AIMCAL's first Sustainability Award recipients are Unifoil for its UniLustre and UltraLustre lines and DuPont Teijin for its heat-sealable Mylar ECO PET lidding film.

The Association of Industrial Metallizers, Coaters and Laminators (AIMCAL) presented Unifoil Corp. and DuPont Teijin Films with the association’s first Sustainability Awards on Sun., Mar. 22, during its annual Management Meeting, March 22–25, at the Hilton La Jolla Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif. Part of a larger awards program that includes Technology of the Year and Vacuum Metalized or Coated Product of the Year, the Sustainability Award Competition honors equipment, materials or processes that reduce environmental impact, minimize energy usage or waste and/or increase recycling.

Unifoil’s proprietary UniLustre transfer-metallizing process and patented UltraLustre electron-beam transfer-metalizing process applies a 0.0003-inch layer of metal directly on the substrate, eliminating the need for multilayer film, film/paper or foil/paper laminates that can be difficult to recycle. The 100% solid process uses no solvents or water and requires no drying, saving the energy consumed by thermal or infrared dryers. The carrier film can be recycled and used in a new film application. With a negligible amount of metal, the mono-material substrate can be recycled in traditional waste streams.

DuPont Teijin’s entry, heat-sealable Mylar ECO PET lidding film, features 30% post-consumer-recycled (PCR) content derived from polyethylene tephthalate (PET) bottles, 35% post-industrial recycled content and 35% virgin PET and offers the production performance of 100% virgin material. Every pound of the film’s recycled content reduces the demand for virgin PET by the same amount, reducing crude oil and energy consumption while shrinking the product’s carbon footprint.

Introduced in 2007 in the United Kingdom and in 2008 in the U.S., the heat-sealable lidding film is acceptable for food-contact for reheat applications in both the European Union and the U.S. Applications include cap liners and lidstock for fresh-cut produce and frozen and chilled meals. Options include shred resistance, anti-fogging properties, dual-ovenability, clean peel, controlled respiration, barrier coatings and self-venting.

For more information on these and all the other winners, visit the AIMCAL website at www.aimcal.org.