Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors presented by Atlantic Packaging
Join industry leaders, innovators, and changemakers as we explore the future of packaging through the lens of sustainability. Hosted by Cory Connors, an industry expert with over 25 years of experience, and presented by Atlantic Packaging, the leader in innovative sustainable solutions, we dive into what’s working (and what’s not) from cutting-edge materials to circular design strategies that can reduce waste and protect our planet.
Each episode blends real data, expert insights, and a dose of fun to help you stay informed and inspired. Whether you're in the packaging industry or simply passionate about sustainability, this podcast is your weekly go-to resource for making smarter, greener choices.
I'm here to help you make your packaging more sustainable! Reach out today and I'll get back to you asap.
This podcast is an independent production and the podcast production is an original work of the author. All rights of ownership and reproduction are retained—copyright 2022.
Welcome to Sustainable Packaging with Cory Connors. Today's guest is Jean Francois, the founder of Koor . How are you, sir? Yeah, I'm very good. Thank you. Thank you for taking your time to having me. I'm excited to, to talk about what you have invented here. This is a very unique and new, way of doing packaging and, it's reusable, which I think is awesome and refillable, and I think, that this is the way of the future. So let's talk about it. But first, tell us, how did you get here? How did you get into packaging and come up with this idea? Yeah, I've never worked in the packaging in the past. I always have been a process engineers engineer, so basically trying to improve processes. I've worked in different environments in a semiconductor, I've started to work with Motorola for Motorola, improving the processes to make processors. and then I worked in different things. And then when I saw what we are doing with plastics or more single use, packaging, I've, I thought it was not working well. It's, it's just crazy what we are doing. So I tried to improve it just for my own kids initially. but then, I'm trying now to develop it to make it a business to have a bigger impact. It looks great and it's a really cool idea. Tell us what core is before the show started, you told me what it stands for. I think the audience will enjoy that. The name Koor from, come from, the French World Courier, which mean running and it helps, my product helps my kids to eat quickly and go back, run and play. I can commiserate with that. Our kids like to run around and that, which is wonderful. That's what kids should do, right? It's great. Yeah. So it's a on the go product, it's easy to transport. It's, it's very versatile. It looks like it, it can replace many things. let's talk about, before we focus on your product, why is reusable packaging so important to a sustainable packaging future? Yeah. I think like you, you can see here what I've got here. that's a week worth of, yogurt pouches that I used to give to my kids. Yeah. because we like, we want something convenient, and we not. We are not ready to go back to something not as convenient as single use packaging. Right. But we need to find other ways. And innovation, I hope, can help to, have other ways to have something as convenient, but without the waste. Yeah. And that's. You've got here, like a week worth of one of my kids, packaging that they use for a few seconds, put that in my, in the, in that two seconds and put that in the bin and it becomes their norm. And we have to change that. That should not be their norm to just use plastics or any sort of packaging for a second and put that in a bin. It's not something we were doing when we were kids, but that's something that we educate our kids to do. And, yeah, good point. We didn't have single use as much. Right. That's very true. Yeah. That's just that, those packaging, those yogurt pouches , if you give that to your kids every day, it's three kilograms of, packaging that goes to landfill. They're not recyclable per year. Three kilograms. Wow. That's it. Yeah. And that times how many millions of children? Yeah. Or people. Yeah. It's fun. Adults are doing the same. I'm seeing adult versions of these, yep. yogurts and, applesauce packs, come into the market, which are very popular. even protein packed and things like that. Yeah. I saw one the other day for dogs. Yoga for dogs. So they give that to the dogs in two seconds probably, and I put that in, in, so, and they increase by 10% every year. Year on year. There's, they're more and more popular and, yeah. Wonderful. Well, I think that you've established the why and Oh yeah. let's talk about the how, what is core and how does it work? Yeah, no. so basically I was trying to find another type of container to put to take my homemade yogurt to school. Basically, that's how it started, and I buy on Amazon a big syringe like this. Big, he's holding a large plastic syringe. Yeah. That looks like something in the, maybe in the medical field or cooking Yeah. Would be used. Yeah. So I put in my yogurt, I stuck in the yogurt, and I just realized, oh, I've got a good container. but it's way too big to put in the lunchbox. So