Company: Toppan

Website: www.toppan.com/en/

Packaging Snapshot: Toppan Printing (Toppan) (TSE:7911) has announced that subsidiary Toppan USA, Inc. (Toppan USA) has completed preparations for the production and supply of polyethylene (PE) and biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) based additions to its market-leading series of GL BARRIER transparent vapor-deposited barrier films. Full-scale sales of PE-based “GL-LE-G” and BOPP-based “GL-LP-G” will be launched in November, initially for the U.S. and European markets. Toppan can now offer GL BARRIER films with polyethylene (PET), PE, and BOPP substrates to facilitate a full range of functional, mono-material packaging.

With growing attention on the problem of plastic waste, there is heightened demand for more eco-friendly packaging. Numerous global companies are taking measures towards targets for better circulation of containers and packaging, and efforts to drive recycling by adopting mono-material structures are gaining pace around the world. Schemes for the recovery and recycling of PE are starting to be seen in the U.S. and polypropylene (PP) is regarded as a recyclable material in Europe and other regions. Toppan has responded to these trends by driving the shift to mono-material functional packaging.

Samples of GL-LE-G and GL-LP-G have been made available to selected customers around the world since late 2019 under the provisional names GL-X-LE and GL-X-LP-G, and extensive assessments have been conducted to confirm their performance and market viability. With GL-LE-G, Toppan has employed its advanced processing technology to overcome the difficulty of vapor deposition on PE and create the world’s first transparent vapor-deposited barrier film with a PE substrate. GL-LP-G, meanwhile, achieves the world’s highest level barrier performance for a BOPP film. Both films demonstrate outstanding processability for printing and lamination with other materials, making them suitable for a wide range of purposes. Sales of GL-LE-G, GL-LP-G, and GL-BP (a BOPP-based high barrier film for boiling water sterilization and hot filling) will be targeted at the food and toiletries sectors.

“GL-LE-G and GL-LP-G have been made possible by taking full advantage of the technologies Toppan has developed over more than 30 years as a global leader in the manufacture of transparent vapor-deposited films,” said Masa Tatewaki, Toppan USA president & CEO.  “With strong demand for eco-friendly and recyclable packaging solutions in light of such issues as the problem of plastic waste, we have received considerable interest in these new films and are targeting sales of $20 million in 2025. We will continue to advance more readily recyclable mono-material packaging for wide ranging contents and target the development of eco-friendly packages facilitating the circulation of plastic resources for a sustainable society.