The Improvement of“ECO-FOAM” Fully Biodegradable Loosefill and the Future Prospect

摘要

Among the current trend toward “environmentally friendly” packaging materials, starch-based biodegradable loosefills are brought into the limelight; there are a number of such products being marketed as “green” packaging materials. Most of them, however, contain more or less petrochemicals to increase their resilience and humidity resistance. National Starch & Chemical Company (NSC) succeeded in improving both properties without any petrochemical additives; “ECO-FOAM”, NSC's l00 starch-based biodegradable loosefills, are made from new hybridized cornstarch of their own development, called “high amylose starch”. In this article, the author describes the features of "ECO-FOAM", referring to some tests including Landfill Test according to DIN 53739 Standard and NSC's Life Cycle Assessment Study. Further some problems to solve, particularly in production costs and the future prospect of their solutions are indicated.