Plantic Technologies | Celebrating Australian Food and Agribusiness Innovations 2020
Challenge
As consumers demand more sustainable packaging solutions and governments around the world respond through legislative changes, leading companies are increasingly required to develop packaging strategies and formats that meet retailers’ ever more stringent requirements.
Until waste imports were banned in January 2018, China had been processing at least half the world’s exports of wastepaper, metals and used plastic. That ban pushed the need for environmentally friendly packaging to the top of the queue in many of the world’s developed economies.
Solution
Plantic Technologies is a Kuraray-owned bioplastics company. In response to demand from all quarters, Plantic developed high-performance packaging that utilises environmentally friendly plastics.
The Plantic RV is a high-barrier skin pack material manufactured using modern technology. It combines recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) — which provides moisture/water vapour barrier to the structure — with renewable sourced high-barrier Plantic HP, which works as an exceptional gas barrier. The result is a barrier layer that incorporates 93% renewable or recycled materials.
The rPET material is sourced from recycled post-consumer PET bottles and trays, together with inplant PET waste. Plantic HP barrier materials are the result of extensive research and collaboration. That cooperation led to the development of plastics derived from starch materials, which were subsequently formed into sheet product. Plantic HP barrier materials are produced using renewable industrial crops including corn and tapioca.
Outcome
A far more sustainable solution than alternative options, Plantic’s fully compostable starch-based HP barrier material uses 50% less energy to produce and creates 70% less greenhouse gases.
The product’s contribution has been recognised internationally, winning PIDA’s Sustainability award and the World Packaging Organisation’s World Star award for the sustainable packaging solution developed for end user Neat Meats.