Euro eco-rating system awards top marks to Ingeo resins
The company’s biopolymers are used across a range of food and beverage packaging sectors, including fresh fruits, vegetables, deli, snack food and dairy, as well as in non-carbonated soft drinks, still water and fresh juices.
The Vincotte OK biobased certification, which was introduced in September 2009, quantifies the amount of renewable carbon content in packaging materials. The certification scheme meets the ASTM D6866 standard for determining the renewable/biobased carbon content of products.
The system grades renewable carbon content under a rising four-star sliding scale. Four stars are awarded to material with more than 80 percent biobased carbon content. Natureworks said the test demonstrated that all its 40-strong range of Ingeo resins were manufactured from 99 per cent renewable plant sugars.
“In actuality, all of the carbon is biobased, but 99 per cent reflects the accuracy of the test,” said the company.
Foundation for downstream products
“The Vincotte certification provides a critical third party certification of what brands and retailers are looking for – biobased content replacing fossil carbon and fossil energy content in the products they’re using,” a NatureWorks spokesman told FoodProductionDaily.com.
Petra Michiels, contract manager for the certification body, said these were the first biobased accreditations to be handed out.
“With the Ingeo resins now certified, the four-star rating can be used as the foundation for downstream products, earning them an OK biobased rating," she added.
“The OK biobased star rating serves as a sustainability indicator for consumers by identifying materials and products that are helping to alleviate the environmental problems associated with fossil fuels and greenhouse gases,” said Steve Davies, NatureWork’s corporate communications director. “Symbols on packages and products relating to the environment, such as the OK biobased stars, inform and influence consumer buying decisions.”
The company’s annual global capacity for production of Ingeo is 140,000 tons – with it sales currently split evenly into North America, the European Union and the Asia Pacific region.
