Ludwigshafen and Hebertshausen, Germany – December 3, 2014 – BASF and "Feinpappenwerk Gebr. Schuster GmbH & Co. KG" are working jointly on a solution for a combined migration and grease barrier on recycled cardboard. The biopolymer ecovio® PS 1606 is applied to recycled cardboard in an extrusion coating process. This enables the proportion of recycled paper fibers in fast food packaging to be increased while simultaneously making it industrially compostable.
Greaseproof, liquid tight and migration resistant due to ecovio® PS 1606
This is possible through the use of ecovio® PS 1606, a high-quality and versatile biopolymer from BASF. The special advantage: ecovio® is bio-based and biodegradable according to American Standard ASTM 6400 and European Standard EN 13432. The polymer coating applied to the cardboard is many times thinner than a human hair, but nevertheless provides the packaging with outstanding protection against potential migration of undesired substances while simultaneously offering high greaseproofness and liquid tightness. Cardboard packaging produced on this basis is more than 90 percent biobased, recyclable and industrially compostable.
Traditional barrier coatings are increasingly losing acceptance among customers because they hinder recycling or composting of used fast food packaging. The use of recycled cardboard for fast food packaging, however, is limited by the fact that substances can migrate from the packaging into the food. Many printing inks contain mineral oils, plasticizers or even residues of UV printing ink components. Since the printing ink residues are not removed completely when recycling the paper fibers, residues remain. When these substrates are used for food packaging, residues can migrate from the cardboard into the food especially when the foods are packaged hot or if they are greasy or liquid. This is why fast food packaging has so far been produced mainly from fresh fiber materials.
A study by the Cantonal Laboratory of Zurich from the year 2011 has shown that significant amounts of undesired substances can migrate into food from fast food packaging with migration potential. Classical coatings of polyethylene or polypropylene do not offer adequate protection. Here, ecovio® PS 1606 provides outstanding protection as a coating for the fast food packaging produced from recycled fibers. Measurements at an independent food laboratory have shown that there is no leaching of contaminants from the recycled fiber-based packaging into hot, greasy or liquid foods.
Migration resistant and environment friendly recycled cardboard
From the wide range of cardboard qualities used by the Schuster-Karton company, coating with ecovio® allows all possible types of fast food packaging to be manufactured in conformity with food safety and environment friendly standards. Many consumers' wish for new, sustainable and above all resource conserving fast food packaging materials is thereby fulfilled.
About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry – and have been doing so for 150 years. Our portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. As the world’s leading chemical company, we combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of about €74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.
About Feinpappenwerk Gebr. Schuster GmbH & Co. KG
SCHUSTER-Karton is a family owned company founded 115 years ago and headquartered in Hebertshausen near Munich. The company produces about 45,000 metric tons per year of uncoated recycled cardboard made of 100 percent waste paper (GK, UD, UT). Besides the standard varieties, the engineers of SCHUSTER-Karton together with the customers develop qualities that can be optimally processed on their machines. In the equipment, the different qualities can be glued together or coated by extruder. Especially the coatings are increasingly used in the food sector where the barriers are of growing importance for safety reasons. In the food sector, for example, coated paperboards are used to make table ware or presentation packaging. In the industrial sphere, ridges, dividers and protective packaging against migration of gas and liquids are produced from SCHUSTER-Karton materials. Further information about SCHUSTER-Karton is available from www.schuster-karton.de
Contact persons:
Andrea Hoerdt
Global Communications
Paper Chemicals Division
Phone: +41 61 636 0644
[email protected]
Feinpappenwerk Gebr. Schuster & Co. KG
Claus Palm
Geschäftsführer
Phone: +49-8131-294-128
[email protected]
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Dec 3, 2014 3pm EST / 12pm PST / 8pm GMT / 9pm CET