According to a Pira report, RFID and printed electronics will have a big impact on the printing and publishing industries 
A little longer than 80 days perhaps, but UV-cure inkjet is circumnavigating the globe at its own accelerating pace. | Prospects for biodegradable packaging |
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| Written by Nikki Preston | |
Can biodegradable packaging really do the great disappearing act and help brand owners win over customers at the point of purchase, or is this new green concept really just a load of old rubbish? It is no wonder that consumers are snapping up terms such as “biodegradable” or “compostable” when stamped on packs because at first glance degradable packaging almost seems too good to be true. Who wouldn’t want to be seen as doing their part for the environment if it is as simple as purchasing a pack that, over time, completely degrades given the right conditions? It seems like the perfect solution.
However, the benefits of degradable packaging may not be so great in the long-run and could result in a load of over-rated hype that suppliers, brand owners and consumers are making far too much of rather than looking to recyclable materials.The problemIt is unsurprising that various governments and consumers are putting the pressure on brand owners to curb the level of waste produced. In the UK, 30 million tonnes of waste is produced annually; 40 per cent of this household waste, which ultimately ends up in landfill, originates from purchases from retail supermarkets and convenience stores, according to UK Government initiative Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). Staging a disappearing actOver the past ten years, terms such as “recyclable” or environmentally-friendly packaging or products have become almost a standard part of many packs and now degradable packaging is joining these proven methods. Both degradable and biodegradable plastics offer a feasible alternative to traditional materials when recycling is unpractical or uneconomical, or when the environmental impact has to be minimised. Synthetic degradable polyesters are made in modified polyethylene terephthalate (PET) polymerisation facilities from petrochemical feedstock. The main difference between synthetic degradable polymers and traditional petroleum-based polymers is they degrade in approximately 12 weeks as opposed to centuries. A number of UK retailers are looking to degradable polymers as a stepping-stone to biodegradable plastics and are converting to supermarket carry bags that contain these degradable additives. However, Biodegradable Plastics Institute Chief Executive Steve Mojo says synthetic biodegradable polyesters can be problematic and the term “degradable” is frowned upon on by the US Federal Trade Commission. He warns that some degradable additives can contain heavy metals and the small fragments can end up in water systems. Whereas around 87 per cent of biodegradable plastics are biodegradable polymers in the true sense and are made from completely natural renewable materials. These renewable biodegradable polymers give carbon dioxide and water back into the environment. The majority of biodegradable packaging is starch-based. Starch is totally biodegradable in a wide variety of environments and permits the development of totally degradable products for specific market demands. It is also inexpensive and available annually from corn and other crops such as wheat and potatoes. NatureWorks, a division of Cargill Dow, which was the first company to supply a commercially viable biopolymer to be derived from corn, harvests the carbon from corn that plants remove from the air during photosynthesis and store in grain starches. This is achieved by breaking down the starches into natural plant sugars. Starch-based packaging derived from raw material such as corn is therefore 100 per cent nature-based. Cellulose, derived from wooden fibres, is also a renewable source being utilised for plastic packaging. Some companies are either using it together with starch, or others, like Innovia Films, has developed a pack made solely from cellulose. Researchers are constantly looking at other natural materials to produce biodegradable polymers. For example researchers at Cornell University, in Atlanta, USA, are also developing a new plastic containing limonene oxide, which is a molecule found in orange peel. The limonene oxide liquid, carbon dioxide gas and the catalyst are combined to make a white powder, which can be melted into plastic products such as cups. The ultimate biodegradable package is one that composts in a relatively short amount of time such as one month. Mojo explains that biodegradation is the fundamental process but the term compostable refers to exactly how the material can be disposed. Many biopolymers will not degrade unless placed in a commercial system using a trigger like heat. However, compostable materials will compost together with other organic household and garden waste in a home compost system within three months. The BPI and the US Composting Council (USCC) have designed the logo system to certify and identify plastic products that will biodegrade and compost satisfactorily in actively managed compost facilities. A number of companies have had cutlery, bags and food packaging approved under this initiative and Mojo claims it is becoming a successful marketing tool: “Consumers are beginning to understand the benefits of compostable materials and they are starting to use our compostable logo as a sign.” The cost of being greenThe bottom-line factor for any successful company looking to adopt a new technology is money, followed by pressure. UK retailer Tesco is considering a range of environmentally-friendly packaging material for some of its own brand products. However, the retailer points out that the deciding factor in adopting such a pack comes down to what consumers want and how much they are prepared to pay for these packs. In the current packaging market, existing technologies such as traditional petroleum-based plastics have a massive backing and can already be produced at a large scale, unlike young technologies such as degradable and