A Suffolk entrepreneur has launched the latest product in a packaging range which aims to improve the UK’s recycling rates.

Last year, Frugalpac which has an office at Waldringfield, near Woodbridge, announced the launch of the Frugal Cup, billed as the “first recyclable coffee cup”, which it hopes will prevent thousands of tonnes of paper going to landfill.

Now company founder Martin Myerscough, who has a background in accountancy and finance and a track record of developing green packaging, has unveiled the Frugal Carton.

Makers of the product, which will launch in 2018, aim to provide an alternative to conventional laminated beverage cartons with a product which they say can be processed at any paper recycling facility in the UK.

“I am delighted to be able to announce the launch of the Frugal Carton, following on from the Frugal Cup,” said Mr Myerscough. “The Frugal Carton fits well within our company’s ambition to make significant improvements in the recycling rates of everyday packaging.”

Conventional cartons are made of a laminate of several layers of plastic, tightly bonded to cardboard which makes them difficult to break down using any standard recycling process, and means they have to be recycled at specialist facilities, the firm says.

The Frugal Carton is made by creating layers that are not bonded together. The outer shell is made from 100% paperboard and a foil bag in the outer shell provides the carton with its waterproof layer.

As the foil bag is not bonded to the outer paperboard shell, this can easily be separated by the consumer in the same way that they would remove the bag from inside a cereal box, the firms says.

The paperboard then breaks down “quickly and efficiently” in all standard paper mills. The carton has the same performance in terms of shelf life, it adds.

Frugalpac’s first product, the Frugal Cup, a take-away coffee cup designed to go in any paper or card bin, and be recycled at any paper mill, will hit the market in November.

Frugalpac says it aims to use its patented design to challenge other packaging products where recycling is a significant issue. The Frugal Carton will launch in 2018.

The firm, based in Suffolk, works with partners around the world to create the products.