Transparent Impact Modifier

Increased demand for plastics packaging to protect our

personal health and to prevent the coronavirus from spreading further, combined

with a collapse in oil prices, resulted in cheaper to produce virgin plastic. Given this,

it is now more important than ever to consider the overarching and common goal of

creating a truly sustainable and circular economy.

Replacing non-recyclable frozen food trays with PET monomaterial structures,

while increasing use of RPET

Many indispensable products are partly or entirely made of plastics. We support our

customers in switching to more sustainable solutions via our dedicated SUKANO®

“With our newly formulated SUKANO® Impact Modifier Portfolio, customers have a

recyclable alternative at hand to replace products made of, for instance, amorphous

Copolyester or GAG film structures, while enjoying the benefits that go beyond

mechanical properties modification.” states Alessandra Funcia, Head of Marketing at

Sukano and Chairwoman at the Working Group Functional and Opaque PET packaging

at PETCore.

Improved durability and toughness, enhanced impact resistance, higher RPET

content, shatter resistance – and all without a loss in transparency. It also allows

safe packaging for consumer by reducing sharp edges and it leads to less shards,

avoiding contamination. This helps improve productivity and yields by avoiding line

interruptions and generating more first quality parts. Our customers can also testify

that these high-performance Masterbatches provide additional functionality as a

cutting aid, improving die cutting in production, speeding up the lines and avoiding

any cross-contamination potential by splinters. “All without compromises: our latest

development - the SUKANO® Impact Modifier Portfolio - allows transparent trays

for cold, flash frozen and room temperature trays, to be fully recyclable,” reinforces

Michael Kirch, Global Head of R&D

Sukano supporting the move to PET based innovative products

Beyond the impact modifier masterbatch, Sukano is helping to facilitate the

replacement of end applications made from non-recyclable or less sustainable

materials into applications made from PET via an innovative RPET Product Portfolio.

SUKANO® Melt Enhancer Masterbatches makes multiple recycling circles possible.

These masterbatches improve processing stability and mechanical performance, thus

enabling the use of higher amounts of recycled PET for high-quality applications. Since

different end applications require different product performances – and processing

technology is not uniform at every industrial center – our specialists designed a

portfolio that enable the selection of the most accurate and appropriate chemistry to

allow you enjoy the greatest value over benefit ratio.

Additionally, to allow material to be reused, detectability of the postconsumer

material is crucial. This enables sorting at dedicated facilities, ensuring the material

can go back into the recycling stream. Sukano provides brand owners and convertors

a formulated NIR detectable colors portfolio, which has been certified by sorting

machine technology leaders in France, Tomra and Pellenc. These masterbatches allow

sorting and recycling of any colored packaging or other end applications according

to the COTREP design guidelines, giving producers the freedom in aesthetics and

PET and its advantages for the environment

When it comes to sustainability, circularity plays a decisive role and therewith a

sophisticated material selection is crucial to give plastic applications a second life

opportunity.

If we were to ban all plastics packaging and replace it by the alternatives – glass, metal,

wood – the amount of energy required for that would explode.

PET Plastic packaging are functional and precious resources. And, when considering the recyclability of plastics, PET is champion. Recycling one ton of plastics can avoid the emission of 2.5 tons of CO2 versus production from virgin materials, and 2.7 ton of CO2 emissions if incinerated. PET recycling saves 83% of energy and 70% of CO2 emissions compared to PET produced from virgin materials.

As circularity makes a major contribution to achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and decoupling economic growth from resource use, medium to long-term targets should include investment in innovative recycling infrastructures to assure different waste streams are converted into valuable resources. It must be the work of all of us to recover them, recycle them and keep the materials into the loop.

Join the journey and be part of the solution. At Sukano #wearepartofthesolution.