Microgreen Polymers to Unveil Incycle Sheets for Reducing Environmental Footprint of Packaging and Containers

27 Dec 2010

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InCycle sheets are made from less source material, environmentally-friendly to produce, contain post-consumer recycled PET, and can be recycled.

12/27/2010 --- MicroGREEN Polymers, Inc., unveiled InCycle, a revolutionary transformation of recycled PET into a lightweight, insulating, grease and moisture proof, printable sheet, as a cost-effective, sustainable alternative for print, packaging, and container applications.

InCycle sheets are made from recycled PET, which is then expanded using MicroGREEN's patented Ad-air technology to reduce the amount of plastic required and significantly lower the environmental footprint of products made from them. For example, the amount of source material recycled from one 20oz. PET beverage bottle can produce seven 12oz. hot beverage cups made from InCycle.

As demonstrated in a lifecycle inventory and analysis study of hot beverage cups conducted by Franklin Associates, an InCycle sheet made into a hot beverage cup has the lowest total amount of energy required to produce a hot beverage cup and the lowest total solid waste as measured in both volume and weight when compared to expanded polystyrene (EPS) and coated paperboard hot beverage cups, the two most commonly used in the market today. Therefore, InCycle sheets help Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies increase their environmental scorecard rating for their packaging and enhance their brand's sustainability position by reducing the amount of their packaging waste.

In addition to lowering footprint, InCycle sheets actually improve recycled PET's functionality in terms of useful temperature range, insulation, flexibility and impact strength, making this increasingly prolific recycled material available to a broader range of applications. InCycle sheets are lightweight and can be controllably engineered to meet the various performance requirements for different types of print, packaging and container applications. InCycle sheets are also highly insulating and maintain their integrity at a broader range of service temperatures (-20°F up to 400°F) compared to solid PET. These properties now make recycled PET well-suited for extreme temperature applications, such as freezer-to-microwave meals.

InCycle sheets also have an integral skin which is grease and moisture proof, can be printed on directly, and is available in a variety of finishes, including high-gloss, semi-gloss, matte, and satin. The integral skin is also naturally white without the addition of pigments and highly reflective, which makes print appear to jump off the surface. InCycle sheets are available in a variety of gauges, from 0.022” to 0.060”.

“At MicroGREEN Polymers, we're focused on creating a world where plastic packaging is not seen as waste, but as a resource. InCycle represents a real breakthrough in „reduce, reuse, recycle' - it reduces the amount of material required, is a reuse of recycled PET, and can be recycled again,” said Tom Malone, CEO of MicroGREEN Polymers. “We're excited to help CPGs address consumer demand to transition to a sustainable material for a broad swath of packaging, container and print applications - cost-effectively and without sacrificing the intrinsic qualities needed for their products.”