Sealed Air selects Cardia Biohybrid sustainable resin

International sustainable resins supplier Cardia Bioplastics was selected as development partner to help Sealed Air bring break through environmental performance to customers with its innovative Fill-Air® inflatable packaging. The new Fill-Air R5® brand expresses Sealed Air's environmental commitment to renewable and recycled content, plus reduced, re-used and re-cycled product.

Cardia Bioplastics Managing Director Dr. Frank Glatz said that the main design goals were to reduce the need on petroleum based resins and to maintain the packaging integrity of the Fill-Air® protective void fill cushions. There were two key aspects to the success of this collaborative product development process. "First, our Cardia Biohybrid^TM resin enabled Sealed Air to reduce their dependency on non-renewable petroleum based resins by 10% and the incorporation of 10% pre-consumer recycled content, meant that this new film reduced the need for petroleum based resins by 20%, as compared to the Fill-Air® Select and Ultra films," he said. "The second aspect of Sealed Air's performance standards presented a greater technical challenge. The Cardia Biohybrid^TM resin had to meet precision performance standards during both the manufacture of the film and later at the point of use, when the film is inflated and used as void fill."

At the point of use for Sealed Air customers, this sustainable film delivers robust performance in demanding conditions. It must provide high speed processing on the Sealed Air range of Fill-Air® systems and excellent sealability to ensure good air retention, while protecting the packaged goods in transit.

David Weiss, Business Manager for Sealed Air said: "When it comes to sustainability, we focus on the total life cycle of our products and the products we protect. Our strategy involves understanding the beginning and end of life, in addition to the performance during use. The new Fill-Air R5® film addresses all of these areas."

The new Fill-Air R5® film is designed for use on the Sealed Air Fill-Air® 2000 and Fill-Air Cyclone® packaging systems to quickly create air-filled cushions for void-fill applications. These systems are fast and easy to operate delivering air-filled cushions on demand for excellent protection and efficient void filling, while reducing material and shipping costs.

Cardia Biohybrid^TM resins combine renewable thermoplastics with polyolefin material to reduce dependence on finite oil resources and to reduce carbon footprint. The renewable material is derived from corn crop grown for industrial use that will be replenished in the next growing season.

"Working closely with the Sealed Air team, we contributed to making their commitment to the "five R's" (renewable source, recycled content, reduce material, reuse, and recycled) a reality. Sealed Air is another example of a major market leader taking the initiative to reduce consumption of virgin petroleum based resin - in this case by a significant 20%," said Dr. Frank Glatz.

Source: http://www.cardiabioplastics.com