Application News (Photo:
Application News (Photo: Iggesund) Airline breakfast box The Swedish airline Malmö Aviation has recently launched new breakfast boxes made of Invercote Bio, a bioplasticscoated paperboard. The boxes save space on board, simplify handling and have a lower environmental impact than their plastic-based predecessors. In addition the bioplastic coated paperboard exhibits a very good structural stiffness compared to any pure plastics (or bioplastics) solution. The environmental impact is reduced because some members of the Invercote family of paperboard are certified compostable. The new breakfast boxes are the result of a long development process focusing on both functionality and user friendliness. Instigators of the development were the catering company PickNick (Bromma, Sweden), the converters Omikron (Jönköping, Sweden) and Malmö Aviation’s then project leader Annika Melin. The materials used in the boxes are the virgin fibre-based paperboards Invercote Bio from Iggesund Paperboard (Iggesund, Sweden). In a first step the box is made of Invercote Bio. In a later stage, the outer shell of the box will be made from conventional Invercote and a serving tray inside made of Invercote Bio to hold the fresh food. This tray will then be flow packed with a modified atmosphere to increase the food’s shelf life and help prevent fogging. The ingenious feature of Invercote Bio is that it is coated with bioplastic. Iggesund chose an extrusion coating version of a biobased Polyester by Novamont (Novara, Italy). This means that once the service is in full scale the tray will go into the same waste stream as the food scraps – they will all be sent directly to an anaerobic digestion plant to produce biogas without the need for prior sorting, just as PickNick has been doing with their food waste already in the past. ”The combination of paperboard and bioplastic which are certified compostable to European standards means that the new box functions well in today’s end-of-life systems and will continue to do so in future systems,” comments Jonas Adler, commercial manager of the Invercote Bio products from Iggesund. “Because the new breakfast boxes are smaller than our current ones, we can load far more onto each serving trolley,” explains Malin Olin, inflight and lounge manager for Malmö Aviation. “That saves weight and space on board and helps the environment. The boxes also have two parts, making them easier to use.” Omikron has been working with catering materials since the beginning of the 1980s. It was a natural choice for the company to work with Invercote and Invercote Bio. “This has been an exciting development project, not least because Malmö Aviation has consciously chosen to invest in both quality and the environment,” comments Tony Norén, CEO of the converters Omikron. “Being able to reduce the space required by half and also to greatly extend the food’s shelf life are interesting effects, while both the environmental and climate impact are also reduced.” “Increasingly organisations and individuals are thinking about the ‘end-of-life’ issue of many products in everyday use, and therefore the creation and disposal of waste. We believe bioplastics can provide part of the solution to certain aspects of this issue as they can be composted together with organic waste,” said Catia Bastioli, CEO of Novamont. MT www.malmoaviation.se www.picknick.nu www.iggesund.com 22 bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/12] Vol. 7
Application News New BPI certified hot cup President Packaging (Tainan City, Taiwan) has been offering PLA coated paper cups with great success for two years now. A new insulated hot cup from this company is Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) certified and warm to the touch, not hot, when filled with a hot beverage. The double-wall paper construction provides its own insulation and eliminates the need for an added outside sleeve for greater convenience and ease of use. The company reports that beverages stay warmer longer than in noninsulated paper hot cups. The leak barrier of the cups is provided by Ingeo PLA film from NatureWorks. Five sizes from 234 ml (8 oz.) to 709 ml (24 oz.) are available as are matching Ingeo lids. BPI certified products meet ASTM D6400 and are suitable for commercial/industrial composting facilities where they exist. “Ingeo is a product that enables our company to innovate for our customers in environmentally responsible ways,” said Jimmy Liu, export manager, President Packaging. “The utilization of this PLA resin, also helps further our corporate social responsibility goals.” “While PE lined cups are still the volume leader, an increasing number of coffee shops are moving to cups with higher quality and superior environmental credentials. These new cups add brand appeal and pull in business. Plus the excellent heat insulating properties and the rigidity when holding the cup gives the consumer the impression of a quality package for a quality product,” Jimmy said to bioplastics MAGAZINE. In addition, these cups that don’t need insulating sleeves eliminate the hassle of fitting sleeves to cups and reduces storage space requirements. MT www.ppi.com.tw www.natureworksllc.com organized by 17. - 19.10.2013 Messe Düsseldorf, Germany Bioplastics in Packaging Bioplastics Business Breakfast B 3 PLA, an Innovative Bioplastic Injection Moulding of Bioplastics Subject to changes Call for Papers now open www.bioplastics-breakfast.com Contact: Dr. Michael Thielen (info@bioplastics-magazine.com) At the World’s biggest trade show on plastics and rubber: K’2013 in Düsseldorf bioplastics will certainly play an important role again. On three days during the show from Oct 17 - 19, 2013 (!) biopolastics MAGAZINE will host a Bioplastics Business Breakfast: From 8 am to 12 noon the delegates get the chance to listen and discuss highclass presentations and benefit from a unique networking opportunity. The trade fair opens at 10 am. bioplastics MAGAZINE [05/12] Vol. 7 23
