Clariant Partners With Merck & Sabic To Perfect Laser Marking Of Flexible Packaging
September 25, 2019Clariant has teamed up with pigment supplier Merck KGaA and resin producer SABIC to develop laser-marking technology and materials to ease the recycling process for flexible polyethylene (LDPE, LLDPE) packaging film. The results of the collaboration will be presented at K 2019, the international plastics trade fair being held on October 16 to 23 at Messe Dusseldorf in Germany.
“There is growing demand for clean, high-quality recycled PE,” explains Chun-Yip Pang, Clariant’s Global Product Manager Additive Masterbatches — Laser, “and, while recycling rates for PE films continues to increase, there are still a number of challenges that need to be overcome. This collaboration is focused on eliminating the printing ink used for tracking, shelf-life, bar codes and other variable information that must be placed on almost any package on the market. Less ink means less contamination when it comes to recycling.”
The collaboration demonstrates a complete supply-chain solution for laser-marking of films. As the resin supplier, SABIC contributes the polymer technology that delivers the properties required in the film packaging. Besides that SABIC can supply a wide variety of polymers in its portfolio as certified circular polymer, contributing even more to sustainable packaging. Laser-sensitive Iriotec® pigments and marking expertise are provided by Merck, while Clariant developed the additive masterbatch formulations for use in the film extrusion process.