Issue 04/2016

Application News
New PLA tamper-evident seal
yields cost savings for customers
New Hampshire (USA) - based eatSafe, LLC, a global leader in tamper-evident seals for the packaging industry, has developed
and launched ecoSafe, a shrink film designed to save money on packaging costs while being environmentally friendly.
ecoSafe is a biodegradable PLA shrink film manufactured from sustainable, 100 % annually renewable plant sugars to create
a proprietary polylactide polymer. It caters to a growing number of companies who wish to package their products in more
environmentally responsible manner.
ecoSafe material is far superior environmentally to oil-based PET, polyethylene, PVC and polypropylene films, which use
20 – 250 % more non-renewable energy during production and produce 4 – 6 times more greenhouse gases during their life cycle.
ecoSafe can be composted in industrial facilities, or incinerated with no volatile compounds (VOCs) and low residue created
during burning.
“Our customers tell us they are searching for more eco-friendly and greener-living packaging choices,” said Wayne
Summerford, president of eatSafe. “ecoSafe fills that need, and works in traditionally more difficult applications like nested
materials, shrink bundling, and multi-packing. We have had success not only with food manufacturers and contract packagers
who are concerned about food safety, but also in the general packaging marketplace.”
ecoSafe heat shrink film is roll stock and can be ordered in any width from 1 to 10 inches. It is designed to be utilized with
the eatSafe Ringer, an automatic tamper-evident shrink banding machine. ecoSafe film is formed into a tamper-evident seal
with an easy-open feature; no scissors are required and there are no sharp edges left after opening. A tamper-evident seal is
required by the Food & Drug Administration on certain classes of products but is also widely used in the packaging industry
due to its superior level of safety as compared to a simple tamper-resistant seal.
ecoSafe’s customers report cost savings after making the switch from preform shrink bands to ecoSafe PLA roll stock
applied with the eatSafe Ringer machine, says the company. Together, ecoSafe shrink film and the eatSafe Ringer machine
replace the labor-intensive and costly existing technologies
such as preform shrink bands, sleeves and safety stickers and
labels. The savings are said to be primarily in labor, freight and
inventory, but there is also a reduction in administrative and
warehouse costs.
“ecoSafe is much more environmentally-conscious than PET,
PVC, polyethylene and polypropylene films,“ said Summerford.
“In addition, ecoSafe’s biobased PLA material consumes far
less non-renewable energy during production than any other
type of shrink film currently on the market.” KL/MT
www.eatsafepackaging.com
PA 410 for automotive cooling systems
Royal DSM, a global science-based company active in health, nutrition and materials, is extending its portfolio of high
performance materials that answer the need in demanding automotive applications for hydrolysis resistance across a wide
range of temperatures. The portfolio is targeted at numerous water-cooling related applications under the hood and includes
a hydrolysis-resistant grade of its high performance bio-based polyamide, EcoPaXX.
DSM’s extensive portfolio of materials based on bio-polyamides 410 (EcoPaXX ® ) are all inherently resistant to hydrolysis. One
particular grade, EcoPaXX Q-HG6/7, is very well suited for applications such as expansion tanks that need to resist coolants at
high temperatures. The lower density allows part weight to be cut by as much as 30 % compared with polyamide 66. A recentlydeveloped
thin-walled “T” connector for a coolant hose in this grade has just been approved for use by a major German car
manufacturer, and is scheduled to go into commercial production in the next few months.
The connector needs to withstand high internal pressures at temperatures of
up to 135 °C—something that is not possible with PA66. “EcoPaXX offers strength
and reliability even in critical areas like the weld lines (areas where different flow
fronts merge) in complex designs,” says Thomas Selberdinger, Sales Manager
Automotive, at DSM. MT
www.dsm.com
bioplastics MAGAZINE [04/16] Vol. 11 19