Laminate packaging that is easier to recycle

A collaboration between ExxonMobil Chemical Co. (EMCC; Spring, Tex.; www.exxonmobilchemical.com) and Thanh Phu Plastic Packaging Co. (TPPP; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; www.thanhphupack.com) has resulted in the development and commercialization of laminate packaging materials that can be collected and recycled in the same stream as polyethylene (PE) products. Due to their multi-component makeup, recycling laminated packaging is quite challenging, usually requiring a complex process to separate a nonpolar polyolefin layer from a polar laminate, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyamide (PA), ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) or oriented polypropylene (OPP). The collaboration combines TPPP’s proprietary film-conversion process with PE performance polymers from EMCC’s Exceed and Enable product families. This full-PE alternative to conventional laminated products is comparable to traditional laminate products in terms of aesthetics and integrity, says EMCC. In similar products, the full-PE solution exhibited competitive secant modulus and bag-drop performance to PA-laminated at the same total film thickness, says TPPP. Leveraging TPPP’s Veloflex film-blowing technology, which is based on specific directional-orientation of polymers…