Multilayer packaging films play a vital role in protecting food, medical devices, and electronics. Their strength and barrier protection keep food fresh, maintain sterility, and prevent environmental damage. Each film can be precisely engineered to meet specific product needs, resulting in packaging that’s lightweight, durable, and highly functional.
As demand for more environmentally-friendly packaging grows, businesses should consider sustainable multilayer packaging films to reduce their carbon footprints without compromising functionality. Green polyethylene, made from renewable sources like sugarcane, offers a way forward.
Polyram’s Bondyram BioTL 413 is one such sustainable solution. This biopolyethylene is a specialised tie layer that can bond plastic film components. Bondyram BioTL 413 combines sustainability with excellent oxygen and moisture protection properties to create a high-performance multilayer barrier packaging solution.
Biopolyethylene for packaging film with a negative carbon footprint
Green biopolyethylene can help create packaging films with a reduced, or even negative, carbon footprint, depending on how it is sourced and produced.
Multilayer transparent packaging can be made more sustainable through a combination of polyethylene recycling and the use of biopolyethylene. Both approaches contribute to a more circular economy, but recycling alone has limits, especially in food contact applications.
Biopolyethylene, made from agricultural feedstocks like sugarcane, offers a low-carbon alternative to fossil-based materials. Once the plant sugars are extracted, fermented, dehydrated, they can be polymerised into high-density polyethylene (HDPE), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), or linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE). Each product is chemically identical to the conventionally-produced PE it replaces.
Because agricultural feedstocks absorb CO₂ as they grow, the production of green polyethylene can remove carbon from the environment, achieving in some cases a negative carbon footprint. Polyram’s Bondyram BioTL 413 has demonstrated a negative carbon footprint in life cycle assessments, offering a more sustainable solution for multilayer barrier films.
Polyram’s Bondyram BioTL 413: high-performing plastic from sugar cane
Bondyram BioTL 413 is a modified bio-based LLDPE that can be used as adhesive resin for barrier films, with packaging applications in the food, medical, and electronics industries, and beyond.
Among its many benefits, Bondyram BioTL 413:
- Demonstrates excellent bonding to ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) and polyamide.
- Excels in both blown and cast film technologies while maintaining processing characteristics that mirror conventional polyolefins.
- Improves mechanical properties and compatibility with natural fibres.
- Does not require specialised equipment or process modifications, so manufacturers can enhance sustainability without sacrificing production efficiency or thermal stability.
Bondyram BioTL 413 is supplied in pellet form. It must be stored in dry conditions below 50°C and protected from UV exposure in order to maintain its performance properties.
Learn more about green polyethylene
IMCD Advanced Materials is here to answer your questions about transitioning to green polyethylene, and other sustainable materials. We have a large portfolio of materials suitable to your multilayer packaging films, and can advise you on which are suitable to pair with Bondyram BioTL 413. Please contact us today for more information on any of these products, or to request samples.
Ready to cut your carbon footprint with sustainable multilayer packaging films? Contact IMCD today to explore Bondyram BioTL 413 and our full portfolio.
Biopolyethylene FAQs
What is a green PE?
Green polyethylene (PE) is chemically identical to traditional PE but manufactured from renewable plant sources instead of fossil fuels. It is typically produced from sugarcane ethanol, which is dehydrated to create ethylene and then polymerised. Green PE allows for the identical physical and chemical properties of fossil-based PE, with a reduced carbon footprint. These bio-based compounds come from plant feedstock, which stores carbon as it grows.
Additives like Bondyram BioTL 413, a specialised bio-based coupling agent, can be incorporated to enhance the performance characteristics of green PE composites. This improves mechanical properties and compatibility with natural fibres.
Why is bio PE better than PE?
Bio PE offers a significantly reduced carbon footprint compared to conventional PE, because of CO₂ absorption during biomass growth. In some cases, bio PE's footprint may even be carbon-negative. While bio PE is chemically identical to fossil-based PE, it decreases the reliance on finite petroleum resources by utilising renewable agricultural feedstocks. Such renewable sourcing provides supply security and price stability in the long term.
Is polyethylene eco-friendly ?
Conventional polyethylene is made from fossil fuels. However, new biopolyethylenes made from renewable feedstocks can now replace conventional polyethylene in many applications. Bondyram BioTL 413, a modified bio-based green polyethylene, actually has a negative carbon footprint.
What is biopolyethylene used for?
Biopolyethylene can replace conventional polyethylene in products including:
- Food and beverage packaging
- Cosmetic packaging
- Bags and films for retail and agricultural uses
- Bottles and jars
- Toys
- Household items
- Industrial components
- Automotive components
Is biopolyethylene 100% biodegradable?
Despite its bio-based origins, biopolyethylene is not biodegradable. Its molecular structure is identical to conventional polyethylene derived from fossil fuels, so it is resistant to microbial breakdown in natural environments. However, like conventional PE, biopolyethylene is recyclable. To make progress towards a more circular economy, companies should both incorporate bio-based PE and PE recycling.