GERMANY – Global provider of printing inks and coatings for packaging applications and labels, Siegwerk has partnered with Henkel to develop oxygen barrier coating for food packaging.
The latest product will help produce flexible packaging from a single material that is simpler to recycle and helps to fasten the shift to a circular economy.
Both firms will launch the solution in North America and Europe and introduce it at two K-Fair in Düsseldorf and Pack Expo in Chicago.
Henkel and Siegwerk worked together to create a barrier solution for flexible packaging without compromising shelf life.
The industrially validated oxygen barrier coating enables mono-material flexible packaging for dry food products, making the recycling process easy.
APR (Association of Plastics Recyclers) Critical Guidance recently recognized the product’s compatibility with recycling.
Both Henkel and Siegwerk develop new technologies and enter into new collaborations to help achieve a circular economy.
In related news, Hubergroup Print Solutions launched a similar product (HYDRO-LAC GA Oxygen Barrier Coating) in March this year.
HYDRO-LAC GA Oxygen Barrier Coating can be applied between a film laminate made of the same material as the pack itself, allowing for mono-material flexible packaging that can be recycled more easily where infrastructure exists.
Dr. Ralf Büscher, senior expert projects flexible packaging at Hubergroup, explains: “Conventional flexible food packaging often consists of several laminated film layers of different chemical natures. Each fulfills a specific function – one of which is the protection against oxygen.
“However, packaging that consists of several plastics cannot be recycled at all or only with great effort.”
Hubergroup’s oxygen barrier coating can be applied with a film laminate made of the same polymer, usually polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene (PE), as the packaging itself.
This allows the flexible packaging to be mono-material overall and thus offers a more recyclable solution.
In addition, the oxygen transmission rate (OTR) of the barrier coating is reportedly less than 10 cubic centimeters of oxygen per square meter, which can be achieved under industrial conditions when using PP.
This means that Hubergroup’s oxygen barrier can be used for oxygen-sensitive foods such as muesli or nuts.
Dr. Lutz Frischmann, global product director of flexible packaging at Hubergroup, said: “Through innovative solutions such as our new barrier coating, we can contribute to a circular economy together with our customers.”
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