AUSTRIA – Vienna-based chemical company, Borealis has introduced a new high-barrier polypropylene (PP) monomaterial pouch for dry food packaging.
This cost-effective packaging alternative was displayed during the European exhibition and conference Plastics Recycling Show Europe, currently underway in Amsterdam.
Developed in collaboration with value chain partners, this more sustainable high-barrier packaging format offers a range of benefits for the blown and cast film extrusion processes as well as for brand owners and end consumers.
As a monomaterial PP packaging format, it can help meet ambitious recycling and waste reduction targets outlined in the EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) as well as eco-modulation criteria for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs.
It also adheres to the commonly accepted ‘Circular Economy for Flexible Packaging’ definition as the pouches are ‘fully compatible to mechanical recycling PP’, Borealis claimed.
Borealis Consumer Products’ global commercial director Peter Voortmans said: “In reinventing essentials for sustainable living, we aim to uphold the integrity and quality of packaging materials while ensuring that these convenient formats are more and more circular.
“We are very proud of this value chain collaboration. It equips our partners and customers with yet another viable and more sustainable solution to help manage the updated requirements of the PPWR.”
Using conventional adhesion lamination structures, producers have previously been able to obtain pouch laminate materials containing approximately 90% PP.
Leveraging expertise from all of their industry partners, Borealis’ new pouches have been made using more than 95% of PP, which also demonstrates its seal strength and hermetic sealing characteristics.
According to Borealis, when the monomaterial solution is processed within specific mechanical recycling streams for PP, it delivers greater volumes of ‘recyclate’, which is suitable for use in non-food and other flexible PP packaging purposes.
The new sustainable high-barrier packaging is mainly used for preserving and protecting food products that are sensitive to light, aroma, oxygen, and moisture.
Using high-barrier solutions ensures a longer shelf life, which eventually contributes to minimizing food wastage.
Last month, the company partnered with Kenyan waste management company Ecopost to scale up the collection and recycling of plastic waste in the country.
Under the agreement, Borealis will provide funding for Ecopost’s activities to boost waste recycling in Kenya and to promote a circular economy in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
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