Avient Corporation, a premier provider of specialized and sustainable material solutions and services, today announced availability of a new light blocking additive technology for PET dairy packaging as an addition to its existing portfolio of ColorMatrix Lactra light blocking additive concentrates. This new additive technology helps customers’ packaging products to comply with new titanium dioxide (TiO2) restrictions in Europe under the EU Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC.
In recent years, white opaque PET bottles for dairy applications have been under increasing scrutiny for the potential effects their mineral fillers can have on the recycle stream used to create fiber. This latest Lactra technology offers brand owners and PET packaging converters the ability to achieve over 99.9 percent light blocking in monolayer PET, with high levels of whiteness (L* of up to 94) but with less than 1 weight percent TiO2 and less than 4 weight percent inorganic content. This technology is also available in TiO2 free versions.
Complete with food contact approvals for the European Union and FDA, this new Lactra additive is compatible with the PET recycle stream for fibers, sheet, and strapping. Testing also shows that in established opaque white PET recycle streams, Lactra products are suitable for closed loop bottle-to-bottle recycling.
Commercially available in major regions around the world, new Lactra light blocking additive technology from Avient can help customers facing TiO2 restrictions comply with regulations without compromising performance.
