ACTEGA has announced the launch of its latest product – ACTGreen barrier coatings – a range of advanced water-based barrier coatings and thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) dispersions. According to the company, this release represents a significant step forward in packaging sustainability.

With both fill products and packaging needing to be mutually protected from the effects of oils, fats, water and external substances, plastic polyethylene (PE) laminates have traditionally been adopted across the packaging industry – despite the complex, costly and increasingly scrutinized recycling process, which involves using specialist technologies to separate the plastic from the cardboard substrate. ACTEGA’s new ACTGreen barrier coatings range, however, comprises barrier coatings and TPE dispersions (YUNICO) for coating and binding, which are all water-based, enabling substrates to be widely and easily recycled utilizing standard practices.

Facilitating time and cost efficiencies throughout the production line, and offering versatility through a series of possible secondary features, ranging from heat sealability to heat resistance, the ACTGreen range provides an effective, economical and sustainable solution for conscientious printers and packaging converters looking to answer the ever-increasing call for reduced plastic use.

Designed around an expressed commitment to making a decisive contribution to sustainability, but also with ACTEGA’s characteristic packaging expertise and innovation at its core, the company’s ACTGreen barrier coatings deliver a host of additional customer benefits alongside their superior performance and environmental credentials.

By eliminating the need for PE laminated materials, ACTEGA’s new product not only streamlines the production process and delivers cost savings throughout the entire production process but also enables converters to transform their business model from one that is restricted by the lengthy delivery times or bulk storage costs of PE laminated board, to an efficient just-in-time production system that is able to thrive in the increasingly competitive and demanding packaging sector.

“Throughout our 10 operative companies, we have always championed our high customer orientation, and with production facilities across the globe, we are extremely well-placed to listen and respond to our customers in each market. What we are hearing universally is that the call for sustainability is, understandably, louder than ever,” explains Markus Locher, global barrier manager at ACTEGA Paper and Board. “We’ve worked extremely hard to ensure that our ACTGreen barrier coatings provide a robust and viable alternative to non-recyclable PE linings that will allow packaging manufacturers to not only respond to the increasing pressures that they’re feeling from brand owners regarding environmental issues, but to optimize their own operations and production processes too. The unavoidable need to shift away from plastics and find workable, profitable and environmentally sound alternatives is undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges facing the packaging industry today, and we are proud to be taking firm steps in the right direction with this latest offering.

“As a worldwide market leader, we feel a real responsibility to utilize our knowledge, expertise and passion to continually innovate for solutions that benefit not only our customers but also the wider world,” he adds. “Our entire ACTGreen barrier coating portfolio is designed with that at its core; pushing one step further from just formulating our products sustainably to actually developing smart, game-changing solutions that enable the production of more sustainable end products.”