MOSCOW (MRC) -- BASF and the Swedish
packaging manufacturer BillerudKorsnas have cooperated to develop a
home-compostable paper laminate for flexible packaging, said the
company.
The move comes amid the market shift from plastic to paper-based
packaging and towards more recycling. Conventional multi-layer flexible films
are difficult to recycle.
The multi-layer film consists of three basic
components: BillerudKorsnas‘ paper, a sealing layer made of BASF’s certified
home compostable and partly bio-based biopolymer and BASF’s water-based adhesive
which joins the film to the paper. It can be used to produce wraps with
individually adjusted barrier properties, e.g. for cookies, cereal bars and
dairy items. All components are certified home-compostable according to official
European certification schemes for home-composting.
It can be used to
produce wraps with individually adjusted barrier properties, for example for
biscuits, ice cream, cereal bars and dairy items as well as wrappers for fish,
meat and cheese.
“Our joint development represents a shift to paper-based
and compostable material in order to replace traditional laminates for food
packaging - meeting hygiene and barrier requirements, maintaining form and
enabling many design possibilities just like conventional packaging but with the
decisive added benefit that it is home-compostable,” said Markus Saari, business
development manager at BillerudKorsnas.
As MRC reported
previously, German chemicals maker BASF said in early November it had put a
project to build a petrochemicals complex in India worth up to USD4 billion on
hold due to the economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. BASF
signed a memorandum of understanding with Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
(ADNOC), Adani Group and Borealis AG in October 2019 to evaluate a collaboration
to build the chemical site in Mundra, in India’s Gujarat state.
Ethylene
and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene
(PP).
ccording to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,594,510 tonnes in the first nine
months of 2020, up by 1% year on year. Only high denstiy polyethylene (HDPE)
shipments increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market
reached 880,130 tonnes in the nine months of 2020 (calculated using the formula:
production minus exports plus imports, exluding producers' inventories as of 1
January, 2020). Supply increased exclusively of PP random copolymer.
BASF
is the leading chemical company. It produces a wide range of chemicals, for
example solvents, amines, resins, glues, electronic-grade chemicals, industrial
gases, basic petrochemicals and inorganic chemicals. The most important
customers for this segment are the pharmaceutical, construction, textile and
automotive industries. |