Sustainable packaging, once a niche concern, has become a key strategic priority in the packaging industry. Regulators and consumers alike are demanding safe, sustainable solutions that don’t compromise on quality or performance. Can the industry deliver? According to sustainable packaging expert Colin Brown, it absolutely can — all it takes is a dash of potato starch.
Avebe’s Customer Development Projects Colin Brown pays very close attention to his customers’ markets. “When it comes to sustainable packaging, you see multiple trends converge. We see consumer pressure, stricter regulations, and growing concerns over food safety, and environmental impact. Taken together, these forces accelerate changes across the packaging industry.”
Creating sustainable packaging involves more than simply swapping plastic for paper. There are multiple technical and practical challenges to overcome. To begin with, every component – not just the most visible one – must be recyclable, compostable or biodegradable, non-toxic, compliant with applicable legislation, and suitable for industrial use.
Colin: “You can’t just offer a ‘paper-based’ product and call it a day. Fiber is part of the solution, but there’s more to packaging than fiber alone. Take adhesives, can yours guarantee sealability and meet all sustainability standards?”
Synthetic adhesives are non-biodegradable and complicate recycling
Packaging, especially food packaging, consists of more than fiber alone. Adhesives keep the packaging together and hold tamper-proof seals in place. These adhesives need to be food-safe and, depending on the contents, serve as barriers to oil, fat, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxygen.
Between 40 and 50 percent of all food packaging relies on hotmelt adhesives. Developed in the 1940s, synthetic polymers such as ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), polyolefins and styrene block copolymers (SBCs) form strong, fast-setting and cost-effective bonds. Unfortunately, these tried-and-tested synthetic adhesives are non-biodegradable and complicate recycling.
Colin: “Traditional synthetic adhesives are typically fossil-based, hard to break down, and incompatible with compostable packaging standards. Luckily, there’s a solid alternative to synthetic adhesives — one that’s biodegradable, food-safe, and cost-effective. If you want to go fully green, you need potato starch.”
With more than thirty years of experience at Avebe, Colin knows a thing or two about the industrial advantages of potato starch. Avebe is one of the leading innovators in sustainable packaging — and the world’s premier source for potato starch-based solutions.
Colin: “PerfectaCOL® GM, our potato starch-based adhesive, is affordable, efficient, and biodegradable of synthetic adhesives in both food and fiber-based applications. Best of all, it only requires minor adjustments to run on existing equipment.”
Potato starch is a natural, renewable ingredient that enables packaging to meet circularity standards. Under industrial composting conditions, adhesives based on PerfectaCOL® GM achieve 97% biodegradation in under 30 days, making them ideal for food-contact and single-use packaging.
Colin: “You can use PerfectaCOL® GM adhesive for heat-pressure sealing. They’re oil- and grease-resistant, PFAS-free, and made from renewable resources. We recently added PerfectaCOL® GM to the processes of a European specialty paper producer. Our adhesive allowed their packaging to pass DIN EN 13432 compostability standards, helping them meet their zero-waste packaging goals.”
As awareness and concern around the waste and health risks of plastics and PFAS continue to grow, the packaging industry must adapt.
Colin: “Packaging is often the first and most intimate contact customers have with your product. If you want to make a good impression, it needs to show that you take safety and sustainability seriously. That’s where PerfectaCOL® GM comes in. Our potato starch helps you meet expectations without compromising on quality or performance.”
PerfectaCOL® GM is a potato starch-based adhesive designed to meet the demanding needs of dry food packaging. It’s heat-pressure sealable and an oil-and-grease barrier. This versatility, makes it a viable alternative to synthetic heat-pressure sealable adhesives and even hotmelts, and the perfect solution for ensuring product integrity and sustainability.
Is your packaging fully green? Sustainability requires more than switching from plastics to fiber. If you want to add an adhesive that’s biodegradable, food-safe, and cost-effective, look no further than PerfectaCOL® GM. Contact our experts and discover the possibilities, feel free to contact our team of experts today.
