PHILADELPHIA-- (BUSINESS WIRE) — May 01, 2009-- Food safety, environmental sustainability and energy savings were keynote topics at a recent gathering of flexible packaging suppliers, converters and end-users held concurrently with Exhibition Converflex in Milan, Italy. Nordmeccanica Group, leading coating and laminating equipment producer, hosted the day-long technical session at their Piacenza, Italy headquarters, which was attended by representatives of major global companies on hand for Exhibition Converflex nearby. The Dow Chemical Company was invited to address recent advancements related to adhesives performance available with the company's high-solids solvent-based, water-based and solventless adhesive technologies that, among other achievements, greatly reduce or completely eliminate VOCs related to flexible packaging manufacture.
"The escalating appeal for flexible packaging solutions to protect all types of foods is a global phenomenon," says John Norder, North American commercial director, Packaging and Industrial Adhesives, who spoke at the seminar and revealed findings from a series of studies conducted by the company and also by the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA) in conjunction with the Battelle Memorial Institute. "FPA studies have found that traditional rigid packaging practices such as canning, less-than-desirable paperboard materials, or even expensive extruded packaging materials that are wrongly touted as benign, don't measure up to flexible packaging in food product applications. Our studies concur that the best way to go for safety, sustainability and savings is flexible packaging," says Norder.
The studies compared other packaging methods to flexible packaging in order to establish technically sound information that quantifies safety, sustainability and savings contributions across the life cycle of various packaging alternatives. The results have enabled Dow to develop a list of 'Smart Solutions' for food packaging. The company's assessment of energy consumption, carbon footprint, and end-of-life opportunities from raw materials through final disposition all point to the superiority of flexible packaging. Evaluation of flexible packaging compatibility with recycling and waste-to-energy requirements, current and future energy consumption levels, and cradle-to-grave waste management also favored flexible plastic packaging. Furthermore, flexible packaging and the correct choice of adhesive help meet potential future carbon emissions limitations and achieve better energy recovery results during food packaging manufacture, according to the company's findings.
"Flexible packaging for foods promises to help the world manage energy use and resource deployment in significant ways," says Norder, who adds that use of the company's acrylic emulsion adhesives also eliminates the safety risk of aromatic amine migration and solvent contamination, concerns widely discussed throughout Europe.
Those interested in learning more about the various 'Smart Solutions' that Dow brings to the food packaging industry should contact their Dow representative or visit go.rohmhaas.com/sustainablepackaging_er for more information.