Packaging Innovations Weekly Wrap – Researchers Search for New Bioavailable Plastics
14 May 2008
Researchers at Missouri University of Science and Technology are constructing new breeds of biodegradable and bioavailable plastics in an effort to reduce the amount of plastic waste sent to landfills.
Bioavailable plastics contain substances that can be absorbed by living systems during their normal physiological functions.
By combining and modifying a variety of bio-based, oil-based and natural polymers, the team seeks to create optimal blends that can be used to make agricultural films, bottles, biomedical and drug delivery devices, and more.
The researchers are also interested in incorporating glycerol – a major by product of the biodiesel process – in the new plastics.
Some of the group's new polymers incorporate renewable resources, such as polylactic acid, which is created by fermenting starch.
The team says if they are successful, plastic bottles could disappear within four months of disposal.
SMART LID WINS BEST OF SHOW
Australian company Smart Lid Systems has won two awards from the US Institute of Packaging.
The firm's Smart Lid disposable colour changing coffee cup lid won the Best of Show AmeriStar Packaging Award and a second award in the Food – Institutional category.
The smart lid alerts consumers their coffee may be too hot by changing from a dark coffee colour to a bright red when the lid is applied to a hot drink.
Smart Lid Systems managing director Nick Bayss says the company is seeking manufacturing, distribution and expansion partners across the US and Europe.
"Good coffee deserves great packaging, and the Smart Lid will complement quality printed and insulated cups and differentiate take-out venues from those using regular white lids," he says.
"Online purchasing is now available on our website, with international sample packs allowing customers, both commercial and retail, to experience our product.
"Commercial foodservice quantities will be available for sale online in late 2008."
REXAM UNVEILS RADIO FREQUENCY TAGS
Rexam has developed fully integrated Radio Frequency Identification enabled plastic pharmaceutical bottles that allow compliance with US FDA recommendations.
The tags (either HF or UHF) are encapsulated into discs and moulded into containers combining fully traceable life cycle and counterfeiting prevention.
The integration of the tag with the bottles enables traceability from the origin of the process and ensures 100 percent viable tags, Rexam says.
Rexam's RFID solution offers less damage of tags as moulded-in integration protects tag and fewer null reads from tag-to-tag contact on conveyer lines.
Elsewhere in the company, Rexam Pharma has launched a total packaging system for transdermal and topical application.
The Sof’bag is easy-to-use for patients while keeping filling simple and logistics easy for drug manufacturers.
Rexam says the 'bag and bottle' and 'pump and cap' system ensures pharmaceutical formulations are delivered with extreme accuracy.
The multilayer bag in the plastic bottle guarantees a maximum protection against contamination and oxidation.
The metering pump dosing from 0.50ml up to 1.50ml was developed especially for pharmaceutical use.
Rexam says it is currently on the market for hormonal treatments.
PLASTIPURE TO RELEASE FIRST ESTROGEN-FREE BOTTLE
PlastiPure says it will launch the first plastic bottle completely free of estrogenic activity.
PlastiPure says its patented technology allows for the production of resins free of all estrogenic activity and manufacturing methods that avoid dangerous additives to produce safer plastics.
Current research indicates endocrine disruptors, which leach from almost all plastics, can produce a wide range of health problems: early female sexual maturation; altered uterine, ovarian and breast functions; altered prostate, testicular and sperm functions; and increased rates of some breast, ovarian, testicular and prostate cancer.
A number of major retailers have pulled products, such as baby bottles and sports water bottles, from their shelves because of the growing awareness of health problems associated with many chemicals, including bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates, PlastiPure says.
PlastiPure's first product line, includes 4oz to 32oz polyethylene or polypropylene bottles.
Each production lot of bottles is tested by CertiChem, the industry leader in testing plastics for hormonal activity, checks each shipment of the resin, collects samples throughout the manufacturing process and evaluates a representative sample post-production for any estrogenic activity.
By Elizabeth Clifford-Marsh
