The Malongo coffee company was founded in 1934 in Nice, France.
According to Walki, its brief was to deliver a barrier for the pod frame, and a paper-based packaging material for the individual pods, observing the need of recyclability and the sensitivity of coffee. Korsnäs provided the thermo – formable paper for the material, while Walki developed the special coating for it.
“Coffee is very difficult to pack, because it creates plenty of gases and you need to keep the aroma sealed in the pod in order to create a perfect cup of coffee,” said Marie Barge, sales manager for Walki in France.
She added: “We made several trials when developing the product. At the end we managed to create the special coating for the product, which meets Malongo’s needs in terms of sustainability and ensuring the high-quality of its coffee product.”
According to the firm, the combination chosen for the coffee pods board ring was Walki Pack Bio X, an oxo-biodegradable and non-toxic polymer coating on paper board.
The pod is then packed in a single packaging that had to be not only recyclable, but above all, provide a gas, aroma, moisture, and vapour barrier. On top of this it had to be thermo-formable, heat-sealable, peelable, provide good printability, and be oxo-biodegradable.
The firm also said that during the last ten years, family-owned Malongo has been working hard to reduce the amount of its packaging and to use mainly recyclable materials.
Walki said that although ground coffee and beans are still Malongo’s core business, pod coffee sales have exploded, today constituting 36% of Malongo’s sales.