Cailong

With the rapid development of the plastic industry, it has brought convenience to human society's life and production, but at the same time, it has also led to the generation of a large amount of plastic waste. The problem of plastic pollution has gradually become the second-largest global environmental issue after climate change, posing a great challenge to global sustainable development.

Regarding the issue of plastic pollution, the soft packaging industry, which uses plastic films in a large proportion, is also constantly exploring the development direction of plastic soft packaging products. Currently, there are mainly two development directions: one is the development towards plastic degradability, and the other is towards a single-material composite recyclable direction. Among them, the latter is the main development direction. The so-called single-material composite soft packaging refers to a packaging composed of two or more layers of the same material, also known as homogeneous composite soft packaging. The purpose of the development of single-material composite packaging is to be recyclable and reusable, and to reduce the pollution caused by soft packaging products to the environment.

According to the recent special research report titled "The Future of Single Material Plastic Packaging Film Market 2025" released by Smithers, from 2015 to 2019, the global single material plastic packaging film market experienced a significant compound annual growth. Asia-Pacific, North America, and Western Europe are the three major consumer markets for single material plastic packaging films globally. In 2020, the proportions of these three regions in the global single material plastic packaging film market were 48.6%, 17.2%, and 15.5% respectively.

Due to the significant differences in physical properties among various types of film materials, a single material structure alone cannot meet all application requirements. Currently, the main soft packaging materials include PET, PE, PP, PA, aluminum foil, etc. Based on the barrier properties, packaging strength, shelf life, and other characteristics of the packaged items, materials with different functional characteristics are selected for compounding to produce packaging films and bags with comprehensive performance that can meet the preservation needs of the items. Overcoming the limitations of a single material has become the focus of research for enterprises in the industry chain, and new innovative products can be continuously introduced to the market. Currently, the main application materials for a single material are mainly PP, PE, and PET. Among them, PET material has significant limitations in soft packaging applications due to its heat sealing performance and strength, and in soft packaging applications, PP and PE materials still dominate.

For instance, Ameco has committed to making all its packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025. It has developed multiple types of composite bags, including recyclable steaming bags made of a single PP material and pet food bags.

On December 5, 2021, the Guangdong Packaging Technology Association released the TGDBZ011-2021 "Single Material Packaging - Polyethylene Composite Film and Bags for Daily Chemical Products" group standard, which came into effect on December 25. This standard is applicable to multi-layer daily chemical packaging composite films and bags produced by printing, compounding or coating, and bag-making processes using polyethylene film as the raw material. Its structure mainly consists of: ① MDOPE/PE, ② BOPE/PE, ③ HDPE/PE. Among them, ① and ② are mainly used for liquid packaging and solid packaging, while ③ is mainly used for solid packaging. For the same material PE, if the barrier performance needs to be improved, BOPE/VMPE (PE aluminum-coated film) or MDOPE/VMPE can be used. Foshan Cailong Coated Packaging Materials Co., Ltd. has developed several high-performance PE aluminum-coated films for customers to choose from when developing composite films and bags with the same material.

Achieve high barrier properties using MDOPE

Foshan Cailong Coating Packaging Materials Co., Ltd. launched the BOPP series coating materials in late 2021, which solved the problem of poor barrier performance of PP material. The following are the typical values of BOPP coating, for users' reference and selection:

High barrier BOPP coating properties table

From the typical values in the above table, it can be seen that:

1. The BOPP coating has the following characteristics:

1. It has excellent coating adhesion, which can significantly increase the bonding strength with other materials;

2. It has excellent oxygen and moisture resistance, extending the shelf life;

3. It can replace VMPET or aluminum foil and be used as the middle layer in a three-layer structure, making the composite material homogenized.

II. The application fields of BOPP coating include:

1. As an alternative to aluminum foil and VMPET, it offers better processing performance and more environmentally friendly recycling treatment;

2. Packaging for dried fruits, tea, coffee, chocolate, dehydrated foods, flavoring and fragrance materials, medicines, etc.

III. Product Compliance:

The materials comply with the requirements of FDA, EU, REACH, RoHS and national standards 4806.7, etc., and are environmentally friendly, safe and reliable.

Reference Structure 1:

BOPP printing / VMBOPP / (CPP) can replace PET printing / Al / PA / PE, PET printing / VMPET / CPP (PE), or BOPP printing / VMPET / CPP (PE) etc. structures.

Reference Structure 2:

BOPP printing / BOPP-AlOx / CPP can replace PET printing / PET-AlOx / CPP (PE), BOPP printing / PET-AlOx / CPP (PE), K coating / CPP (PE), etc. structures.

From 2022 to 2025, single-material flexible packaging will continue to capture a larger share of the market in those composite packaging films used for some medium and low barrier membranes and bags (structures: BOPP/CPP or VMCPP). At the same time, it will also gain a certain share in the application of high barrier bags. People will see more and more single-material packaging being used for dehydrated foods, detergents and dry pet food. However, in the liquid packaging field, single-material packaging bags still need to overcome the performance challenges in material production and composite processes before they can achieve better promotion and application.