Roastar Coffee Packaging partners with FlexPak to revolutionize the Australasian market with sustainable package that protects the bean
“With PrimeVent degassing vent, coffee roasters can meet the recyclability thresholds and still protect the bean without compromising oxygen, moisture, and light.”
The Challenge
Providing coffee roasters with a sustainable packaging solution that doesn’t compromise bean performance.
Known for their unique coffee culture, Australian consumers take their coffee seriously. More than one in four Australian consumers say they can’t survive the day without it, and 75% drink at least one cup of coffee a day. Some food critics have even called Australian coffee the best in the world.
But as highly valued as coffee is, little attention is paid to its packaging, according to Clive Jacobs, general manager of Roastar Coffee Packaging. As a subsidiary of MPM Marketing Services — a leading packaging company serving the food industry in Australia and New Zealand for five decades — Roastar knew there had to be a better way. The company believed that the right packaging could elevate the bean quality that roasters devoted so much effort to.
“Coffee roasters, especially large ones, have strict quality control measures, but they lose control of the quality of their coffee and the shelf life once their coffee leaves the premises,” explains Julian Morton, MPM’s managing director. “They are looking for packaging that extends the shelf life and gives them more confidence that consumers will have a better and more consistent cup of coffee.”
Building off MPM’s legacy of developing innovative packaging, Roastar was well positioned to bring a revolutionary coffee package to the market. But in addition to improving bean performance and ensuring a long shelf life for coffee beans, this package needed to meet national sustainability requirements.
The Australian government had set a mandate to transition packaging to a circular recycling model, with a national target to ensure 100% of packaging can be reused, recycled, or composted by 2025. Australian consumers, too, demand more sustainability from brands. The majority of surveyed Australians (92%) believe that recycling is important and 76% recycle regularly.
“Roastar has set out to take the specific technical needs of roasters and create innovative coffee packaging that gives the respect the beans deserve, moving away from a one-product-fits-all model,” Jacobs says.
The Solution
Engineering new technology to meet a dual goal.
Roastar Coffee Packaging began an extensive exploration process to develop a coffee package, now branded as BeanShield, that protected the beans without compromising the consumer experience and desire for recyclable packaging.
Jacobs explains that regardless of the barrier of the packaging material, the weakest part of the bag is the degassing valve. This is only made worse when making the packaging more sustainable. Home compostable bags, due to their structure, can allow more oxygen and moisture in, which can quickly flatten the coffee aroma and taste. Mechanical button valves — which have dominated the market since the 1960s — compound the problem because they allow oxygen in or malfunction altogether. For Roastar, this meant an entirely new packaging technology would have to be engineered — from the bag to the valve.
The company tried a variety of options for the valve. PrimeVent, a one-way degassing vent from LaserSharp FlexPak Services, LLC, rose to the top because it delivered the best quality coffee over a long shelf life, had the smallest footprint, was operationally simple, and enabled the design of a 100% recyclable bag.
Headquartered in Minnesota, USA, FlexPak is a recognized leader for state-of-the-art flexible packaging solutions enabled by laser processing technology. PrimeVent features a lightweight design that looks like a small label — saving 96% on plastic use — and provides a superior oxygen barrier over button valves. Fully configurable to each brand’s roast profile and bag size, PrimeVent maintains the correct amount of carbon dioxide and dramatically reduces oxygen exposure, which results in exceptional performance that sustains the bean aroma and freshness for many months. In PrimeVent, Roastar recognized a game-changer.