Moisture resistant bioplastics for fruit & vegetable packaging

Since January 2017, in the French retail sector, the use of plastic bags for fruit and vegetables, as well as at the cheese, meat and also fish counter was banned.

However, bags made from home compostable bioplastic which contain a minimum amount of 30% renewable raw materials (and from 2025, 60% renewable raw materials) are excluded from this ban. FKuR, a packaging company in Europe makes such bags and says that one great advantage of their Bio-Flex bags is that they provide improved moisture resistance.

They claim that other bags biodegrade rapidly but should only be filled with dry contents. FKuR says they offer multi-purpose bags for fruit and vegetable packing, mulching films and other packaging including:

Translucent Grades
This range currently comprises of translucent and opaque grades. Bio-Flex FX 1803 (30% biobased) as well as F 1804 and F 1814 (both 40% biobased) grades are translucent; additionally Bio-Flex F 1814 offers increased tear resistance. They are suitable for packaging goods with printed IR codes as well as for visually attractive packaging for all types of printed materials.

Opaque Grades
Bio-Flex FX 1821 (10% biobased), FX 1823 (30% biobased) and FX 1824 (40% biobased) grades are all opaque. These opaque grades show very good tear resistance and toughness. As pilot tests with customers have shown, bag thickness can easily be down gauged to 8 μm with these new grades. The good processing properties using existing production facilities are similar for all Bio-Flex grades and are a characteristic of FKuR compounds.

source: plastemart.com