Sealed Air Corporation (sealedair.com) is offering a range of lightweight polypropylene (PP) trays and pots with high clarity for chilled foods thanks to Milliken’s (milliken.com) clarifying innovation Millad® NX™ 8000. Sealed Air’s choice of Millad NX 8000 to up the clarity benchmark of its thermoformed Cryovac® lidded trays and pots for meats, salads and other fresh produce, means food processors can benefit from the reduced packaging weight and lower carbon footprint of PP compared to alternative materials without comprising on packaging transparency or performance.
Due to its low density, PP packaging is typically 10% – 30% lighter and has a 24% lower carbon footprint than APET, for example, while offering the same strength and rigidity (Source: Intertek). Less material usage contributes to less post-consumer waste production too. Sealed Air’s Cryovac containers are non-brittle and break without sharp edges. The inherent higher heat resistance of PP trays and containers allows them to be reheated and also laminated in heat-sealing machinery without cracking or warping. PP is readily recyclable and straightforward to separate from other materials in the recycling chain, lending itself to re-use as food packaging or, through energy recovery, as a valuable source of energy.
Sealed Air’s customers have responded favorably to the company’s success in moving the clarity standard of its PP packaging upwards. By using Millad NX 8000, Sealed Air has also benefited from processing advantages in its production chain.
“Conventional clarifying agents don’t dissolve or disperse well in PP and this can cause a build-up on machinery during processing,” comments Michael Thomson, Sealed Air. “New generation Millad® NX™ 8000 on the other hand is easy to process. This further plus point for the clarifier adds to its significant achievement in raising the clarity standard of our polypropylene applications for the food sector.”
Milliken provided technical support and the right solution to help Sealed Air achieve optimum clarity and offer the highly-demanding food industry a competitive packaging alternative to support producers in meeting UK and European guidelines regarding reduction in packaging weight, waste and CO₂emissions.
Sami T.K. Palanisami, marketing and sales manager, Plastic Additives EMEA, Milliken, adds: “High clarity polypropylene helps food producers create an appealing fresh-look for packaged foods. It also brings the valuable environmental advantage of lighter packaging with a low carbon footprint during production and transportation, achieving a combination of benefits that is not possible with other materials.”
