Summer is approaching and, as every year, thousands of plastic wrappers will accompany our ice creams, powders and "flashes", of which a large percentage of them will end up totally or partially outside the recycling circuits and predictably in rivers , seas and oceans.
Spain is currently the third country in the world in terms of ice cream consumption, with a cost of more than €40 for the more than 13 liters per inhabitant per year. These data are associated with the use of single-use plastic materials in a high percentage. In addition, in the summer, the ice variants that are coated in the 100% of the cases also appear, the consumption experience includes sucking said plastic materials.
the idea
The proposal involves two changes:
• Replace plastic wraps in the manufacturing process with silicone and/or glass molds, washable and recyclable at the end of the season
• Adapt the refrigerators in stores and shopping centers, so that they can store molds in a modular structure that allows each ice cream to be extracted individually.
how
- • The ice creams, after their manufacturing process, will be inserted into the silicone or glass molds, keeping the wooden rods that allow it to be held. The gel versions that were sold protected in plastic so that they could be consumed, will come covered from now on in recycled cardboard. So they will be transported from the assembly line to the store.
- • In the store they will be stored in modular refrigerators. These refrigerators will have an external bowl with hot water at a constant temperature.
- • When the customer chooses their favorite ice cream, it will be taken out of the refrigerator with its mold individually and inserted into the bowl for a few seconds alone, until the ice cream can be extracted by pulling the wooden stick.
- The molds will be returned to the manufacturer regularly to be washed and reused with new ice cream.
benefits
The benefits are multiple for all parties:
• Reduction of plastic waste.
• Cost reduction for the manufacturer, since the molds can be used for more than one season.
• Better organization in the stores' refrigerators, which makes the search time for each unit more efficient.
• Better health for users, who stop sucking plastics.
• Innovation aligned with the circular economy.
• Visibility of the brand abroad.
