BASF, Schuster to develop recycled-content cardboard for fast-food sector

BASF, a Germany-based maker of chemistry-based products, and Schuster Karton, a Munich-based manufacturer of recycled paperboard products, are working together to develop a recycled cardboard product that can be used by the fast-food packaging industry.

Through research undertaken by the two companies, a biopolymer developed by BASF called Ecovio PS 1606 has been applied to recycled cardboard in an extrusion coating process. The coating enables the proportion of recycled paper fibers in fast-food packaging to be increased, while simultaneously making it industrially compostable.

The companies say the Ecovio PS 1606 is biobased and biodegradable, according to American Standard ASTM 6400 and European Standard EN 13432. BASF and Schuster say cardboard packaging produced with the coating is more than 90 percent biobased, recyclable and industrially compostable.

Traditionally, the use of recycled cardboard for fast-food packaging has been limited because substances can migrate from the packaging into the food. Many printing inks contain mineral oils, plasticizers or even residues of UV printing ink components. Since the printing ink residues are not removed completely when recycling the paper fibers, residues remain. When these substrates are used for food packaging, residues can migrate from the cardboard into the food, especially when the foods are packaged hot or if they are greasy or liquid.