One of the first Mixcycling® blends developed by our team is our Sughera Are you curious to know more about this amazing material? Here you are some useful information!
1.What’s the composition of Sughera?
Sughera is a blend of SEBS/PE/Expanding agents/Natural cork. From the point of view of volume, Sughera contains 70% natural cork and just 30% Synthetic rubber.From the point of view of weight, Sughera contains 20% natural cork and 80% Synthetic rubber.The composition of Sughera acts in conformity with ECOCERT and COSMOS guidelines.Sughera is conform to the following norms, CE community legislation:Regulation 178/2002/CE – Regulation 1935/2004/CE – Regulation 1895/2005/CE – Regulation 2023/2006/CE – Regulation 10/2011/CE and following modifications – Regulation 1416/2016 CE.Italian legislation: Ministerial Decree 21/03/1973 and following revisions and modifications.DPR 777/82 and following revisions and modifications.Sughera resistance has been tested with ethanol 95%, oil, acetic acid.
2.What’s the story of Sughera?
Originally Sughera was developed by our head company Labrenta as a stopper for the corking of wine and spirits. A considerable percentage of wineries use microaglomerated corks to close their wine. However these stoppers necessarily contain glue to keep the cork grains together.Basically, Labrenta wanted to offer to wineries a stopper more suitable to the contact with food, made of natural cork (to preserve tradition and the natural look) but without glue. As a result of 10 years of research, Labrenta has finally developed Sughera.The potentiality of the blend was immediately clear to Livingcap team: Sughera could be used successfully in many other sectors too.Our R&D team started to explore different applications and the cosmetic packaging was one of the most exciting field.
3.How can Sughera be considered as a sustainable material? What is its environmental impact?First of all Sughera helps to reduce the use of plastic:
it actually consists of 70% of sterilized and recycled scraps of natural cork and just a 30% of synthetic rubber (SEBS/PE).Sughera processing is ecofriendly: the micrograins of natural cork contained in Sughera are sterilized and recycled scraps of cork processing.Moreover the natural cork inside Sughera is harvested and processed in Portugal, fully respecting the tree life.It all starts in the forest. The bark of the cork oak is extracted every nine years without cutting or harming the tree, so during and after the harvest of the cork, the tree continues to live and grow. Moreover cork is extracted only from early May to August, when the cork bark can be separated from the trunk without causing permanent damages. The final steps of Sughera manufacturing are made in our high tech plant, projected to reduce significantly the use of energy and the emission of CO2.
4.What do we produce with Sughera? What features can you find in Sughera articles?
Sughera was conceived for the production of closures for beverages and food but its potential applications are numberless.In the cosmetic sector, for example, Sughera is the perfect finishing for tubes, jars, containers, T-corks, diffusers for home fragrances…The micropieces of natural cork are clearly visible in the surface of Sughera articles: this natural look make them extremely pleasing to the eye.Moreover the articles made of Sughera areunique pieces thanks to their random speckled pattern: no two pieces are the same!By changing the base colour we can reach amazing visual effects, like a stone/sand look, and the shape is also customizable by embossed/debossed patterns and logos. You just need to be creative.Also the tactile perception is verycomfortable: Sughera feels nice to the touch, thanks to their velvety, soft surface. Moreover the rubbery composition grant a good anti-slip grip.Sughera is perfectly safe, free from Heavy metals, Acrylamide, Phthalates, Bisphenol A. The resulting blend is suitable for food contact and is conform with CE and FDA norms.
5.What patents exist and where?
Sughera is protected by the Italian patent nr 0001424843.
