Novamont (Novara / Italy; www.novamont.com) and advanced materials company Saes (Milan / Italy; www.saesgetters.com) have jointly developed a range of compostable biopolymers that can be used in a wide variety of applications, including food packaging. The companies said the plant-based polymers can be recycled at their end of life in industrial composting plants together with organic waste and that they are ideal alternatives to multilayer packaging that is not recyclable or is contaminated with food residues. They added that the products, which comply with the European compostability standard UNI EN 13432, provide gas and water vapour permeability comparable to that of traditional packaging.

Novamont has started producing the polymers at its “Mater-Bi” biopolymer plant in Patrica / Italy, increasing capacity there by 40,000 t/y. The company currently makes 100,000 t/y of its “Origo-Bi” biodegradable polyesters at Patrica – see Plasteurope.com of 29.10.2018. Novamont said as well as improving production efficiency and providing a rapid response to market demands, expansion at Patrica will also enable the group to diversify its production sites and ensure an ever greater range of products for different applications with an increasingly high content of renewables.