Suppliers scramble to show off plant-based bag technology without NPE showcase | Plastics News

With plastic bags in the environmental crosshairs, equipment maker CMD Corp. planned to use NPE2021 to put a full-scale production line on the show floor making greener trash bags with a plant-based polymer.

For Appleton, Wis.-based CMD and its partners in the project — bioplastic maker BioLogiQ and film extruder McNeely Plastic Products Inc. — it was going to be a chance to demonstrate to the U.S. market there are viable options for making lower-carbon bags, if and when consumer demand turns that way.

But even with the pandemic canceling this year's NPE, the companies plan to continue the collaboration with trials and video demonstrations.

That's because Tim Lewis, CMD's vice president of global sales and marketing, believes the North American market will head in that direction, toward trash bags with lower greenhouse impacts from using biopolymers or recycled resin, even if that's not a big priority now.

"In Europe, there's been some developments through the years to get people on a sustainable track, to get them recycling, to get them using renewable options for plastics," Lewis said. "But that doesn't really happen much in the U.S."

Both Europe and the U.S. are big markets for CMD. He said the company, which makes the equipment that manufactures more than 90 percent of the drawtape trash bags in the U.S., wanted to use NPE to show the market the company was ready.

"I believe strongly that we're eventually going to get there," Lewis said. "There's all this talk about circular economies and renewable resources and plant-based substrates and whatnot. But there's not a widespread acceptance of that. I wanted to show our existing customers that these kinds of films could still be run on your existing assets."

At NPE, the companies had been planning to operate a trial line with CMD's flagship bag making and bag winding line churning out 325 13-gallon trash bags a minute, using resins from BioLogiQ and film manufactured by McNeely.

They said they planned to use BioLogiQ's BioBlend brand of material, a resin that mixes its NuPlastiQ plant-based biopolymer with a standard grade of metallocene linear low density polyethylene produced from fossil fuels.

The companies say the BioBlend material reduces fossil fuel-based content by up to 35 percent per bag, in turn cutting greenhouse gas generation by 15-30 percent. Idaho Falls, Idaho-based BioLogiQ uses potatoes, corn and cassava to make its resins.

The companies said the BioBlend material they're using is also stronger than traditional LLDPE or LDPE, allowing for thinner bags and material savings of 20-30 percent.

But Lewis doesn't necessarily expect an immediate reaction to the idea from trash bag makers in North America.

Most are not looking at making changes in their plastic material choice, he said, because it's a very competitive market and companies worry about any change that could hurt bag performance or their brands.

"The major brands are not really actively looking at a switch to recycled bags or bio-based bags," Lewis said. "For the drawstring trash bag manufacturers in the U.S., the majority of their resin is virgin resin."

He said Europe generally has more detailed laws requiring recycled content use, although he said California does have a law requiring that trash bags have 40 percent recycled content. Trash bags don't generally attract the same environmental scrutiny as retail bags, Lewis said.

The company also plans to exhibit the technology at Germany's K show next year.

Lewis said the project is part of the company's ongoing work to develop equipment that can handle new types of recycled content or bio-based films.

In particular, he said CMD focuses on making sure its machinery has precise adjustments in "dwell," the amount of time that the machine's heated sealing bar is in contact with the film, which is critical for using bioresins and recycled content materials.

It's just that so far in the United States, the demand for that type of trash bag has remained more of a niche market, Lewis said.

"We started this process many years ago, but the cost and viability of the recycled content films was nowhere near acceptable to converters," he said. "The demand for recycled content bags already exists in Europe, where converters are forced through the Blue Angel and other programs to include a high percentage of post-consumer recycled plastic in their materials."wanted to use NPE to show the market the company was ready.

"I believe strongly that we're eventually going to get there," Lewis said. "There's all this talk about circular economies and renewable resources and plant-based substrates and what not. But there's not a widespread acceptance of that. I wanted to show our existing customers that these kinds of films could still be run on your existing assets."

At NPE, the companies had been planning to operate a trial line with CMD's flagship bag making and bag winding line churning out 325 13-gallon trash bags a minute, using resins from BiologiQ and film manufactured by McNeely.

They said they planned to use BioLogiQ's BioBlend brand of material, a resin that mixes its NuPlastiQ plant-based biopolymer with a standard grade of a metallocene linear low density polyethylene produced from fossil fuels.

The companies say the BioBlend material reduces fossil fuel-based content by up to 35 percent per bag, in turn cutting greenhouse gas generation by 15 to 30 percent. Idaho Falls, Idaho-based BiologiQ uses potatoes, corn and cassava to make its resins.

The companies said the BioBlend material they're using is also stronger than traditional LLDPE or LDPE, allowing for thinner bags and material savings of 20 to 30 percent.

But Lewis doesn't necessarily expect an immediate reaction to the idea from trash bags makers in North America.

Most are not looking at making changes in their plastic material choice, he said, because it's a very competitive market and companies worry about any change that could hurt bag performance or their brands.

"The major brands are not really actively looking at a switch to recycled bags or biobased bags," Lewis said. "For the drawstring trash bag manufacturers in the U.S., the majority of their resin is virgin resin."

He said Europe generally has more detailed laws requiring recycled content use, although he said California does have a law requiring that trash bags have 40 percent recycled content. Trash bags don't generally attract the same environmental scrutiny as retail bags, Lewis said.

The company also plans to exhibit the technology at Germany's K show next year.

Lewis said the project is part of the company's ongoing work to develop equipment that can handle new types of recycled content or biobased films.

In particular, he said CMD focuses on making sure its machinery has precise adjustments in "dwell," the amount of time that the machine's heated sealing bar is in contact with the film, which is critical for using bioresins and recycled content materials.

It's just that so far in the United States, the demand for that type of trash bag has remained more of a niche market, Lewis said.

"We started this process many years ago, but the cost and viability of the recycled content films was nowhere near acceptable to converters," he said. "The demand for recycled content bags already exists in Europe, where converters are forced through the Blue Angel and other programs to include a high percentage of post-consumer recycled plastic in their materials."

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