There’s a lot going on with film constructions used in packaging. And, as unlikely as it may seem, it’s good. All you need to do is keep abreast of product development to see the shift in focus to recyclability in sustainable packaging. I think it is exciting, and I would suggest that one of the drivers is EPR (extended producer responsibility).  
I have written enough about EPR in the last several issues of L&NW, so I’ll refrain from more comments. Suffice it to say, the re-direction and refocus from previous types of film packaging to “friendly” film packaging is happening rapidly. Frankly, it couldn’t happen soon enough. 

Another driver, of course, is the focus on sustainability in consumer packaging. Additional costs that have been associated with the consequences of EPR is definitely a driver. The additional cost associated with disposal and non-recyclability is forcing change.

Tom Bezigian, who has been around film packaging and adhesive technology for years, and is now the principal consultant of PLC Technologies, Film and Extrusion Consulting Co., wrote an insightful article in Converting Quarterly, that is very readable by any layperson. The article, “Blown and Cast Film: Shifting to Sustainability,” starts with a brief history of monomers and polymers and eventually looks at current changes. He reminds the reader that the first packaging film was cellophane “a mainstay of DuPont’s business for years.”

If you Google cellophane, you will learn it was really the first packaging material for food protection and wasn’t actually a “film” or resin as we know film today. It was a thin, ultra-thin, cellulose, not a film that is petrochemical in origin. It was 30 years later when Imperial Chemical Industries of the UK developed polythene, which as years went on became polyethylene (PE). PE was the granddaddy of hundreds of iterations of polymers that give packaging “product protection, toughness, heat-sealability, vapor, moisture, grease and chemical barriers, UV protection, printability” and many other properties. Eventually we had multi-layered and composite filmic structures that protected products, particularly food, for long periods of time, hence reducing waste and spoilage.

However, these incredibly advanced constructions lacked one major feature: recyclability. By the end of the 90s engineered packaging had produced “co-extruded films.”
As Bezigian notes, “Walter Schrenk of Dow developed the Dow coextrusion feedstock. The Dow feedstock is capable of producing flat film consisting of thousands of nanometer-thick layers. This development was a monumental change for the industry.” 

All of this was incredibly ingenious and helped the economics of design features of film packaging but lacked “recyclability.” Again, Bezigian notes, “The quandary arises. We have films that preserve and protect for years. But this very fact alone makes coextruded films unsustainable.” Tom’s answer is a redesign of film laydown, “A conjunction of three processes: blown film oriented with machine-direction-oriented (MDO), vacuum deposition with a suitable material and lamination of these webs.”

His answer is obviously technically correct. But there are now so many other changes occurring in film packaging construction that breakthroughs are happening weekly. The driver is a desire to now design for sustainable packaging, not just to preserve food, but to reduce packaging going to landfill. The point here is we are finally designing packaging for end of life.

The technical aspects of friendly film construction now include a requirement for sustainable packaging, hence recyclability.  What has happened, in my view, since the early 2000s is a focus on design for end of life and recyclability. There is a groundswell occurring, and the results of this new focus should improve film packaging’s contribution to sustainability.

Researchers are telling us the plastic resin market size will be worth $985 billion by 2028. That’s billions! This includes automotive, construction, packaging, and electrical and electronics sectors. Just think what creative redesign will do to eliminate waste. Here are some dynamic changes. First, we have the pioneering work that UPM has developed from the tree, films made from cellulose. Aren’t we perhaps returning to DuPont’s cellophane? This is really exciting, and kudos to UPM and others that look at organic solutions for packaging. 

In another development
Bobst and its partners have announced a key milestone in their pioneering work to replace non-recyclable high barrier multi-material packaging structures with mono-material alternatives designed for recycling.

“Finding sustainable alternatives to non-recyclable plastics is one of the most important challenges of our times,” says Nick Copeland, R&D director at Bobst. “It is a particular challenge for flexible packaging, such as that used for food packaging, where the high barrier protection against oxygen and water that prevents deterioration is currently provided by multi-layer, multi-material packaging, which cannot be recycled.

This next generation of high barrier mono-material structures brings us one step closer to being able to provide completely recyclable solutions to replace non-recyclable packaging.”

Wow, this is dynamite and I believe brings a new generation of monomer construction, designed for not only product protection but for sustainable packaging. By the way, Bobst didn’t do this alone. They had a variety of partners that worked together to integrate technology with sustainability, therefore a collaborative approach to end of life.

Dow, one of the Bobst partners is also working with HP Indigo, Reifenhauser, Cadel Deinking, and Karlville, to develop what they call “pouch to pouch” mechanical recycling.

The approach uses a multi-stage process to contribute to a circular economy for digitally printed pouches. Starting with a polyethylene (PE)-based, barrier food pouch designed for recyclability, the project team has used mechanical recycling and deinking to create a high-quality dishwasher MDO-OE pouch containing 30% recycled contents and being itself suitable for recycling.

Meanwhile, DS Smith, a large multi-faceted European packaging company, with significant investments here in the US, has just announced “an ingenious packaging solution” for Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate range. While this packaging design is cellulosic, the concept is to reduce the use of non-recyclable materials by incorporating a unique “100% recyclable six-pack.” Along the same line as DS Smith, two other large integrated suppliers have also created sustainable packaging innovations.

Ahlstrom-Munksjo has developed a “compostable oxygen barrier mono-material that can be used in a variety of packaging applications.  Their development includes oxygen and gas barrier properties, as well as natural wet strength, which is “grease resistant, doesn’t contain any loose fibers or added chemicals, and can be made heat-sealable with a biopolymer.  A-M has a new campaign, from Plastic to Purpose, and this is one of their new offerings. I would only add that it’s not so much paper vs. plastic, as using the strengths of each to make less by-product.

Finally, Mondi has introduced sausages wrapped in renewable-based packaging. The new packaging is made of bio-based plastic, responsibly sourced paper, and coated and printed in Sweden to keep transportation to a minimum.  Thanks to its majority paper content, the new packaging can be disposed of in Swedish paper recycling streams. Mondi’s solution ensures the Scan Falukorv sausage remains fresh and intact in transportation, and the packaging provides high print quality for an attractive presentation on the shelves.

We’ve bounced around a bit: cellophane to polyethylene to more sustainable film packaging and the effort by the paper industry to develop competitive alternatives to film packaging. In my view, I am less concerned by an industry group pushing their concept of friendly packaging technology than I am for us to reduce by-product and/or provide an alternative to landfilling unfriendly materials. We are all in this together, and our collective goal must be a better environment.

Another Letter from the Earth.


Calvin Frost is chairman of Channeled Resources Group, headquartered in Chicago, the parent company of Maratech International and GMC Coating. His email address is
[email protected].