BI-AX Corn-Based Film Achieves Price Parity
- Published: November 18, 2014
WINGHAM, ON, CANADA | BI-AX International offers corn-based Evlon plastic film, for which it is claiming single-digit-percentage price parity.
Evlon is available in a wide range of thicknesses that company says can be used in many types of consumer packaging, and in the past, carried a price premium 30% to 40% higher than conventional petroleum-based films.
“We believe that [a recent] urgent call from the United Nations to reduce fossil fuel consumption will in turn fuel demand for compostable, biodegradable plastic film made without any hydrocarbon inputs,” says Tom Inglis, BI-AX’s general manager. “Environmentally aware consumers are demanding an earth-friendly approach motivated by knowledge that plastic litter is leaching known carcinogens and hormone disruptors into the earth’s soil and water. Government legislation isn’t far behind, with municipalities across North America demanding that retail stores and corporations pick up more of the tab for recycling mountains of plastic and other waste.”
Evlon is certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) as a packaging material that can disintegrate and biodegrade quickly and safely when composted in a professionally managed facility. When composted all that remains is water and carbon dioxide.
Evlon’s key ingredient is corn, a renewable field crop that provides starch, converted to sugar, then fermented to form lactic acid. The lactic acid is converted into a lactide molecule using heat, and then the lactic acid molecules are polymerized to form PLA, or Ingeo, provided to BI-AX by NatureWorks LLC, Minnetonka, MN.
BI-AX employs a proprietary process to turn the PLA into manufactured film, i.e., the raw material for printable, packaging including health food and produce wrappers, gift bags, candy wrappers, snack food bags, DVD and CD wraps, rigid cosmetics containers, labels, folding cartons, and more.
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