Smart Planet Technologies, a pioneer in sustainable barrier coating technologies, is proud to announce another breakthrough innovation in the packaging industry with the commercial release of EarthCoating-Bio, a new biopolymer version of its renowned EarthCoating barrier coating.
This cutting-edge development incorporates polylactic acid (PLA), a biobased resin, with a specialized mineral blend, to produce a barrier coating providing both compostability and recyclability to paper cups and other barrier-coated paper packaging.
Paper cups with polyethylene coatings have long been known to be challenging to recycle, and considered a contaminant to paper recycling systems. For that reason, many paper cups wind up in landfills. However, by mineralizing the resin, EarthCoating-Bio has been proven to produce barrier paper packaging that is fully compatible with conventional paper recycling systems and qualified for recycling in premium recovered paper categories.
Conventional PLA coatings are qualified as industrially compostable but as a 100% plastic coating, create the same challenges for recycling as 100% polyethylene coatings.
The new EarthCoating-Bio breaks new ground by mineralizing the plant-based PLA polymer to produce a coating that is universally recyclable, industrially compostable, bio-based, with less plastic.
- Recyclable: EarthCoating-Bio maintains the proven recyclability established with mineralized resins, consistent with the family of EarthCoating formulations, ensuring that the packaging can be recycled in standard paper recycling streams, and classified as uncoated paper. With its mineral content, EarthCoating-Bio is removed in the same method as clay fillers which are part of the composition of paperboards and are designed to be removed in conventional paper recycling.
- Industrially Compostable: This innovative coating meets industrial composting standards, providing an additional end-of-life solution that complements its recyclability.
- Biobased Composition: The use of PLA, derived from renewable resources, enhances the sustainability profile of packaging materials,
- Reduced Plastic Use: The mineralization of resin in a barrier coating reduces the plastic content by 35-51% over conventional 100% plastic coatings
- Affordability: The mineralization process reduces PLA by introducing inexpensive minerals, providing a more affordable solution with a better sustainability footprint
Seamless Integration: As with previous EarthCoating products, the new biopolymer version is designed to be a drop-in solution over 100% plastic coatings, requiring no changes to existing manufacturing processes. EarthCoating formulations provide improved barrier and heat seal performance over conventional 100% plastic coatings.
Chris Tilton, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Smart Planet Technologies, commented on the breakthrough, “Regulations for sustainable packaging have been challenged with the concern whether to support recycling or composting of packaging.
The commingling of packaging that may be compatible with one process can be incompatible with the other. With the introduction of EarthCoating-Bio, we are providing a solution that is compatible with both efforts, while reducing plastic content. This is a more sustainable PLA-based solution that 100% PLA coatings”.