I've, this changed the design and I've added a hinge. Sorry for the people that are just listening, but you may be able to maybe have a look on the YouTube video, but yeah, there's a hinge and I've designed that cap here that just flow in one second. So it's a refillable syringe basically. it is, yeah. It combines two, two things. Wonder, basically the use of a syringe, because a syringe you can dose nicely and you can extract all the products. I'm gonna show you later with Nic, for example. And a bottle, because it's convenient. You can just open and drink from that quickly. So it's a mix of those two things. Great idea. Very innovative. Thank you. So how to use it, you can just, put it in the product you want to refill. So that's apple sauce for, so you put it in it and you just suck in the product. You have to remove the, just the. If you put a bit more Yeah. And then you, oh, access. Yeah. Access a lot. And you can just close it. You can also use it with honey, always honey is always a bit messy to use With the spoon. but with that, as it's a syringe, you can just dose very nicely how much, you need, and it's mess free. What a great idea. You could even maybe put lines on the side to show does it have that to show like a volumetric measurements, not this version, the next version. We love that. You're right. That's one of the features that my initial customer came back with me. another thing is, those type of, honey squeeze bottle You always leave like a few percent inside. You cannot extract all of it, but with Koor you can just extract it all because it's with the, it's got the o ring that can push all the product out. So that's probably one of the packaging that goes the, got the best, performance in term of extracting all the products. What a smart innovation. Yeah. Something else we can do is buying, for example, tomato sauce in bulk so it's not expensive. And then put, transfer it into a cool like this that's got tomato sauce if you're going camping or if you're going for picnic or even at home every day. It's quite convenient. so that's another way to do it. I've discovered other things like, for shampoo, you can go from this single use, packaging to a refillable option. Same with sunscreen, or this one's got, this one is, moisturized. So it's all the same kind of concept, not just food. So anything that's a, a lotion, k kind of texture, like a condiment or, any kind of Yep. hair care or, shampoo, conditioner. Yeah. And then you just change the label and it's a new product. What a wonderful idea. Yeah. I have an, I'm working in Australia with a company that wants to use it for, glue and paint as well. That could be another way to do it. That makes sense.'cause you need to reseal the top when you're done with the glue or the paint or it'll dry out. Yeah. Wow. Great idea. So I, I shown you one way to, to, refill it is directly from the jar. Another way here I designed, Very low tech refill station, which is this here, and it's just a bag in a box with a connector here that can just connect to it and refill it just by using the built in pump.'cause basically it's that you've got in some. So it, what you're showing us is a bag in a box with a valve on the bottom of the box. And it's just, propped up on a crate right now. But I think that is a brilliant idea. Maybe even use it in the store. You could bring in your core, containers and, you could refill what a neat concept. Yeah. It's very low cost, low tech. you may have seen some of the refill stations that got an LCD display and all those things that are great, but there's a cost to that. But, and also some, in some stores, they don't have access to electricity that easy. Right. With that, not in much just a. As you can see here, it's nothing really gravity fed, right? yeah, exactly. And another solution is this refill, automatic refill station here. So there's a pump in a bigger container, and the pump that push the product directly, into core, as you can see here, and it's refill. that's a great idea. Yeah, so it doesn't take much as well. It's just a pump. and you can have a bigger container that maybe can be sent back to the industrial to be clean and refilled. And with this system plus this, if you bring it back to the store every time you've got a fully circular, two circular systems, one at home, go back to the shop and from the shop to the industrial place. Great idea. I feel like that would be really smart for a restaurant. I think of, ketchup and mustard and, mayonnaise, that goes onto the counter for, each table, in the back. I used to work in a restaurant in refilling the ketchup was always an interesting challenge. Yeah. that's funny. you're talking about that I'm working with a restaurant and they made a. They say they spend, well, they waste, I don't know how to say that, but basically they use 150,000, squeeze bottles of ketchup, maise mustard, and barbecue sauce, 150,000 per year. They've got 25 restaurants, and that's it. Imagine how many. Many restaurants are in the world that are doing the same thing. Yeah. we can change that and it'll save money and it'll save plastics as well because it takes time to refill those, the way you do it now. Right. Where it's a challenge.'cause they, nobody's made you, you've solved the