Bioplastics rivals BASF and Novamont unveil compostable cling films in fundamental breakthroughs

12 Feb 2020 --- Major bioplastics players BASF and Novamont have both launched highly sustainable solutions for fresh-food packaging in two major compostable cling film breakthroughs. Tackling both plastic pollution and food waste simultaneously, BASF’s certified compostable ecovio material and Novamont’s MATER-BI material replace hard-to-recycle conventional plastics like polyethylene (PE) while increasing product shelf-life.

BASF teamed with Fabbri Group to develop the transparent stretch film Nature Fresh from ecovio, which can be wrapped manually or with automatic packaging equipment. While Novamont’s solution can also be used on most pre-existing packaging machines.

Fabbri Group’s Nature Fresh film boasts the combination of breathability, mechanical performance and attractive aesthetics. It is certified compostable according to standards for industrial composting and home composting. Nature Fresh is food-contact approved according to US and European standards. The material ecovio on which it is based is predominantly formed by the component ecoflex, a fully compostable fossil-based polymer from BASF.

“The main challenge was to combine the important performance characteristics for a cling film: enough tensile strength and elongation before tearing for manual and automatic stretch-wrap application, high transparency, anti-fogging and a balanced cling in a compostable compound. Recipe and film processing also had to be optimized,” Carsten Sinkel, Global Business Development Biopolymers at BASF, tells PackagingInsights.

Fresher for longer
With this property profile, the film helps to keep food fresh for a longer period when compared to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) alternatives used for cling film such as PE. As a consequence, the greenhouse gas emissions originating from food that is produced and distributed – but ultimately wasted – can be reduced.

Based on BASF’s certified compostable ecovio, Fabbri Group produces the highly transparent stretch film Nature Fresh. After use, Nature Fresh can be composted together with any food waste in home compost or industrial compost according to national legislation. It thus enables organic recycling and helps to close the nutrient loop towards a Circular Economy. The EU Waste Framework Directive promotes solutions to reduce food waste and increase organic waste collection.

The overall performance of Nature Fresh – mechanical properties like tensile strength and elongation at break, breathability, film transparency and aesthetics like elastic recovery and anti-fogging – is comparable to films made of PVC, Sinkel notes. At the same time, ecovio material shows a better water vapor transmission than PE, which is essential for optimal fresh food packaging.

“We observe a changing market environment. The market is looking for alternatives to PVC that is today’s performance standard for most cling film packaging of fresh produce. PE films are lacking in performance, often leading to a reduced shelf-life of packed fresh food. This results in considerable greenhouse gas emissions from food waste: fruits and vegetables, for example, are responsible for 33 percent greenhouse gas emissions from all food waste globally,” Sinkel explains.

A match made in heaven
To find the perfect match of a sustainable material with excellent packaging properties and easy wrapping, BASF and Fabbri Group joined to develop a cling film which can also be efficiently used on stretch wrapping machines.

“The Fabbri way to sustainability is combining our Nature Fresh solution with our new Automac NF wrappers so that the food packaging industry can benefit twice: from an innovative cling film and easy film processing,” explains Stefano Mele, CEO at Fabbri Group. “In this way, our certified compostable cling film can be used together with trays and labels of the same kind to have a complete compostable packaging.”

Fabbri Group offers Nature Fresh in four different formats: as rolls for manual or automatic packaging machines in industrial food packaging, for cutter boxes in hotels, restaurants and catering services, as jumbo rolls for converters as well as rolls for end consumer hand-wrapping applications.Novamont's MATER-BI bioplastics are obtained using proprietary technologies in starches, cellulose, vegetable oils and their combinations.

MATER-BI: Biodegradable and compostable
Novamont describes the development of its MATER-BI bioplastic cling film as “a fundamental breakthrough in the company’s range of biodegradable and compostable films for food packaging.” The launch comes five years after the introduction of the first grade of MATER-BI for cling film.

MATER-BI bioplastic cling film for the packaging of fresh produce can be used with “most packaging machines.” Thus the choice of compostable cling film will no longer mean that specific packaging machines have to be purchased.

Novamont’s film is intended for large-scale retail trade and large and medium-sized packaging centers. It ensures good breathability to provide fresh food with a long shelf-life, high transparency, an anti-fog effect and good mechanical strength.

In addition to its technical properties, which are competitive with traditional products on the market, MATER-BI cling film also boasts optimal environmental performance, thanks to the biodegradability and compostability of MATER-BI bioplastics. At the end of life, the packaging can be recycled with the organic fraction of waste, thereby preventing microplastics from accumulating in the soil.

The test phase, carried out jointly with Crocco, one of the leading companies in the flexible packaging sector, has been completed, Novamont notes.Novamont's MATER-BI cling film will be showcased at BIOFACH 2020 from February 12-15.

Combining starches, cellulose and vegetable oils
Novamont's family of MATER-BI bioplastics, which are biodegradable and compostable according to UNI standard 13432, are obtained through using proprietary technologies in the field of starches, cellulose, vegetable oils and their combinations.

Using MATER-BI bioplastic solutions means that finite resources will not be wasted on products with a short life span. They will also reduce the output of undifferentiated waste and everything related to it – landfill, soil and air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions – favoring the recovery of resources which, once processed in the industrial composting process, will be converted into humus, an excellent soil conditioner for combating soil desertification, thus closing the natural cycle in which there is no waste and everything again becomes a resource.

Novamont's MATER-BI cling film will be showcased at BIOFACH 2020, the world's largest organic trade fair, in Nuremberg from February 12-15, 2020.

By Joshua Poole