Application News Ethical
Application News Ethical packaging for ethical skincare Teysha Technologies (London, UK), who has pioneered a naturally derived second generation bioplastic, is currently in negotiations with several large multinationals about the implementation of its unique patented solution across a range of applications, has partnered with the Kind Planet (Company Ashford, Kent, UK) to produce natural waste-derived biodegradable lids for its exclusive product line. Using patented technology, the lids are designed to completely breakdown after use without leaving behind any pollutants or micro materials. The Kind Planet Company produces a range of 100 % organic skincare products. The fruits used in their products are exclusively picked, processed and packaged by women in Ghana, West Africa. As well as providing the women from 43 farms with everything they need to cultivate the fruits that are used in the products, the company also teaches them the skills so they can ensure their farms are profitable businesses that provides a regular income to help their families. “Teysha is on a mission to change the global packaging market and reduce the truly shocking 8 million plastic items that find their way into our seas and waterways every single day,” explains Matthew Stone, Managing Director of Teysha Technologies. “Thankfully, due to recent worldwide reporting and increased consumer awareness of the issue, people are making decisions about the brands and products they buy based more on ethical and sustainability credentials. “Teysha is going all the way to the original source of raw materials to ensure the empowerment of women and communities in less economically developed regions. We take responsibility not just for the sustainable materials we use in our ground-breaking packaging technology, but additionally for the products within. “We have strong female representation throughout Teysha from Professor Karen Wooley our CTO and the technology’s principle inventor through to our Director of Research and Development, Dr Ashlee Jahnke. Kind Planet Company’s values, therefore, really resonated with our own.” Teysha will begin to develop a prototype for a range of biodegradable lids for the Kind Planet Company’s exclusive skincare ranges, with product testing commencing shortly and plans to move to full scale production in the new year. Teysha’s natural product polycarbonate platform creates a wide range of polymers with tunable properties and practical applications to meet the growing demand for sustainable plastics. Polyhydroxyl natural products are used as the monomeric building blocks and carbonates, found in common engineering materials, as the linkages. Two classes of polyhydroxyl natural monomers, saccharides and quinic acid, have been tested for the construction of polycarbonates. bioplastics MAGAZINE will investigate and report about the materials in more detail in the near future. MT www.teyshatech.co.uk PLA tea bags The popular UK tea brand Yorkshire Tea, produced by Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate, is replacing their oilbased plastic in their tea bags with PLA - and the switch is going pretty well so far! The first were in the shops in early March - and by now, about 360 million tea bags should have been made with the new material. If all wentwell, about 20 % of the UK Yorkshire Tea bags will now be made out of PLA. That number was planned to rise up to 50 % by the end of June, and by January 2021 all UK Yorkshire Tea, Yorkshire Gold, Yorkshire Tea Decaf and Yorkshire Tea for Hard Water will have switched. The reasons for the switch is an attempt to move away from fossil fuel based products on the one hand and an easier end of life solution for the tea bags as they are industrially compostable, which means they can go in food waste or garden waste bins for the council to compost. For clarity as well as transparency Yorkshire Tea is avoiding the term “plastic free” as other PLA tea bags are often labeled, following the advice of WRAP, the people behind the UK Plastics Pact. PLA, after all, is still a plastic. It has been a bumpy journey since the first attempts with PLA tea bags in 2018, but after lots of tweaking and fine tuning in cooperation with Sheffield University it seems the time for biobased tea bags is now. It’s still uncharted territory and there have been some pretty big bumps in the road already, so Yorkshire Tea tries to be upfront about this being an aim, not a promise. What they do promise, though, is to try their best - and to keep being honest and transparent with their customers. AT www.yorkshiretea.co.uk 20 bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/20] Vol. 15
Application Automotive News Biobased and biodegradable laundry bag sealing strips Lactips, the French company specialized in producing a soluble plastic with zero environmental trace, has developed a solution to produce water-soluble strips for sealing hospital laundry bags, particularly those contaminated with the new Corona virus (SARS-CoV-2 ). Faced with the need to safeguard everyone across the supply chain for laundry operations against all threats of infection through contact with potentially contaminated linen, Lactips has rapidly developed a new application: a water-soluble strip designed to seal and limit the handling of laundry bags used by healthcare operators (hospitals, care homes, etc.). From the first week of the lockdown, following the influx of patients, Lactips was contacted by four regional hospital centers and an internationally renowned university hospital center covering 39 hospitals across the Paris Region that had a shortage of water-soluble strips. The company responded immediately to the urgent health situation by shipping scored rolls then designing a specific product adapted for these healthcare requirements. Approved by all the sector’s stakeholders, and released in Europe, this new product, developed in partnership with a French manufacturer, makes it possible to secure the handling of infected linen and limit the risk of infection within the laundry treatment circuit. Placed directly in the machine, the soluble strip disappears completely in contact with water (from 40° to 60°C in accordance with the standard applied), releasing the linen from the bag during the washing cycle without leaving behind any sticky residue. The thermoplastic material is based on casein, a protein found in milk and has already been tested and certified to have no aquatic toxicity. It also conforms to certification labels including Ecocert, EU Ecolabel and Ok Compost Home by TÜV Austria Belgium. AT (Photo: Hubert Genouilhac By PhotoUpDesign) www.lactips.com Plant-based flexible packaging products The Vancouver, Canada, based company good natured Products recently announced the expansion of the good natured ® commercial product assortment to include pallet stretch wrap made from 51% plant-based flexible multi-layer film. The company has customized and sourced plant-based machine and hand pallet stretch wrap in a range of the most popular gauges for the North American market. The biobased components of the materials are derived from rapidly renewable sugarcane and are chemically equivalent to conventional #4 LDPE to make the transition for businesses as seamless as possible. They are based on state of the art nanotechnologies to obtain optimal stretching, puncture, cling effects that such pallet wrap should have. In order to obtain balanced properties in layers, bio LDPE is used at 51% in conjunction with other polymers (presumably PE as well). Since it is PE based, it can go in the recycling stream without negative impact. The global stretch and shrink film market, including pallet stretch wrap, is expected to grow by USD 4.91 billion and at a CAGR of 6 % from 2019 to 2023. The food and beverage sector is one of the key drivers behind this growth, and preference for eco-friendly, bioplastic materials is creating a unique market opportunity for expansion. “With our growing list of food producers and supply chain providers as customers, pallet stretch wrap is a natural addition to our product assortment that lets them extend their environmental commitment from the products they produce, to how they’re packaged and now all the way to how they’re shipped and stored,” said Paul Antoniadis, CEO of good natured. “As part of our approach to offer our customers the widest assortment of eco-friendly products and packaging, we look globally for the latest sustainable materials and design innovations and then turn those into the products and packaging they’re using in their everyday operations.” AT goodnaturedproducts.com bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/20] Vol. 15 21
