Conference Sparks New Ideas for Polylactic Acid Use

PLA already has attracted much attention from packaging manufacturers who must meet retailers’ increasing demands for environmentally advanced packaging. The material often appears in clear thermoform or vacuform disposable, clamshell-type food containers.

In a well-attended session at the conference, Rohm and Haas’s Senior Scientist Dr. Bahar Azimipour presented details about the company’s PLA additives and their importance as PLA expands its reach. “Packaging comprises more than half of PLA’s commercial applications, but its further growth in this arena has been constrained by processing difficulties,” Dr. Azimipour explains. “We designed our products specifically to offer solutions that help customers grow their businesses in packaging – and in the exciting new applications they’re exploring.”