Biodegradable PLA Biopolymer

Biomaterials manufacturer NatureWorks has expanded the capabilities of its product line of Ingeo™ biopolymers with the introduction of the Ingeo Extend platform. The new platform is designed to enable faster rates of biodegradation and disintegration, and achieve new levels of productivity that enable the commercial-scale use of biobased Ingeo PLA.

The new grades within the Ingeo Extend platform are designed for faster compostability, up to 8x faster, than other existing PLA grades. They can also be blended with other existing Ingeo PLA grades to enhance their comparative biodegradation and disintegration rates.

Ingeo Extend 4950D – the first grade in this platform, is a new PLA polymer by NatureWorks that increases the production efficiency of BOPLA films and lowers their production costs. It also allows for a stretch ratio of up to 7x in the transverse direction (TD) and can be used as an adjunct with other Ingeo PLA grades to more economically produce films on production equipment normally suited for the manufacturing of BOPP.

Oriented film producers and Brand Owners alike can utilize Ingeo Extend 4950D to reduce BOPLA production costs. In addition, biaxial films made with Ingeo Extend 4950D break down at a faster rate relative to unmodified Ingeo PLA, depending on the amount incorporated in the PLA blend. Sealing performance is also improved, especially in coextruded film structures where Ingeo Extend 4950D is added in the sealing layers up to 15%. New BOPLA films made with Ingeo Extend 4950D have high heat resistance up to 130 - 140C, excellent clarity, and good mechanical properties, including low shrinkage.​

“Brand owners and film producers are increasingly asking for lower cost biaxial films for compostable food packaging and Ingeo Extend 4950D biaxial films are ideal to replace small-format food packaging made from persistent polymers such as polypropylene,” said Roger Tambay, Chief Growth Officer for NatureWorks. “These packages are difficult to recycle due to challenges in sortation, or the inaccessibility of end-use markets for recyclates. Naturally, small-format packaging films are a better fit for composting, not recycling, and h this new platform and the Ingeo Extend 4950D grade, we can meet this demand beyond niche applications or a single product line, achieving production at a scale that makes replacing fossil-based persistent plastics with compostable biobased materials more feasible than ever.”

Recent growth in extended producer responsibility legislation in the U.S. alongside the Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) in Europe, has accelerated the need for compostable flexible films and food packaging to meet diversion targets. The Ingeo Extend platform technology will expand the ability to create cost-effective, high performance compostable packaging perfect for items that carry food residue, and are difficult to recycle and to achieve recyclability at scale, such as condiment packets, snack and candy packaging, salad bags, and lidding for creamer containers, coffee pods, sauce dippers, and more.

Use of compostable packaging to divert food scraps to compost and away from landfills has a measurable impact on climate and the environment. By replacing a fossil-based plastic, Ingeo reduces the carbon footprint of packaging, on average, by 73%. Additionally, food scraps degrading in landfills are the third largest source of methane emissions in the world. Diverting food residue to composting operations reduces these emissions and creates a valuable soil amendment that achieves healthy soils with good soil structure, enabling the sequestration of carbon dioxide. Furthermore, a study conducted by HYDRA Marine Sciences affirms that Ingeo PLA does not create persistent microplastics in the environment.