Paper lamination is a thin layer of see-through petroleum-based plastic that is glued to paper/cardboard to preserve and protect the print material, and improve its quality and durability. It's massively used in printing and packaging, mostly for single-use and short-lived products. Most often, the end-of-life scenario for such products is landfills or incinerators, since it's challenging to separate the plastic from the paper, and the recycling options are very limited, with few recycling facilities equipped to handle such a process at all. This way, we lose both valuable secondary resources - paper and plastic, and add up to the already inconceivable amount of plastic pollution.
Our thermal laminating film, LAM'ON, is an innovative substitute for such petroleum-based solutions for paper/cardboard application. Based on PLA, it’s bio-based, biodegradable, and compostable - both film and adhesive layer. The PLA we use is derived from certified sustainably grown corn that uses less than 0.03% of the worldwide corn crop production, leaving unaffected the markets of gluten meal, corn oil, and animal feed.
LAM’ON protects and improves the laminated material like the current fossil-based solutions, but if recycled together with the paper/cardboard, it won't affect the quality of the secondary material, plus both can be composted together. No VOC emissions are released during LAM’ON's production and application, thus it offers a healthier work environment. Furthermore, it is applicable on standard industry equipment, without the need for any additional machinery adjustment or upgrade.
The innovation lies in the IP protected core recipe and production method. The latter allows us to extrude the adhesive layer together with the film, which makes the manufacturing process more energy-efficient compared to the standard methods that require an additional step of gluing both layers together.
LAM’ON is a disruptive innovation offering an environmentally-conscious solution for single-use and short-lived laminated paper/cardboard materials widely used in packaging.