The fast pace of modern life has made food and beverage packaging essential for all of us, from that take-out coffee in the morning to the sandwich we buy for lunch, and maybe our evening meal too.
We consume so much packaging material that it has become a considerable part of the overall packaging industry.
Sadly, most food packaging still uses unsustainable materials such as composites of extrusion polymers like LDPE.
Materials such as LDPE do a good job at protecting the food inside the package while keeping essential functions like oil/ grease resistance and moisture resistance.
But they are difficult to recycle economically. So most PE-extruded packaging ends up going to land fill, where it can take 500 -1000 years to degrade. Just think how harmful that is to the long-term health of our planet.
At DSM, our mission is to create products that will enable safe and sustainable food and beverage packaging for many years to come.
Our portfolio of barrier resins offer a recycle able alternative to LDPE coatings. Our multi-functional resins are easy to formulate and are resistant to water (WVTR & COBB*), grease, oil and moisture. Also, they are easy to re-pulp, with almost all the fibre being recovered.
DSM offers a fast and easy transition from PE laminated stock, and with no loss in performance whatsoever, that can be used on existing machinery.
As the world moves towards packaging that’s kinder to the planet, we’re all looking for more sustainable alternatives, especially when it comes to packaging like PE laminates, which are often difficult to recycle.
When you use DSM’s dispersible barrier coatings, repulping stock requires no extra processing. This increases the value of the waste stream and also brings environmental benefits when the final packaging comes to be disposed of.
DSM resins can be applied at the same stage of your dispersion coating process using existing machinery and your own tried and tested processes, so there’s no loss in throughput whatsoever.
More importantly, you can be sure that DSM barrier coatings match, and often exceed, traditional coatings in terms of resistance to water (WVTR & COBB), grease, oil, moisture and heat and they work perfectly fine for functions like heat seal and reworkability. So they give you everything you would expect of a performance product, but with the reassurance of knowing your products are helping protect the environment.
Creating recyclable coatings needn’t be expensive or time consuming. DSM’s know-how and products can help you reduce the number of components used during the formulation process whilst maintaining performance throughout.
Where any formulation adjustments are required for specific line machinery or manufacturing requirements, we can help make this simpler too.
From beginning to end, we can help make starting-up faster while also decreasing production waste and scrap costs compared to PE laminates.
Our global scale and reach means we are best placed to keep you up to date with the latest innovations, trends and market news. So, you can be market-ready for the latest products, often before they’re launched.
In tests and live in the field, products created using DSM resins have shown to be equally as effective as those made with traditional, less eco-friendly materials. Our stringent testing procedures ensure that all our products offer a high level of performance.
The amount of water the surface of the material can take up in a certain time is measured by the Cobb test.
A sample of water is placed on the top of a beaker containing water. Then the beaker is flipped so the water comes in contact with the material. At specific time intervals, the sample’s weight is determined.
Results from the Cobb test show that board (especially boxboard made from recycled fiber) is extremely sensitive to atmospheric humidity and must be stored at a maximum of 50% relative humidity, which often means using air-conditioned warehouses. This is because water-damaged board will bend and become unsuitable for printing or box manufacture.
All our MVTR / WVTR tests are conducted using MOCON technology which delivers extremely accurate results by combining precision temperature and humidity control with highly-sensitive sensors.
Water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) tells us how much moisture is able to pass from a material’s interior surface to the outside.
This is determined at specified conditions of temperature and relative humidity, and expressed as grams per square meter per day: g/m2 /24hr (ASTM F 1249 at 38°C and 90% RH, BS 3177 at 25°C and 75% RH, DIN 53122 at 23°C and 85% RH).
Cobb Sizing Tester determines the amount of water absorbed by paper, cardboard, corrugated fiberboard, paperboard, in a specified time under standardized conditions. The levels of water absorption help evaluate various characteristics of paper (such as sizing, porosity, etc.).
This refers to the capability of used paper, including in-plant and post-consumer waste paper and paperboard, to be processed into new paper or paperboard.
This refers to the capability of material to be re-wetted and fiberized to form new sheets.
Is the minimum temperature needed for a proper seal at given times and pressures. This is normally expressed in °C and may refer to the machinery used to carry out this test e.g. Otto Brugger.
Is the maximum and minimum temperatures between which proper seals can be formed on packaging, expressed as a range of °C. Optimal seal windows often refer to the running speed of the film on production line. This range normally becomes narrower – and seal temperatures higher – as line speed increases. You may see seal windows described in terms of branded machinery.
Is the maximum force needed to tear a specified width of a seal. It is expressed as force per width e.g. N/25mm.
Any grease leakage will eventually cause dark spots on the outer layer of the paper or board. However, grease resistance can be improved by the degree of grinding of the fibers and coatings used.
There are several tests that will determine the grease resistance of board. One of these is the Kit test. In this test, a drop of fluid is put on the side of the board. The composition of the fluid corresponds to a certain Kit value. This means that the time it takes for spots to appear on the board can be measured, and subsequently correlated into a measurement of a material’s grease resistance.
Kit test data and results are available for all DSM resins.
Foods with a poor odour experience can represent an economic and health challenge to the manufacturer.
With our resins, we have reduced the residual monomer levels to the lowest point possible to make any odours present in packaging as neutral possible.
This means the end consumer can enjoy the food or beverage experience as the manufacturer intended.