problem here. I think that a lot of people have. Well done. Okay. Good. So another feature that I would like to mention is, all the parts are repairable. So I've designed everything to be able to be exchanged quite quickly like this. So you can remove those four parts and get them, get, a spare part that you can buy from the website. And basically the idea is to not, put in the bin the whole product, but just the part that has been broken or maybe wor out. and that's, yeah, that's another feature that I think is, was important for me and the values I'm trying to push. Is it dishwasher safe? It is dishwasher safe? Yeah, it's a virgin polypropylene for now. And you can put that, yeah, that's, that was a good question. I haven't told that. But you can disassemble it and you put that the barrel in the bottom part of the dishwasher and that's on the top part, and then you put it together and it's ready for another day. That was another feature. I didn't want to spend time cleaning stuff. just, yeah. As a dad, I'm busy as well, and I'm. I don't want to watch things. Yes. So that was a feature I wanted to have as well. Oh, I love it. Well done. Well done. So how do we buy these things? Are they on your website right now or, yeah, they're on my website. the website is Core Life Soko. It's KOOR life, LIFE. But I'm looking for partners in the US or a bit everywhere in the world to distribute my product. And also I'm looking for partners, distributors, or industrial to help me develop this, invention into a successful business commercially, but also to try to have a big impact and reducing plastics and maybe helping families to buy in bulk and saving them a bit of money, in the way. What a great concept. Yeah. And I think you could even team up with, bulk packaging, bulk packaged items, producers and and say, put a QR code on there. Said, Hey, buy these and you can easily, package up this item in a smaller amount. That, that's a good point as well. And it's, you can reach out the amount you want and, it can be something important for in some develop, developing countries. you may have heard about those sache, the little sache they use in India. Yes. And so it's, I think it's just two from three to six grams. Of Shampoo, that you buy in single serve. And, and the reason, from what I understand is because people don't have the money to buy the whole bottle, so they buy the single serve. Right. But with my, they could just buy the amount they can afford. And come back the next day and refill. So with this system and I'm in contact with big brands like Giants that are interested in this feature as well, to try to solve the problem of the sache that they've got in, especially I think India, Indonesia, and some other countries. Yeah, it's a global issue. a lot of people aren't able to buy a whole bottle and just can only afford, one or two units or whatever you wanna call it, of, shampoo or soap. And so I think this solves a real problem there. Well done. Thank you. Because that waste is very difficult to recycle, even if it's, even if it's recyclable, everything's collected. It's a nightmare. Yes. Well, thank you sir. I would like to mention we still have a bit of time. Yeah, of course. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't done it, intentionally, but, I'm an engineer, I'm not a salesperson, so I was trying to practice my pitch and I was going to those pitch nights, where you're trying to explain your product. I hope I've done a good job today, though. I'm still practicing the best. but over there, there was a lady in the wheelchair and she was, she had a cerebral palsy, so it means, movements are bit, she cannot control movements really. And she looked at my, my product and she opened it like this and she closed it. She looked at me and she said, it's the first time I can open my own bottle.'cause she cannot twist, Right. And so from that I say, oh yeah, that could help people. And since then I had few, users that came back to me and said, oh, it helps me for that. I tell me for this. And one of them is a lady, she's a quadriplegic. And she's got now on the stand like this, and she can drink from that directly. Wow. She doesn't need to fed by someone else. She doesn't need to ask someone to fed her. She can drink directly at the, at her own pace. so that's wonderful. It's something I haven't really planned, but, apparently it can help, can help people. same thing with people with dysphagia, the. They, it's safer to, for them to eat with the chin down, for example. but when you drink like this, your chin is up. But with core, they can drink like this or they can drink with the angle that make them sa safe and comfortable. So it's not as well that I would like to explore. And there are millions of people with these kinds of issues that need assistance daily or, and I think what you've done is a great service. Well, I hope, but, yeah, that's why I need some distributor partners to help me to go to the next level and make this, great. Yeah. Make bigger. Yeah. Well, hopefully this show, introduces you to the right person and you get this thing launched in a huge way. I wish you all the best, sir. Thank you very much. Yeah, thanks for being on. Really appreciate it. And we'll talk soon. Thank you. Bye.
