Michelman: Coating Solutions especially moisture and gas barrier on paper significantly improves the shelf life of food

We believe that if we design a packaging structure with a positive recycling value it will be collected for recycling as we have an army of rag pickers, who we call recycling partners in India. It has been MICC’S intention to change the packaging structure from existing non-recyclable (with no recycling value) to recyclable (positive recycling value). I will elaborate with a simple example, If we throw a bunch of newspapers in the street, it gets picked up quickly since it has a positive recycling value, however the same does not happen with Multilayer packaging structures, as they don’t have a positive recycling value. Recyclable Coatings don’t interfere or hinder in the process of recycling. At Michelman we continue to build and enhance our sustainable technology journey, three of our PFAS-free coatings, Michem® Coat 2000, Michem® Coat 525, and Hydraban® 8000, have recently complied with the specifications established by the American Society for Testing and Materials standards ASTM D6400 and D6868 per the terms and conditions of Biodegradable Products Institute’s (BPI) certification program for compostable products. 

The molded fibre products market have a great future in India and both the consumption and manufacturing is scaling up quite significantly. Michelman is actively working with molded fibre product manufacturers for food application as coating is apparently needed to achieve minimal barrier properties in the end product. We offer coatings that are recyclable, repulpable and in certain cases compostable as well, which makes the product eg, mouldedfibre food trays a truly green solution. 

This segment is growing quite significantly and with the plastic waste Management regulation act, coming into stricter force in 2022, we expect the growth to be sustained in the next few years as well. 

Our company’s goal and purpose is to Innovate a Sustainable Future. We are deeply invested in Research & Development of sustainable coating solutions and we keep introducing new products for that. Our latest offering, BPI Compostable coatings have won many awards across the globe. In India we have designed a recyclable &repulpable product for paper bags used in E-commerce industry and this has already been adapted by big e-commerce players, so next time you receive a delivery in a paper bag it would be most likely be coated with Michelman coatings.

Our solutions are specially designed to provide enhancement to paper packaging. We have coating designed for moisture barrier, oxygen barrier, oil & grease resistance and water repellency. The most important aspect of our design and chemistry is that the products do not hinder in the recycling process. We have designed coatings that also provide multiple barriers so with one coating most of the above barrier properties can be achieved, however for specific requirement like Moisture barrier, we also have a range of solutions for different paper substrates. We believe paper can be an effective replacement for non-recyclable packaging structures and it needs to be reinforced with sustainable coating solutions to make it a viable and compliable solution. 

Coating solutions especially moisture and gas barrier on paper significantly improves the shelf life of food which is packed in a paper packaging structure. Different degrees of barrier can be attained by different products, application method and coat weight. 

There are a wide variety of end applications where coatings can be used. Some of the primary packaging converters who manufacture Pizza boxes, Take-away container, Food pouch etc have been using coatings to achieve the required barrier properties. We are also supplying coatings to Paper bag manufacturers for E-commerce Industry. The applications are endless, The right combination of paper substrate and coating is required to create a very efficient recyclable packaging structure.