Films | Flexibles | Bags
Films | Flexibles | Bags Machinery for BoPLA from the USA Parkinson Technologies from Woonsocket, Rhode Island, USA touted its recent developments producing biaxially oriented film and sheet made with Ingeo TM biopolymers from NatureWorks at the K’2010 trade fair in Düsseldorf. Parkinson’s Marshall & Williams Plastics brand is listed on the NatureWorks web site as a preferred partner for providing machinery for producing biaxially oriented film made with Ingeo PLA. Parkinson has worked with NatureWorks as far back as 1996. “We have assisted NatureWorks with development trials over the years,” said Ken Forziati, Business Development Manager at Parkinson Technologies. “Those trials have led to the development of guidelines for successfully processing Ingeo biopolymers on biaxial film lines.” As a result, says Forziati, many leading brand owners who are working with PLA are using Marshall & Williams machinery. These companies are producing films that are being used in commercially available products such as snack food packaging, ‘window film’ for envelopes and food packaging for bread and pasta, cosmetics ‘folding cartons’, and other flexible packaging. A Growing Trend Since 2007, Parkinson has seen the number of biopolymer lab trials more than triple as companies pursue biax film development using Ingeo and other biopolymers. “Not only have we seen a dramatic increase in lab trials for biopolymers, we have also seen an increase in sales for biopolymer-specific machinery,” said Forziati. “What began mostly as interest in proving out biopolymer processing concepts has evolved into machinery inquiries and purchases for real-world commercial applications.” Forziati went on to say that this may be indicative of a ‘higher level of confidence’ by processors that real markets exist for bioplastic products MT www.parkinsontechnologies.com 26 bioplastics MAGAZINE [06/10] Vol. 5
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