After pioneering new and sustainable drinking bottle products, local company Frugalpac has received the Innovation Award, sponsored by University of Suffolk, at this year's EADT Business Awards.

Frugalpac is a sustainable packaging company headquartered in Ipswich that creates and supplies recycled paper-based products with a low carbon footprint that can easily be recycled again and therefore don’t need to be sent to landfill.

Its first product was the Frugal Cup, the world’s only recyclable beverage and food cup made from 96% recycled paper, using 60% less carbon than normal paper cups.

Next, the business launched the Frugal Bottle in June 2020, the world’s first commercially available paper bottle for wine, spirits and olive oil.

Made from 94% recycled paperboard with a food grade pouch to hold the liquid and weighing just 83g, the Frugal Bottle is five times lighter than glass bottles.

An independent life cycle analysis by Intertek, commissioned by Frugalpac, found that Frugal Bottles also have a carbon footprint up to six times lower than a glass bottle and it uses up to 77% less plastic than a plastic bottle.

The judges praised Frugalpac’s “game-changing approach to the drink bottling industry” and said the business had demonstrated “very strong leadership and clear direction”.

They added that Frugalpac had provided some “great examples of innovative thinking in overcoming early challenges and adapting the model to new solutions”, and concluded by saying that Frugalpac is “a very strong contender”.

When asked how it felt to win the Innovation Award, product director at Frugalpac John-Paul Grogran said he was “shocked to be honest!”

“It is for the team really,” he said. “We’ve got lots of guys who work really hard and this has been building for a long time. It’s nice to see the awards coming in and to get one locally is brilliant. It’s a better validation for the work we’ve put in.”

Operations and quality manager Elliot Leeder said that, looking to the business’ future, “there’s going to be paper bottles everywhere, we’re going to take over the world!”

“We’re hoping to see more and more of our bottles in supermarkets and get bigger and bigger brands involved,” he concluded.

About the sponsor

The University of Suffolk in Ipswich is a transformational university absorbing the best of university traditions and aligning them to a 21st century audience, relevant to a modern world of employment and entrepreneurship.

The university is dedicated to championing innovation in everything it does, from how the staff teach, to its research and enterprise activities and the impact that both of these have on the local community and further afield.

The finalists

6 Alpha Associates

6 Alpha Associates in Woolpit, near Bury St Edmunds, is a market leader in unexploded ordnance risk management and explosives ordnance disposal, operating primarily in the construction and civil engineering sub-surface sectors.

The judges commended 6 Alpha’s commitment to excellence and said it has “a crystal-clear vision, a rocksolid mission and an inspiring and dedicated leader”.

Associated Asphalt Contracting

Based in Bury St Edmunds, Associated Asphalt Contracting is a surfacing and civil engineering business offering comprehensive solutions to the highways, airfields and road construction sectors.

The judges said that they could see that Associated Asphalt Contracting “never stops innovating and looking at new ways to solve old problems – even outside its core industry”.

Roadfill

Roadfill is a civil engineering firm based in Haverhill that takes low melt waste polymers, which would otherwise be placed in landfill, and repurposes them into an asphalt filler material to reduce the bitumen required in road repairs.

The judges said Roadfill offers “a unique solution to a perennial problem” and praised it for “overcoming significant resistance in its own industry”.

To find out more about all the winners, please click here.

For more on the EADT Business Awards, please visit the website.