Issue 02/2019
Highlights: Thermoforming Building & Construction Basics: Biobased Packaging
Highlights:
Thermoforming
Building & Construction
Basics: Biobased Packaging
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Brand owners<br />
In March <strong>2019</strong>,<br />
Patrick Zimmermann,<br />
Director Marketing & Sales of<br />
FKuR Kunststoff GmbH, said:<br />
Brand-Owner’s<br />
perspective<br />
on bioplastics and how to<br />
unleash its full potential<br />
“Taking into consideration our customer feedback and our<br />
desire to be great neighbors, we have been taking a careful<br />
look at our packaging and the opportunities that exist to make<br />
improvements, with respect to sustainability.<br />
Since 2009 the<br />
bioplastic world has<br />
changed a lot. New<br />
materials have been<br />
developed and new<br />
market segments<br />
have been explored. At the same time the<br />
portfolio of FKuR has increased during the<br />
last 10 years. With the distribution of Green<br />
PE (Braskem) and Bio-PET (Fenc), as well<br />
as with the development of Terralene ® , a<br />
tailor made Green PE compound and Terraprene<br />
® , a family of partly biobased TPE, we<br />
are now in the situation to serve the special<br />
needs of the cosmetic market.<br />
In 2009 we faced a lack of suitable<br />
materials in terms of barrier properties,<br />
easy processing and recyclability. For the<br />
time being we were able to provide intelligent<br />
Bio-Flex ® and Biograde ® compounds with<br />
advanced features which were a first step<br />
to bridge the gap. However, we still worked<br />
hard on convincing customers to replace<br />
conventional PE for a tube for example<br />
with a Bio-Flex material or on using a<br />
Biograde instead of SAN for a jar. Since<br />
2012 we have been able to supply material<br />
solutions to produce bottles, tubes, caps,<br />
hinges and jars with the same properties<br />
as the petrochemicals. The market is still<br />
challenging and the requirements are<br />
still very high in terms of haptics, designs,<br />
processing and of course shelf life. However,<br />
especially with our todays broad portfolio<br />
and tailor made solutions we are able to<br />
provide the perfect solution for those kind<br />
of requests and offer our customers a<br />
previously unknown design freedom in the<br />
production of his packaging. The shape,<br />
color and feel of the packaging transports<br />
the image of a product and bioplastics ideally<br />
support the sustainable message of a brand.<br />
We created a framework to help us and our vendor<br />
partners, with whom we work closely in this effort, to identify<br />
packaging improvement opportunities. This sustainability<br />
framework is based on the following principles:<br />
1. Reducing and removing packaging<br />
2. Sourcing renewable and recycled packaging materials<br />
3. Choosing packaging that can be realistically recycled<br />
4. Avoiding the use of harmful substances in packaging<br />
5. Providing information to customers that increases<br />
understanding of how best to recycle or dispose of packaging<br />
Here are some of our achievements to date:<br />
• We stopped offering single-use plastic carryout bags in<br />
all stores across the country.<br />
• We replaced plastic produce bags with biodegradable &<br />
compostable produce bags for the convenience of carrying<br />
loose or “by-the-each” fruits and vegetables.<br />
• We eliminated any remaining Styrofoam packages in<br />
our produce section and replaced them with bio-based,<br />
compostable trays.” MT<br />
(Source:www.traderjoes.com/announcement/packaging-improvements)<br />
Trader Joes in Amherst, New York (Photo Sikander Iqbal, CC 4.0)<br />
Trader Joe’s is an American chain of grocery stores headquartered<br />
in Monrovia, California. As of October 2017, Trader Joe’s has 474<br />
stores nationwide in 43 states and in Washington, D.C.. Trader Joe’s is<br />
a subsidiary of German supermarket chain ALDI Nord.<br />
www.traderjoes.com<br />
www.fkur.com<br />
bioplastics MAGAZINE [01/19] Vol. 14 49