Why Non-Plastic Barrier Coatings for Paper
Circular Economy – The Future of Paper Containers
Plastic lining paper
Most of the paper items especially in food and beverage packaging applications contain wax and plastic lining in order to have the effects of waterproof and greaseproof. However, the general waxed paper container is not suitable for holding hot food. High temperature will melt the wax layer on the surface, and the plastic coating is mostly polyethylene(PE) material which heat resistance to 70~90℃ and overheating is easy to produce carcinogens, while polypropylene (PP) material has higher temperature resistance (about 130℃) and can be heated by microwave. Unfortunately, at present, the paper container does not clearly mark what the plastic material coated on it. Consumers often mistakenly believe that the carton is simply made of pulp, and used it for packing hot food and heated in a microwave oven or put in an electric cooker; they think that paper packaging is safer and more environmentally friendly, but unknowingly ingested more of plasticizers.Furthermore, this layer prevents cups from being recycled easily caused that few paper containers are recycled, and the rest are burned as garbage or drop with abandon. It not only causes air pollution but also contamination in soil and marine environments.
Non-Plastic paper
It is to coat a layer of eco-friendly water-based resin on the surface of the paper to replace the plastic lining. This kind of plastic-free paper container can be recycled as ordinary paper after use and clean. It solves the burden of disposable paper on the environment. On the one hand, it conforms to the policy of plastic reduction and is friendly to the environment; on the other hand, the back end recycling process is relatively simple.USP's Food Grade of Barrier Coatings for Paper includes a series of products that repel water and oils & greases and hest-sealing. It just requires one coating and can replace the PE coating to apply on food paper container and packages. These barrier coatings are acrylic copolymer emulsions that are produced using the raw material of plant (core-shell structure starch-based) with non-plastic, non-fluorinated, glycol-free, extremely low VOC, HAPS-free and slight odor. Most importantly, paper and paperboard coated with these barrier coatings can be fully re-pulping, recyclable and biodegradable. In the future where environmental protection issues are highly valued, this is already a global trend!
Coating Application Method
UPS’ barrier coatings can be applied using conventional paper coaters, and a wide variety of coating applicators, including:
• Slot die type
• Wire bar type (Mayer bar)
• Flexographic type
• gravure type
• Roll to Roll type...etc.