With increased environmental consciousness and growing food prices, consumers are trying to reduce food waste as much as possible. Re-closable packaging is getting more and more popular as it is easy to use and helps to make food last longer. Re-closable packaging reduces moisture loss/gain, microbial growth and preserves the flavor of the food.

LyondellBasell and Henkel have gone one step further by developing new reopen/reclose properties which make re-closable packaging even more convenient for consumers. The Henkel hotmelt adhesive, which is based on an innovative plastomer from LyondellBasell, is responsible for the improved reopen/reclose properties.

The final hotmelt adhesive manufactured by Henkel allows for a smooth first opening while maintaining desired reopening and reclosure properties on amorphous polyethylene terephthalate (APET) and polyolefin trays - even after multiple repetitions.

Henkel found this solution to be more advantageous than previously used technologies. “It’s the first time we are using this type of solution for re-closable packaging,” says Dirk Kasper, Head of Product Development Packaging Adhesives Europe at Henkel.

“Thanks to its product design, our re-closable hotmelt provides processing advantages compared with current market alternatives. This is about its very good compatibility with coextruded materials such as polyethylene (PE) or polyethylene terephthalate glycol (PET-G) and stable film-blowing. Additionally, it shows long lasting re-closability properties.”

“Besides the processing advantages, plastomers bring additional benefits to the end user,” says Stefano Pasquali, Technical Service Manager at LyondellBasell. “One characteristic that distinguishes our plastomer solution from traditionally used solutions is its low odor. This is especially important for food packaging. It is also one of the main ingredients which allows it to make the packaging very easy to open and reclose, over and over again. We are proud that our solution contributes to an improved consumer experience while reducing food waste.”