Guala Closures sourcing recycled production materials from Oceanworks

Beverages packaging giant Guala Closures Group has announced a partnership with Oceanworks to develop a range of closures produced using ocean plastics.

California-based Oceanworks is a digital marketplace that verifies material collected from coastal ecosystems where it risks ending up in the ocean and collects millions of pounds of plastic annually.

It will supply Guala Closures with 100-per-cent recycled polymers which will be used to develop closures for its wines and spirits range worldwide. Guala Closures will initially use these polymers in the production of its T-Bar models for spirits, including the recently launched Blossom range.

The sourcing of production materials from Oceanworks follows the "design to change" model of the company's recently published eco-design guidelines.

Fulvio Bosano, Guala Closures' research and development director, said: "This important agreement strengthens the group's commitment toward more sustainable solutions, making our closures part of the future circular economy. It is a significant step in Guala Closures' objective to use 35 per cent recycled materials in our products by 2025. The success of our sustainability strategy depends on both strong internal research and partnerships with key players such as Oceanworks."

Rob Ianelli, president and founder of Oceanworks, added: "Helping our customers in developing new products using our 100-per-cent recycled ocean plastics is an important step toward a real circular economy. Thanks to this partnership we have the opportunity to make a significant impact, by scaling the production of a more sustinable packaging from materials which would otherwise be polluting our planet's oceans."

5 January 2021 - Bethany Whymark