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The past year has seen plenty of interesting and significant developments in green packaging materials -in the world of bioplastics, the innovative use of recycled materials, unique bio-lacquers to protect metal food packaging and much more besides. Victoria Hattersley looks at just some recent stories.
The creation of packaging materials with both sustainable credentials and improved levels of functionality is a major focus for every sector of the industry today. And with a new EU Packaging Directive stating that producers are responsible for ensuring that 'packaging is not excessive for the purpose intended and is suitable for recycling, energy recovery or composting', the pressure is on to ensure that waste minimisation and recovery should be built into all materials used to ensure resource efficiency.
Multilayering and enhanced barrier properties
Bioplastics continue to be an exciting area for growth, with functionality improving all the time. In the past, for example, we may have seen bioplastics that performed in a similar way to conventional plastics but could not withstand high temperatures. There were also issues with meeting requirements regarding barrier properties. Neither of these are necessarily the case now, as we shall see.
One example of a relatively recent trend in this area, according to Kristy-Barbara Lange, head of communication at European Bioplastics, is multilayering. "This is a trend that is now not only applicable to the conventional plastics sector."
For example, the leading bioplastic producer Braskem SA, in collaboration with DuPont, has been working on the development of renewable source co-extrudable adhesives to increase the barrier performance for multilayer packaging, which is useful for coffee cups amongst other things.
Innovia's compostable multi-layer coffee packaging solution, featuring a cellulose based barrier film and a metallised outer shell, is a good illustration of how this trend is influencing product development. Innovia has been working with a number of partners and co-suppliers to develop complex laminate structures that are not only compostable, but can also provide the oxygen and moisture vapour barriers required for coffee packaging. Using the company's NatureFlex range of films, the solution involves a printable, transparent film barrier, followed by a metallised high barrier layer and then a bio-polymer sealant layer.
Increased use of Green PE
The bioplastics specialist FKuR has also presented some innovative new packaging solutions over the past year. Its tailor-made compounds under the brand name Terralene enable products sensitive to moisture and oxygen to be packaged in bioplastics while extending their shelf life considerably. Terralene is based on Green PE from Braskem - the largest petrochemical producer in the Americas - the ethylene used to make which is not derived from crude oil but from renewable resource sugarcane.
In this way, Terralene and Green PE can make a valuable contribution to the conservation of fossil resources. Furthermore, packaging made from these solutions is fully recyclable after use in existing polyethylene recycling streams.
Ms Lange tells us: "Compostable coffee capsules are also a product several bioplastic producers have started to make. Even the aluminium capsule used by Nespresso could be substituted now - a technically at least equally performing option is there and our members BASF, API, Corbion and Biotec have already been looking into this."
Braskem's Green PE has also found its uses in other areas. For example this year, international polythene distribution company Resin Trade Ltd selected polythene bag manufacturer Duo UK to be the first UK-based manufacturer to produce mailing bags using this material. It means Duo can now offer its customers a product which is 100 per cent recyclable and created from 100 per cent recyclable materials.
According to Anthony Brimelow, Duo's commercial director, "What is particularly impressive about Green PE is its environmental credentials extend all the way down the production chain. Meanwhile, from a manufacturing point of view, we can use the same processes and machinery we use to create standard polythene products.
Major investment
Whilst Brazil-based Braskem, and the Americas in general, are still leading the way when it comes bioplastics development and production, more and more European companies are beginning to catch up. In June 2014 Matrìca, a company sent up in 2011 through a 50:50 joint venture between the EU bioplastics producer Novamont and ENI Versalis, opened a new green chemistry plant in Porto Torres, Italy. This new 'third-generation' biorefinery will produce biodegradable chemical intermediates and bioplastics from low-impact agricultural crops (thistle, in particular).
