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Additives / Masterbatches PBS masterbatches Functional, compostable, sustainable - helping to reinvent bioplastics With a look at the new Circular Economy Action Plan as one of the main pillars of the European Green Deal flexible package design is at the top of the list for urgent improvements. And compostable bioplastics may provide the answer because they help divert organic waste from landfills besides keeping the high valuable materials in the loop. The use of sustainably sourced, biobased virgin material may play a crucial and decisive role in this effort, especially when talking about the packaging required for food contact approval. With the 2023 deadline for bio-waste collection already in mind, Sukano, (Schindellegi, Switzerland) is already working closely with stakeholders across the chain to find ways to avoid plastic contamination of soil. At Sukano #wearepartofthesolution and proud to have embarked on the journey toward sustainable bioplastics from the beginning. After initially offering functional and coloured PLA based masterbatches, the company recently increased its portfolio to also include bio-PBS masterbatches. The PBS-based masterbatches strengthen the revolutionary bio-PBS resin and its blends, thanks to their two-fold bio properties. This makes their end applications suitable for food packaging and provides home and industrial compostability end of life options to consumers – all while retaining (and even upgrading) a brand’s environmental credentials. The best way to ensure the sustainability of food packaging is to allow it to be composted together with separately collected biowaste. Compost from separately collected bio-waste is an extremely valuable soil improver and nutrient supplier, and it plays an important role in a circular economy by closing the organic cycle. Allowing the packaging to be composted with the biowaste removes several time and resource-consuming steps in the process. PBS is seen as a highly desired biodegradable alternative to other conventional plastics because it is naturally compostable into water, carbon dioxide and biomass at 30 °C, either in a composting facility or at home. Core end market applications Replacing PE coatings in paper cups is one of the main targets of PBS resins or blends. The thin oil-based coating negatively impacts the biodegradation process of the paper, making it almost impossible to biodegrade, especially when both sides of the cup are coated. Sukano’s masterbatches have been designed to make applications for food contact at up to 100 °C a reality. This high service temperature performance means it is suitable for hot beverages, boxes and utensils for freshly cooked food and food containers. Since typical flexible packaging is based on dry lamination of many layers, where each layer has a predefined role of its own, SUKANO PBS ® masterbatches can be used in combination with neat bio-PBS to create a blend of resins that have a superior compostable sealing performance compared to other bioplastics, provide a higher gas barrier than low density PE, and retain the aroma of the packaged product longer. SUKANO PBS ® based masterbatches are also specially formulated not to interfere with transparency, allowing the content of dry, baked and frozen foods, fruits and vegetables to retain their natural and appealing look on the shelves and attract consumers. Other applications where the use of highly compatible masterbatches enable bio-PBS and its blends to outperform conventional plastics is in the injection molding process such as coffee capsules. Sukano’s PBS based masterbatches are designed to enable manufacturers to produce creative and functional products for the flexible packaging market that protect food from wastage, are compostable, transparent and use less plastic – and are able to be processed on existing industrial manufacturing lines. Sukano’s goals is to create masterbatches that help their customers produce packaging that preserves natural resources while neither hindering design nor compromising the quality of the packaging or its contents.MT www.sukano.com Organic recycling can play a fundamental role, especially for plastic packaging that cannot be mechanically recycled. This is because compostable plastics are able to drive higher volumes of separately collected organic waste, while also helping to reduce conventional plastic contamination in compost, and consequently in soil and waterways. Compostable packaging is equivalent to cellulose in terms of biodegradation behavior, (as outlined in the compostability norm EN13432) , and compostable plastics behave like cellulose in the composting process. Sukano supports the EU commission position that ‘business as usual’ is no longer an option. 22 bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/20] Vol. 15
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