28. Jun 2014
SolVin highlights green PVC from Mondoplastico as project of the month
Throughout the intervening period of three years between each presentation of the SolVin Award for PVC Innovation, projects presented in in the various categories of the competition are selected for special attention in the newsletter. This month’s pick: Mondoplastico’s green PVC.
Italy-based Mondoplastico has been in the plastic sheeting business for over half a century. Over the course of its long experience in the industry, the company has managed to keeps reinventing itself, along the way building a new factory and developing a steady stream of innovative products. With sustainability in the air, the Italian firm mobilised its R&D team to boost recyclability after it joined the industry’s programme VinylPlus “We’ve made a lot of effort to improve PVC’s environmental performance,” says Nicola Avella, technical manager at Mondoplastico. “for our recipe, we mix PVC with materials coming from vegetable or renewable resources.”
As a result, the new recipe contains 50% certified biodegradable biopolymer and with an OK-Biobased 2 Stars certificate . That, in effect, doubles the sheeting’s biodegradability, explains Mr. Avella.
“There are some other polymers for calendaring, but PVC is the best we have,” he says. “We wanted to make a material that’s completely biodegradable, but that is not technically possible.”
The catch for the biodegradable sheeting, says Mr. Avella, is a compromise on durability as well as higher cost.
“All customers want is green, green, green. But when it costs one cent more, they’re reluctant,” he says. On durability: “It lasts only a few months, so you can’t put it long-lasting applications such as cars.” But for food packaging, tablecloths, temporary advertising banners or billboards, it can be ideal, says Mr. Avella.
Never mind putting it in Mondoplastico’s Cast Killer Film to stick images on your road warrior-dream machine.
Biodegradable sheeting is just one of the niches Mondoplastico fills from a factory with 30,000 tons of capacity. They also produce sheeting to install graphics on floors, trains, and planes as well as construction materials for stretched ceilings and verandas
“Whenever you do something sustainable, you have to consider its full life cycle,” says Mr. Avella. “We take that into account with all our products, it’s always a balancing act.” (KL)