biodegradable packaging. At this stage there are a number of new polymers around that are not competitive for mass market and those that are can be around double the price of traditional polymers. According to a report by Novamont scientist Catia Bastioli on starch-based polymer composites, the price of bioplastics from a renewable source is decreasing and ranges e1.25–4.00 per kg. However, even at this cost the polymers are still at a major disadvantage to traditional polymers. Although composting avoids landfill tax due to landfill shortage, the final cost of biodegradable products is significantly higher. And for biodegradable packaging to be a success, a good composting infrastructure needs to be in place. The green appealFunding, retailer initiatives, green groups, rising oil prices in traditional plastic packaging and sustainable development are just some of the drivers for the growth of plastics and packaging that have a minimal impact on the environment. But new materials can be offset by clever marketing to appeal to the green- minded consumer to use as a tool that makes the product stand out at the point-of-purchase and gives it an additional and unique selling point. In the same way as governments, retailers and consumers have taken responsibility over the years to educate brand owners about recycling, the same needs to be done cautiously with biodegradable packaging. Tesco says that when introducing new technologies such as biodegradable packaging, the company has to take responsibility for educating the consumer about these products and what they do without misleading them. The source at Tesco claims there is often a disagreement between the marketing and packaging technicians as to how to promote green packaging without overselling the technology or misleading the consumer. Biodegradable films are still new and struggling to break into the market. The technology is appealing to niche and specific markets where the pack helps to better convey the natural image of their products. Innovia Film’s NatureFlex film is one example of a biodegradable film that has been commecialised with organic products for this reason. Carrefour in Belgium has commercialised a flow-wrap film to cover cardboard trays carrying organic produce. New York organic health food producer Raw Indulgence uses the flow-wrap to package its range of vegan Brownies. Raw Indulgence President Alice Bendetto says NatureFlex is consistent with the ethos of the product. The Heavenly Brownies are being sold in health food stores across the US and market penetration is growing rapidly. NatureWorks brand claims it also assists retailers and brand owners using its product in packaging to promote and educate consumers about the packaging: “NatureWorks has a strong public appeal so public relations can play a strong role in promotions for grocery retailers and brand owners. Based on our experience with marketing the product globally, we have created a range of point-of-purchase tools.” The current stateThe market for biodegradable plastics is growing slowly but steadily. The applications that require biodegradability account for about 75 per cent of sales at this stage. The production capacity of biodegradable plastics in 2003 was around 300,000 tonnes and the world consumption of these materials is only around 70,000–90,000 tonnes (two years shift capacity). Biodegradable materials have quite specific applications and target single-use packaging. Possible applications include bags, sacks, fast food tableware, industrial packaging, film, wrapping, laminated paper, food containers, mulch film, nursery pots, plant labels and cotton swabs. The food packaging sector is seen as a potentially large market for biodegradable packaging and in particular a number of outdoor summer events in 2006 are considering converting to biodegradable packaging, particularly for cold beverage cups. In June 2004 Planet Bluegrass, organisers of the Teluride Bluegrass Festival in Colorado, USA, served an estimated 41,000 meals with cups and serviceware made from NatureWorks PLA. As a result, 49 per cent of the waste was either composted or recycled and the organisers made a commitment to use serviceware made from NatureWorks at its six other festivals during the year. Degradable developmentsRetailers including Tesco and Co-op have both committed to converting to biodegradable bags as a way to do their part for the environment. The companies are promoting these bags to consumers as completely decomposing within three years as opposed to 100 years. The bags start to break down in as little as 60 days into bio-mass, water, carbon dioxide and mineral matter. EPI Environmental Technologies and Symphony Plastic Technologies are two major suppliers of these additives. Tesco uses EPI’s totally degradable plastic additive (TDPA) and Co-op uses Symphony Plastic Technologies d2w. EPI Environmental Technologies Account Executive Louis Hartley says: “Our TDPAs use clever chemistry. TDPAs have proven themselves in biometric testing, which was conducted recently at the University of Pisa, that they allow the degraded plastic pieces of plastic to ultimately biodegrade in a normal environment, in the presence of normal air and ambient temperature (heat) and with moisture. The micro-organisms consume these minute pieces, ultimately producing non-toxic carbon dioxide, water and some bi-product humus. These pieces will not biodegrade in a sterile environment or vacuum, but neither will anything else naturally biodegrade.” Symphony’s d2w technology can be added to products made from polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP). The company claims d2w also has the potential to degrade other plastics such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The company is yet to go into detailed research in this area. Symphony’s Chief Operating Officer Alan Blacher explains: “We know our additive can degrade PET, but we haven’t done enough homework to see if it is a viable alternative.” Global chemical company BASF supplies Ecoflex, a synthetically-based aliphatic aromatic copolyester that breaks down within weeks. The compound is available in 100 per cent form or can be blended