27.5.2016
Imagine a future, very near now, in which cartons for milk, fruit juice and many other foodstuffs will be 100% biodegradable. Bio-on today announces a major result achieved with its new collaboration with Tampere University of Technology Finland, one of the most important centres in the world for research and innovation in the use of paper and plastic for food packaging. A joint project launched in 2015 has produced for the very first time tetrapak type containers made of a combination of paper and bioplastic, namely the special grade EC (Extrusion Coating) of the Minerv PHA biopolymer developed by Bio-on. To achieve this extraordinary outcome, researchers at the two laboratories replaced the polyethylene contained in current packaging, maintaining all of its impermeability, and for the first time in history created a material that is totally naturally biodegradable and of renewable origin that can be easily and safely recycled. The Minerv PHA Extrusion Coating project, launched by Bio-on at the end of 2015, aims to develop specific, eco-sustainable and, for the first time, fully biodegradable formulations, in order to make laminates with paper without using films, but instead fusing the biopolymer directly onto the paper using an extrusion process, without losing out on the end product’s functionality and aesthetic. Based on Bio-on’s revolutionary biopolymer, 100% naturally biodegradable and already tested in dozens of applications, from automotive to design to biomedical, Minerv PHA EC (Extrusion Coating) is safe and particularly suited for use with food.
Source: Bio-on press release 16.4.2016