Andrea de Stefano, director Special Projects at Matrìca, told Packaging Europe: "Matrìca represents a huge opportunity for the European economy. It is the first biorefinery plant in the continent for biochemicals. Matrìca will offer a range of plasticisers for PVC, as well as an innovative type of bio-extender oil for elastomers. These will offer a high-performance, non-toxic, eco-sustainable alternative to traditional plasticisers (phthalates). These are able to achieve excellent plasticisation and guarantee exceptional thermal stability.
"The main application field for Matrìca's range of plasticisers is the flexible PVC sector, along with other types of polymers such as NBR, SBS and ABS. The Matrìca process for the transformation of vegetable oils into mono and dicarboxylic acids and esters makes it possible to obtain high-purity products and to combine renewability and high performance."
Innovative metal packaging solution
Elsewhere, we have been seeing a surprising new use for by-products of the humble tomato. According to the British Tomato Growers' Association, only three other fruits - bananas, apples and oranges - are eaten in higher quantities. With this in mind, some European companies have been looking into ways to utilise tomato waste in packaging. The result is the BIOCOPAC programme (Development of bio-based coating into tomato processing wastes intended for metal packaging), set up to develop a range of bio-based tin can lacquers. The lacquers will be complicit with EU Directive 2008/98/EC, meaning they will be produced using waste management practices that are not harmful to the environment or human health.
At the core of the BIOCOPAC programme is the creation of lacquers incorporating tomato skins that can be applied to the inside and outside of foodstuff cans. Its participants believe that the packaging they produce will raise the quality of metal cans in general, resulting in fewer plastic containers being used and boosting competition among metal packaging SMEs. It is also hoped that it will promote further recycling - already higher in metals than with other materials. And there are also the safety considerations to bear in mind.
According to project coordinator Angela Montanari, "The lacquers currently used for cans are based on synthetic resins, mostly epoxy resins. However, in recent years those synthetic lacquers have been the subject of several alarms owing to the problems of migration of residues of polymerisation, monomers, oligomers and plasticisers added to the lacquering system or other additives. With Biocopac, which involves a natural lacquer, we want to avoid the problems of contamination from synthetic substances in foods and increase the sustainability of metal packaging."
The consortium is led by Italy's SSICA (Stazione Sperimentale per l'Industria delle Conserve Alimentari) group. Its researchers are employing eco-friendly extraction techniques to separate bio-resin known as 'cutin' from tomato peel. In order for this work to proceed further, tests are being carried out to validate the extracted materials as suitable for use in canned food packaging. The expected time to market of this solution is about two years, although there are still some challenges to be faced in terms of optimising the formulation of the biolacquer in order to achieve identical performance to traditional lacquers.
Compostable papers for packaging
In the area of paper packaging, Sappi Fine Paper Europe has become the first and only paper producer to offer home compostable papers for packaging. AlgroNature is a one-side coated, glossy paper and Leine Nature is its uncoated equivalent. Both use vegetable-based coating ingredients instead of traditional paper / oil-based materials. This reduces the papers' environmental impact and carbon footprint. They can be used in applications such as confectionery or snack wrappers, soup pouches, sugar sachets, pharmaceutical sachets and so on.
To show end users the possibilities of these papers, both Innovia Films and Sappi have developed sample structures. Their first pack development was a stand-up pouch which received a lot of interest at the various exhibitions at which it has been displayed.
Plastic from the sea
Finally, the Belgian company Ecover has found a novel way to gather used plastics for its cleaning product packaging. With an estimated 46,000 pieces of rubbish floating in every square mile of the ocean, the company has taken the decision to make its new product, the Ocean Bottle, from plastics taken directly from the sea. The company has teamed up with Logiplaste to create the packaging, which will be made from sugarcane and recycled plastic.
The waste will be retrieved by fishermen and brought into collection areas or it will rely on boats fitted with special equipment to trawl the sea for waste. To begin with, each bottle will be made from 10 per cent ocean plastic waste but it is hoped that this number will rise significantly in the future. With this new material concept, Ecover is hoping to draw attention to the major problem of plastic pollution in our waterways.
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