to renewable resources to support degradability. Adding Ecoflex to natural renewable materials can increase the usability of food packaging. However, BASF will focus on blending Ecoflex with renewable resources such as starch, polylactic acid (PLA) and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) for new applications. BASF Head of Marketing Dietmar Huefel says: “These blends will be seen as a main growth factor in the near future because of attractive prices and a wide range of product properties that can be tailor-made from them.” Biodegradable developmentsBiodegradable plastics are still a relatively new, developing technology and have a long way to go in terms of additional functionality in order to compete against petroleum-based plastics. Both biodegradable material manufacturers and institutional researchers are in agreement that this material can and will be improved but this will take time. A new resin can take on average between two to three years to develop. Cargill Dow’s biodegradable polymer polylactic acid (PLA), derived from cornstarch, is the most widely commercialised and probably most mass-produced biodegradable material. PLA is sold under the NatureWork’s brand and because it is derived from annually renewable sources, it uses 20–25 per cent less fossil resources than standard petroleum-based plastics. Packaging companies and plastic companies using PLA to produce biodegradable packaging include Huhtamaki, RPC Bebo Nederlands and Extech Plastics. NatureWorks Communication Leader Mike O’Brien says the success of PLA is due to it performing as well as, or better than, incumbent materials; and it has the large-scale access to the raw materials and manufacturing base needed to compete on a cost basis. The primary applications for PLA is packaging for fresh food like produce, in-store delicatessen and cold drink beverages at venues. The biggest disadvantage of PLA is that it does not have a high temperature threshold, which limits its applications for hot food such as take-out and hot beverages. However, NatureWorks plans to build on its current technology platform in the hope of opening up additional markets. These additional functions include developing a heat-resistant grade and a microwaveable grade. O’Brien says NatureWorks is the only renewable-based polymer supplier with a recognised brand: “We will remain a market leader by continuing to invest in branding and co-branding initiatives with leading retailers and brand owners, and pursuing further process and manufacturing improvements.” Italian biodegradable polymer manufacturer Novamont Spa is another major supplier of biodegradable polymers. Novamont’s Mater-Bi technology is a material produced from corn, wheat and potato starch, and cellulose. Novamont currently supplies between 50–60 grades, used for a range of applications, including carry bags, nursery pots, cutlery, plates, fast food containers and knitted nets for produce. But the company claims it will double the number of grade available within the next two years. Novamont New Business Development Manager Stefano Facco says: “We are further developing vegetable-based materials for specific applications based on market needs.” These market requirements include providing good barriers to oxygen, water vapour, fats and alcohol, and giving better polarity. The Mater-Bi technology uses complex starch to obtain materials with different properties. Based on this technology, Novamont has developed sub-systems or new material resources, has low environmental impact, has a broad range of physical and mechanical properties and is compostable.Many technologies like film blowing, cast sheet extrusion, injection moulding, and foaming are covered by different Mater-Bi grades. But NatureWorks and Novamont are not the only parties trying to improve PLA. US-based NAT-UR has developed its own resin by combining PLA and Mater-Bi with other mixes. NAT-UR Chief Executive Officer Frederic Scheer says: “The advantages of the product is that it is cheap, heat-resistant and can reach fairly high processing speeds.” The temperature level of the products’ resistance to heat depends on the grade, but can be anywhere between 60–99°C. The entire range is aimed at single-use applications and includes cutlery, boxes and bags. NAT-UR supplies resins mainly to plastic converters in the US, but buys back the product to market it and sell to customers. However, the company eventually hopes that as the demand for biodegradable products grows, the converters will begin marketing the products under their own brands. Scheer says this is likely to be in two to three years. Another US company, EarthShell, is using a baking technology to develop biodegradable packaging made from a variety of renewable crops. EarthShell’s technology is an environmentally-friendly version of a polystyrene hamburger container. EarthShell’s packaging was initially developed from potato starch but the company has been working with the US Agriculture and Research Services (ARS) to find other raw materials that could be used in order to utilise the cheapest and the most available material at the time. The ARS has already developed a formula from cornstarch, which is currently going into production. The researchers are now concentrating on wheat. EarthShell’s technology combines simple, abundant, renewable materials, such as limestone and starch, into a material that, like leaves and grass, is 100 per cent biodegradable and recyclable through composting. Professor John Dorgan at Colorado School of Mines Chemical Engineering Department has also found that adding nano-sized wood fibres to PLA makes the material resistant to high temperatures and prevents it from melting. Dorgan says using nanotechnology in biodegradable packaging enables the composites to have a higher surface area for volume and allows the polymer to retain its transparency. UK headquartered Innovia Films, formally part of UCB Films, has developed its NatureFlex range of biodegradable films made solely from renewable wood pulp. The glossy transparent film is compostable and has a naturally high gas barrier. NatureFlex films comprise a transparent cellulose base