Supplier Side
DuPont Improves PLA Performance
DuPont Packaging (Wilmington, DE) has launched Biomax Strong, a petrochemical additive that improves DuPont’s bio-based, biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) resin by increasing the resin’s toughness and decreasing its brittleness.
When compared with petroleum-derived plastics, some drawbacks to PLA have been brittleness and lower durability. According to DuPont, when used at recommended levels, Biomax Strong also maintains high levels of a PLA resin’s transparency.
Impressions Packaging Debuts PET Glass Line
Impressions Packaging (Peachtree City, GA) has introduced its new PET Glass collection of heavy-walled PET bottles. The bottles are available in flint-glass green and flint-glass blue colors.
Impressions’ PET bottles are designed to simulate the high-end look and rigid feel of glass while eliminating some of the drawbacks of glass such as breakage and higher shipping costs.
Rexam Tints Dip Tubes
Rexam Dispensing Systems (Suresnes, France) now offers fragrance brands the option of coating a fragrance dispenser’s dip tube with color. The supplier will test the coating with a brand’s fragrance formulation to determine if the two are compatible. Fragrances such as L’Eau D’Issey D’Été are already displaying this new technology.
Custom coloring and decorating of dip tubes has been an evolving design trend. In 2005, Rexam adorned the dip tube for the Energise by Hugo Boss fragrance with a red cylindrical housing.
Crown Incorporates RFID in Metal Packaging
Crown Holdings Inc. (Philadelphia) and UK-based security-technology firm QinetiQ have adapted QinetiQ’s Omni-ID Pak RFID technology so that it can be used on metal packaging. “With this development, metal has gone from being RFID unfriendly to having powerful benefits that competitive packaging formats do not,” said Dan Abramowicz, president of Crown Packaging Technology.
Less than 1 mm thick, the technology allows an ultra-high-frequency tag to be mounted directly onto a metal substrate. It has been designed to mitigate such issues as signal reflection, detuning, and grounding, which typically reduce or negate RFID’s effectiveness on metal packaging or aqueous-based products.
Diamond Packaging Unveils Plastic-Paper Hybrid Carton
Carton supplier Diamond Packaging (Rochester, NY) has introduced a new line of plastic-paper hybrid cartons. Diamondessence cartons are designed to make as much of a product as possible visible on the retail shelf.
The cartons are available in a wide range of styles and with custom die-cuts. Decorating options include hot stamping, embossing, and specialty coatings.