The company aims to expand the use of polypropylene more in food applications

South Plastic Industry, a leading Asian manufacturer of thermoformed plastic food packaging, has been striving to develop a clear, anti-fogging polypropylene (PP) lid for its microwaveable food packaging. The aim has been to replace oriented polystyrene (OPS) in this key application, but it wasn’t easy to find a way to get the highly recyclable PP to meet all the necessary performance requirements while also retaining the clarity and non-yellowing aesthetics that are vital to appealing to consumers on the grocery store shelves.

Based in New Taipei City, Taiwan, South Plastic Industry (or SPI) has leveraged its close, five-year working relationship with additives supplier Milliken & Company to achieve its goals finally.

Using Milliken’s Millad NX 8000 clarifier, the two parties have produced an UltraClear PP resin that delivers on all the performance promises for ready-meal packaging while also offering additional processing benefits. SPI also recently began using Milliken’s Hyperform HPN performance additives in its PP formulations.

“By using Milliken’s additives, we are able to thermoform our products at a lower processing temperature, which allows us to reduce our energy use,” said Tosho Wang, President of SPI. “At the same time,” he said, “These additives allow SPI to produce a thinner PP lid without affecting rigidity, which in turn helps to reduce plastic usage while increasing output.”

Saving energy during processing is a major plus for SPI, which runs dozens of thermoforming machines in its Taiwan plant. “Milliken’s additives produce an UltraClear APP that prevents yellowing, reduces oxidation reaction, and extends the shelf life of packaged products,” added Kua Cheng Huat, Milliken sales manager for Taiwan. But its crystal clarity is one of the most important features.

Many suppliers use oriented PS resin for their ready-meal packaging lids, but those can only withstand 85°C temperatures and are unsuitable for microwaveable products. With UltraClear PP, such packaged foods can go straight from the refrigerator to the microwave while retaining the necessary clarity and aesthetics.

SPI, which now uses Milliken clarifiers in all its UltraClear PP packaging products, says it plans in the future also to explore using the material to expand the use of PP in more food applications, including some that currently use PET. When it comes to thermoformed polypropylene food packaging for South Plastic Industry, the way forward is clear and involves further close collaboration with Milliken.

The Covid-19 pandemic led to the country-wide lockdown on 25 March 2020. It will be two years tomorrow as I write this. What have we learned in this time? Maybe the meaning of resilience since small companies like us have had to rely on our resources and the forbearance of our employees as we have struggled to produce our trade platforms.

The print and packaging industries have been fortunate, although the commercial printing industry is still to recover. We have learned more about the digital transformation that affects commercial printing and packaging. Ultimately digital will help print grow in a country where we are still far behind in our paper and print consumption and where digital is a leapfrog technology that will only increase the demand for print in the foreseeable future.

Web analytics show that we now have readership in North America and Europe amongst the 90 countries where our five platforms reach. Our traffic which more than doubled in 2020, has at times gone up by another 50% in 2021. And advertising which had fallen to pieces in 2020 and 2021, has started its return since January 2022.

As the economy approaches real growth with unevenness and shortages a given, we are looking forward to the PrintPack India exhibition in Greater Noida. We are again appointed to produce the Show Daily on all five days of the show from 26 to 30 May 2022.

It is the right time to support our high-impact reporting and authoritative and technical information with some of the best correspondents in the industry. Readers can power Packaging South Asia’s balanced industry journalism and help sustain us by subscribing.

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.