St. Paul, Minnesota based Cortec has announced that EcoShield Recyclable Paper and Linerboard is now available from Cortec’s European subsidiary, EcoCortec plant. A recyclable, repulpable, USDA Certified Biobased Product, EcoShield Barrier Paper is the latest environmentally safe alternative to polyethylene and wax papers with comparable water vapor barrier properties.
Of special note for Europe is that it has recently passed recyclability testing per EU Standards. EcoShield Barrier Paper and Linerboard can be used in a variety of applications, such as packaging oily and greasy parts or protecting other moisture sensitive components.
In a society that relies heavily on moisture barrier packaging, where can someone go for sustainable alternatives to polycoated paper? EcoCortec offers an important link in the circular economy with EcoShield Barrier Paper. EcoShield Barrier Paper is the latest addition to Cortec’s portfolio of USDA Certified Biobased Products. It contains 65 percent USDA certified biobased content and recently received the USDA Certified Biobased Product label.
EcoShield is coated with a water-based barrier coating that resists moisture, grease, and oil. Polyethylene and wax coatings have been used for years to seal porous paper to provide a moisture/vapor barrier. When coated this way, the resulting paper product is an environmental problem and cannot be recycled through normal channels.
“We applaud Cortec Corporation for earning the USDA Certified Biobased Product label,” said Kate Lewis, BioPreferred Program. “Products from Cortec are contributing to an ever-expanding marketplace that adds value to renewable agriculture commodities, creates jobs in rural communities, and decreases our reliance on petroleum.”
Ming Shen, Ph.D., Director of New Technologies and Innovations at Cortec Laboratories, commented that the new label “assures a consumer that the product contains a USDA-verified amount of renewable biological ingredients. It offers our customers a solution to their particular technical problems while enabling them to practice environment stewardship.”
She also noted that EcoShield Barrier Paper is made from paper which contains recycled fibers and carries FSC, PEFC, and SFI certificates for sustainable forestry management. In addition to its sustainable sourcing, EcoShield Barrier Paper comes full circle to offer greater sustainability at the end of its product life cycle. Unlike other moisture barrier papers historically coated with polyethylene and wax coatings that cannot be recycled through normal channels, EcoShield Barrier Paper is fully repulpable into other types of paper products such as boxes, cardboard, and other corrugated materials. It displays a Water Vapor Transmission Rate (WVTR) comparable to polycoated paper and much superior to waxed paper.
