Toray's Torayfan^® CBS2 BOPP film provides converter and snack food giant with a high-performance, environment-friendly alternative to traditional transparent barrier film made with PVdC.

North Kingstown, Rhode Island - Packaging Products Corporation and Toray Plastics (America), Inc., announce that they have collaborated to create high-barrier PVdC-free packaging for Utz^® Quality Foods. The new packaging lamination combines Toray's Torayfan^® CBS2 BOPP film, a clear, PVdC-free flat sheet designed for use as an inside sealant web, with a co-extruded BOPP print web. Utz, which often has to ship products over long distances and has stringent barrier requirements, first used the Torayfan CBS2 BOPP film for its three-ounce party mix, creating a colorful, eye-catching pouch with a clear window that allows customers to see the product. Today Utz uses the material for the packaging of more than two dozen products, including its tortilla chips, party mix, corn chips, Puff N' Corn and similar salty snacks in the portfolio that don't require a metallized lamination. 

Will Woodford, Vice President of Sales Administration for PPC, which serves Utz, explains that food manufacturers for years wished for an alternative to transparent barrier film containing PVdC.  "Though PVdC-coated OPP film keeps bakery and snack foods fresh and gives consumers a window to the product inside the package, the film has several drawbacks," Woodford said. "It yellows as it ages, becoming brittle and prone to flex cracking. It has experienced price hikes that have made end-user costs surge, and it has required many flexographic printer/converters to use EMA additives or other supplemental materials to promote bond adhesion for laminating to PVdC-coated OPP.  Besides those concerns, reports about PVdC-coated films' potential negative long-term effect on the environment have made some manufacturers uneasy." 

Amanda Whaley, Product Manager, Torayfan Division, Toray Plastics (America), said Toray recognized end-users' and converters' concerns and developed CBS2 BOPP film with barrier properties achieved by means of Toray's resin technology and a proprietary, non-PVdC barrier layer. The non-barrier side of CBS2 film is designed for heat sealability.  

PPC was receptive when Toray approached the company with its innovation because it had been interested in replacing or finding an alternative to PVdC-coated laminations. Together Toray and PPC undertook extensive trial work comparing the performance of CBS2 with that of traditional PVdC-coated BOPP film. The results showed clearly that CBS2 offered excellent moisture and oxygen barrier and had superior lamination bond, without the need for priming, additives or any changes to PPC's lamination process. The film also provided a wide heat-seal range, excellent oil resistance, puncture resistance and stiffness, yield advantage, and a longer storage life.

PPC presented the new option and test data to Utz, who successfully tested the material on its own machinery. Price increases in PVdC-coated films made CBS2 film even more attractive. "The first application performed beautifully and Utz continues to specify the CBS2 lamination," Woodford said. "CBS2 BOPP film has given us and our customers a new option for a clear, thin OPP with enhanced oxygen- and moisture-barrier, which is critical to good sourcing practices." Wolford notes that several other PPC customers now are testing CBS2 film for their own packaging.