bioplasticsMAGAZINE_1406

Application News
PaperFoam
Not exactly a bioplastic, but nonetheless an interesting
biobased and biodegradable packaging, PaperFoam is a
commercially attractive, environmentally friendly packaging
material that is produced by an innovative company was
established in 1998 in Barneveld, the Netherlands.
One of the innovations nominated for the 2014 Food Valley
Award is a lightweight, portable gift pack for champagne
bottles made of PaperFoam.
PaperFoam contains no oil-based ingredients whatsoever:
the packaging is made of locally sourced renewable raw
materials - mainly potato starch, natural fibre and water -
and is fully home compostable. It has a carbon footprint that
is smaller from start to finish than comparable packaging
made from plastic or paper pulp. The packaging has 4-star
biobased certification, is extremely lightweight and fully
biodegradable. It is completely safe: even when incinerated,
no harmful substances are produced.
Bioplastics take off!
On the occasion of the 25 th anniversary of the Fall of
the Wall (in Berlin, Germany), the IfBB – Institute for
bioplastics and biocomposites at the University of Applied
Sciences and Arts, Hanover, Germany manufactured
20,000 balloon clips from bioplastics for balloons made
of natural rubber.
Lichtgrenze (frontier of light) is the name of the
installation that is reminiscent of the course of the Wall
in Berlin. Over a distance of approximately 15 kilometers
a light-wall of balloons disappeared into the sky on the
evening of November 9 th . For the implementation of this
symbolic idea some environmental aspects also had to
be considered.
For this reason, the project team asked the IfBB to
develop a balloon clip from a bioplastic that would meet
the technical and environmental requirements. 8,000
balloons alone on the day of reunification were carried
in all directions by the wind and landed in many different
locations. And that’s where they should eventually rot,
which conventional balloons and clips would not do.
At the IfBB a mould had been developed for the
production of the clips, which was adapted to the
processing properties of the PLA blend used. One special
requirement for the pearlescent clip is that it must
exhibit both a high strength and also elasticity so that the
clips do not break when closing the balloon and no brittle
fracture occurs.
The biobased and biodegradable materials used for the
clips and the balloons finally ensure that the wall that
once separated East and West Berlin from each other,
may disappear into the sky free of any concerns. MT
These properties make the PaperFoam technology
especially suited to the production of low-quantity, highquality
packaging applications. The product is produced via
an injection moulding process. Basically, the ingredients are
mixed and then injected into a heated mould. The material
is foamed by evaporating the water, after which the finished
packaging is ejected. The process is thus able to produce
accurate shapes that provide better product protection.
The design freedom and colourability make the material an
attractive choice to designers.
Just recently PaperFoam was chosen to manufacture a
packaging for the new wireless, noise cancelling over-ear
headphones from Plantronics. The PaperFoam ‘mountain’
on which the headphones nestle, encased in a clear plastic
frame, was developed in cooperation with Plantronics and
PKG Packaging, one of PaperFoam’s sales partners located
on the US west coast.
PaperFoam is currently used to pack champagne,
electronics, cosmetics, medical and dry-foods. The
company received a Cradle-to-Cradle Quality Statement
from EPEA in May 2014. KL
www.paperfoam.com
www.ifbb-hannover.de
www.berlin.de/mauerfall2014/en/highlights/balloon-event
36 bioplastics MAGAZINE [06/14] Vol. 9