Issue 03/2016

Application News
Snickers wrapped in
bioplastics
At the recent ITR conference (see more at pp 12) Thijs
Rodenburg, CEO of the Dutch company Rodenburg Biopolymers
announced it: The family owned company has partnered with
global confectionary company Mars to develop new biobased
wrappers for their candy bars. And as a result the first Snickers
bars with biobased wrappers were introduced to the European
market last fall.
Rodenburg Biopolymers from Oosterhout started about 70
years ago as one of the first pioneers in bioplastics. Being part
of the potato industry they started to utilize the industrial waste
derived from the French fry production. By turning this waste
into cattle feed they still had a potato starch waste product,
which they could not use. A few decades later Rodenburg found
a way of using this waste as feedstock for a new bioplastic.
Early in the 2000’s Rodenburg presented their first generation
Solanyl product. Today they are offering the third generation of
Solanyl. The material
is available in a
thermoforming, an
injection molding and
a film grade.
A few years ago Rodenburg was approached by
Dennis van Eeten, packaging innovation manager at Mars in
Veghel, the Netherlands. Van Eeten was looking for a biobased
packaging material for Mars’ candy bars that was just as
good as the current one. The new material would have to be
biobased, not necessarily biodegradable, non-polluting when
disposed of, not harm the environment in any way, be based on
second generation feedstock as not to compete with the food
supply, be scalable and have a smaller carbon footprint than
the currently used material.
“We told him we could do all that,” said Thijs Rodenburg.
“But then we had to do it.”
An EU-funded project was performed by Rodenburg to
develop the material, film specialist Taghleef Industries to
produce the film and Mondi (based in Poland) to manufacture
the actual packaging.
“The first version, a film compound based on starch with
additives, did not have a good enough performance,” said Thijs.
“So we kept trying and at a certain point, by calculated trial and
error came up with an acceptable film. However, when Taghleef
produced the film and Mondi used it for printing, it was found to
wrinkle. Modifications were able to solve that problem.”
As a result the project team presented a food grade polymer
film compound based on TPS Solanyl and PLA that meets the
specified requirements. It is compostable, biodegradable and
takes only a third of energy to produce compared to oil-based
alternatives such as polypropylene. The starch is derived from
an industrial waste stream, thus the raw material it is a secondgeneration
biomass that in no way competes with food crops.
The feedback from the market has been excellent. And even
though the initiative started in Europe, Thijs said: “Of course,
we’re hoping that Mars will take it to the US,” and to the World,
we might want to add. KL/MT
www.biopolymers.nl
Biopolymer ‘mix’ bottle
is a European first
RPC Promens Consumer Nordics has developed a oneliter
milk bottle made entirely from a non-oil based bio
polymer (bio-PE) produced from sugar cane.
Uniquely, an additional feature that is now being developed
and which is believed to be a first in the European market,
will see the polymer mixed with a special mineral filler. This
reduces the amount of polymer required for each bottle
without impacting on its strength and performance, which
will further enhance its positive environmental profile.
In its first commercial application, the new Modul bottle
has been selected by leading Swedish dairy company
Skånemejerier for its range of non-homogenized milk.
“Sustainability is a vital consideration throughout all
our operations including our packaging, where we always
seek to choose a solution with minimal impact on the
environment,” said Armina Nilsson, sustainability manager
at Skånemejerier.
”The new bottle from RPC Promens is ideal for our milk,”
confirmed Thore Bengtsson, the company’s strategic
purchaser. “We have an excellent working relationship with
the company and their ability to handle the tight deadlines
for this project was particularly beneficial.”
RPC Promens says that as consumers have taken a
greater interest in the types of foods they are buying, their
focus has started to switch to the packaging as well.
“According to Euromonitor one of the top ten global trends
in 2016 is greener food,” explained senior sales manager
Jan Weier. “Certainly there has been strong growth in
organic food products in recent years and this has now
led to more attention being paid to how they are packed.
By using this new material, we can offer our customers a
renewable and sustainable solution.”
The 1-liter white blow-molded Modul bottle is available
with a choice of closures and features a four-sided label
applied by RPC Promens. MT
www.rpc-group.com
28 bioplastics MAGAZINE [03/16] Vol. 11