Innovative applications, commitments and certifications, a new production site… the year 2021 is coming to an end with new key stages in Lactips’ growth. This is an opportunity for us to look back at the three highlights that have marked our activity over the last twelve months.
1. Lactips is innovating for sustainable packaging
Thanks to its thermoplastic pellets made from 100% natural ingredients, Lactips offers a range of products that are fully biodegradable in different environments, recyclable and increasingly broad to rethink plastic solutions. Lactips has been developing new products to address new markets in the fields of food packaging, industry or single-use products, aiming to develop an economy that is more respectful of the environment and human health.
CareTips®, the Lactips’ material, has water-soluble and printable properties (transformed into film) and thus allows the creation of temporary soluble labels. Without prior treatment, it is an innovative and ecological approach for ephemeral labels intended to inform, animate or decorate numerous products within the framework of the reusable system.
In addition, Lactips has launched Plastic Free PaperTM, a unique coating solution to replace plastics and chemical treatments for sealable, oxygen, grease and mineral oil barrier packaging papers. It is suitable for industrial use in food and non-food applications. Lactips has developed a first generation of Plastic Free Paper to offer a real alternative for manufacturers (converters and/or brands) as part of their environmental efforts and the application of the European directive limiting the use of single-use plastics.
Finally, Lactips has also designed, with its own injectors and moulds, a plastic-free golf tee that is compostable and rapidly biodegradable in nature and in the aquatic environment, offering an alternative to plastic, metal, wood or bamboo tees, which are too often lost or abandoned on golf courses. This proof of concept demonstrates the material’s ability to control the end of life of other materials when mixed together, boosting the biodegradability of objects that have a high risk of being lost to the environment (such as outdoor sports).
2. New era, Lactips begins a major industrial turnaround
On 26 November, Lactips moved to its brand new industrial site. This is the conclusion of more than two years of work to bring this ambitious industrial project to a successful conclusion and to increase its production capacity. Located in Saint-Paul-en-Jarez, in the heart of the Gier valley, the Lactips site covers a surface area of 12,000 m², including the production building (2,500 m²) and the administrative building (1,000 m²), for a total usable area of 4,200 m².
The new plant will be able to produce 3,000 tonnes per year of pellets, gradually install up to 6 production lines and develop its offer for the sustainable water-soluble applications market, plastic-free paper packaging by meeting the specific standards of food packaging and objects whose end-of-life is controlled. In addition to the administrative and commercial offices, the R&D teams are equipped with a laboratory and new equipment, as well as a line dedicated to development and testing.
3. Lactips is more than ever committed to an innovative and more environmentally friendly economy
Lactips has already been awarded numerous prizes and labels, and was one of the first companies selected to take part in the Solar Impulse programme. It was also selected for the FrenchTech GREEN20 programme, obtained the GreenTech Innovation label and joined the United Nations Global Compact. These highlight the quality of Lactips’ solutions and help develop its reputation and recognition among manufacturers so that they adopt more responsible packaging solutions in response to regulatory and consumer expectations.
- French Tech GREEN20: a programme to support the ecological transition within the plastics industry thanks to the first plastic with no impact on the environment;
- Greentech Innovation: a label promoting the use of an additional and available resource from the dairy industry to reduce the environmental footprint of plastics on the planet;
- United Nations Global Compact: a commitment reflecting the vision developed since the company was founded and reinforcing the idea that responsible economic operation is part of Lactips’ DNA.
In addition, Lactips has become a member of the “European Plastics Pact” whose ambition is to set common objectives and aim to encourage cross-border connection, cooperation, innovation and harmonisation at European level, in order to create a circular economy for plastics in Europe.
Furthermore, Lactips is a winner of the INPI France 2021 Trophies in the Partnered Research category. With this distinction, which highlights French-style innovations and their exemplary use of industrial property in their development strategy, Lactips embodies industrial success supported by the excellence of academic research.
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