags - groundbreaking!

This is so easy you're probably already doing it. You can fold it up and put it in your purse/backpack or leave it in your car or office drawers, or anywhere you can leave stuff, just don't leave it and lose it.

A lot of the grocery stores are no longer using plastic bags, and those paper bags are just not sturdy enough to carry your groceries, and what if you have 3 big bags, how are you going to carry it them all at the same time. Having your own reusable bags when buying groceries are the most convenient thing ever.

Another scenario that reusable bags come in handy is when you go out shopping - instead of taking the store's plastic shopping bag, you can use your tote bags instead. We know that some people really like store's shopping bags, and if you reuse them later they can be ok also, but ultimately if you want to reduce your plastic consumption, this is a good place to do it.  

Similar to the water bottle, any reusable bag or tote will do, its doesnt need to be anything fancy. A reusable bag's function is to hold things, even non-branded bags can hold things just as well.

We used to have so much piles of plastic bags in our home, and if you don't know this, cockroaches love hanging out in between those plastic bags. Yikes!

These are the 5 eco-resolutions we are implementing this year. We hope we were able to give you some ideas on what you can apply to your own eco-resolution, and why its advantageous to do these simple actions.

If you have any eco-resolution that you are making this year, please let us know! We’re always looking for new challenges and we can make it a part of our 2021 eco-resolution.

Bagasse-BLog

Wonderful World of Sugarcane Bagasse

by Learn More

What is Sugarcane Bagasse?

Sugarcane is a staple crop in many countries, the Philippines included. Traditionally, sugarcane crops are planted and harvested in an annual basis, and are brought to mills to be extracted and processed into different kinds of sugar products. The crops are then regrown which saves the soil from being eroded and saves a lot of resources.

Bagasse is the pulpy material that is left after the sugarcane has been processed and squeezed out of its juice. You can probably see these in markets where local vendors sell fresh sugarcane juice. In the past, sugarcane mills and factories would burn these pulp or bagasse because there are just so much of them all at once and they wouldn’t know what to do with them. Burning these bagasse produces CO2 and other harmful gasses that further pollutes our environment.

Fast forward to today, where clever scientists and engineers have found ways to re-use all these “trash” and make them into something useful to help us live a little bit more conveniently in our day to day lives.

Bagasse vs Paper

Ok, so what’s the big deal anyway. Bagasse is basically like paper, right? Well, technically yes but with big differences which makes bagasse a much more sustainable option to paper. The key difference is that sugarcane is an annual crop, which means it only takes 1 year to grow compared to trees which can take up to 20 years to mature. 

Bagasse is also an agricultural by-product that is being re-used to make new products, as opposed to trees which are cut down and harvested for the purpose of making new products.

It normally takes about 5kg worth of wood to produce 1kg of pulp, whereas only 1.5kg of bagasse to make 1kg of pulp. 

All these and more make sugarcane bagasse a far superior material in terms of sustainability and eco-friendliness vs paper.

So Why Do We Use Bagasse

Well apart from everything we just mentioned above, what we love about our sugarcane bagasse products are that they are 100% plastic free, and no trace of plastic or wax can be found in any of our product.

Paper has been long used in the food and beverage industry but unfortunately most of these paper products are lined with PE or polyethylene – which is a type of plastic. 

Our bagasse containers are different in that it does not need any additional lining in order for it to be grease or water resistant. Its natural composition and the manufacturing process creates a natural barrier which enable them to be resistant to oil and moisture.

This makes our products 100% compostable and biodegradable, leaving no trace of chemicals or plastic particles into the earth as it breaks down.

We are very conscious about our choices for our products’ impact on the environment – from the time it is manufactured to the end of its life after it has been disposed

This diagram shows the circular life cycle of the sugarcane bagasse, and its very important for us to consider these things, as we believe that just saying our products are eco-friendly is not enough, we also have to consider the way its made and end of its life and how we can continuously sustain this process so as to really present a viable solution to the plastic waste problem.

By using a material that would have been thrown out or burned, the goal is to to even out our carbon footprint eventually achieving a carbon negative state and have a positive impact on the environment.