film manufactured from sustainable wood pulp. By adding specially formulated biodegradable and compostable surface layers, Innovia Films controls the moisture permeability of the NatureFlex range to provide films ranging from highly permeable for fresh produce, which produce moisture to higher-barrier films for hygroscopic products. NatureFlex films are stiffer and more oriented than many biopolymers currently on the market, which makes them ideal for use in standard flow-wrap and form-fill-seal equipment for food packaging. Innovia Films acknowledges its film’s applications differ from the rigid biodegradable materials and the company has no plans to develop a rigid pack but will instead focus on improving the film’s resistance to moisture. Innovia Films Market Development Manager for Sustainable Technologies Andy Sweetman points to nanotechnology as one possible method of achieving this. Challenges facing biodegradable packagingBiodegradable packaging is not the answer to all plastic packaging solutions. In many central European countries such as Belgium, France, Spain and Italy, collection and recycling systems are proving hugely successful, and recycling systems are in full swing. Frank Koelewijn, Director General of Petcore, an organisation fostering the use and development of PET containers and facilitating PET recycling, believes using biodegradable materials in PET or as a replacement to PET would not offer anything more to European countries than recycling already does: “Biodegradable packaging is more suited to countries where the only solution to waste is landfilling it.” However, biodegradable packaging could offer a hassle-free solution for food packaging such as for take-out. Many states in the US are now requiring that food waste be diverted to compost facilities instead of landfill. The use of compostable bags, trays and packaging means that the pack could be disposed of the same way as the scraps. The main emphasis for large companies developing these materials has been in finding materials that could be substituted directly into existing converter equipment and processes. Materials such as PLA and biodegradable polyesters were developed to meet these requirements as they come in sheets or pellet form. Unfortunately, the materials are either petroleum derived (polyesters) or so removed from their origins that they require commercial composting conditions to biodegrade (PLA). The amount of energy used to actually process these materials has also been questioned in regards to how environmentally-friendly the technology is. While nanotechnology could improve the material’s performance characteristics, the jury is still out as to whether it is actually biodegradable. Compostable materials refer to those that can degrade in a natural environment and is the most environmentally- friendly package to date. However, the materials are yet to be produced at processing speeds sufficient for large quantities. Biodegradable products have been available for quite some time but usually at a much higher cost or reduced performance characteristics when measuring moisture or oxygen barrier properties, or even temperature resistance. The future of biodegradable packagingBiodegradable materials offer enormous potential for single-use packaging applications. And as the need for environmentally-friendly packaging continues to develop, the technology is improved and composting systems are implemented, there is likely to be an increase of biodegradable packaging on supermarket shelves. Cost and performance are the two main barriers to biodegradable packaging. The price is predicted to drop as demand for green packaging increases, but like all new technologies this takes time and willing investors. The performance functions of the materials are also being improved and achieving a heat-resistant pack with a high moisture barrier is proving possible. The question now regarding the availability of a high-performance biodegradable pack on the market is not “if” but “when”. The total target market for biodegradable plastics is forecast to be 500– 900,000 tonnes in 2005–07. Given that companies and communities are being given deadlines to curb the amount of waste produced, this new magical packaging could be appearing at a supermarket shelf and then disappearing in your garden compost within the next few years. Stand back, Houdini, because packaging scientists are rivalling your tricks – you maybe able to make a rabbit disappear but they can make a plastic pack decompose. N Takeaways• Biodegradable packaging is in essence still a form of recycling targeted at single-use cups. • In the UK alone, just under 15 million tonnes of household waste is produced annually. • Degradable polymers are acting as the go-between for retailers converting from traditional petroleum-based plastic to renewable biodegradable plastic packaging. • The majority of renewable biodegradable packaging is starch-based and derived from crops such as corn, potato and wheat. • Institutional researchers do the pioneering work to find new materials that can be used to develop new plastics. This includes orange peel, milk proteins and wood fibres. • Packages labelled “compostable” refers to the most environmentally-friendly form of plastic packaging and indicates that the pack will decompose in a compostable environment in a short timeframe, i.e. one month. • Biodegradable packaging is set to replace conventional plastic serviceware for outdoor events, in the first instance. • NatureWorks PLA and Novamont Mater-bi is being used alone and in conjunction with other blends by a number of global packaging manufacturers. • When pushing the green aspect of biodegradable packaging, retailers must take care not to oversell or mislead the packs functions to the consumer. • Nanotechnology can be applied to small wood fibres in order to improve the products performance features such as transparency, moisture and heat resistance. • Biodegradable packaging could decrease the level of sorting required in the recycling process as it degrades similarly to food scraps and could be put in the same composting system |
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