ACTEGA Takes Leadership Position on Food Safety with Removal of Bisphenol A and Epoxysilane from ACTEbond® Laminating Adhesives

• New capability to provide ACTEbond® customers with valuable competitive advantage for production of flexible stand-up pouches free of potentially hazardous chemicals.

ACTEGA, manufacturer of specialty coatings, inks, adhesives and sealing compounds for the print and packaging industry, today announces that it has successfully removed Bisphenol A (BPA) and Epoxysilane from its laminating adhesives product range. This now enables customers of ACTEbond® Laminating Adhesives to produce stand-up pouches for food, pet-food, cosmetics and household goods with increased confidence in consumer safety.

As brand owners actively look to remove these potentially harmful substances from our food chain and improve consumer safety, the new ACTEbond® formulation is expected to provide ACTEGA customers with a valuable competitive advantage – key to boosting profitability and driving business growth.

Stephanie Dahmen, Teamlead Technical Service Adhesives, ACTEGA, comments: “Safeguarding consumer health is always a top priority when developing our products. When it comes to applications that will have contact with foods, we painstakingly investigate the safety of the relevant raw materials and use only materials that verifiably comply with food regulations such as FDA and EU directives. As such, the eradication of BPA and Epoxysilane from our laminating adhesives range is a further step forward in adhering to the highest standards in packaging food safety and therefore, a significant milestone for both ACTEGA and our customers.”

“Of course, this latest achievement for ACTEGA does not compromise our product quality, price or performance either. Added to which, flexible stand-up pouches are a more environmentally conscious packaging choice as they are light weight, as well as help to reduce the amount of plastic and overall waste generated by packaged goods. As such, it is important for us to support their continued use by further developing ACTEbond® to meet all performance and safety requirements, for today and tomorrow,” said Dr. Thomas Sawitowski, Global Head of Business Line Flexible Packaging, ACTEGA.

Offering versatility and very high resilience for most application requirements, ACTEGA ACTEbond® Laminating Adhesives are the solution of choice for many world leading packaging convertors around the world. The portfolio includes:

• ACTEbond® ASB-908 – A high-performance laminating adhesive for all types of stand-up pouches.

• ACTEbond® ASB-903-W205 (white) – Using this solution, packaging converters save processing time and costs by eliminating the need for full-area printing with white. It is also suitable for creating custom packaging designs by printing additional colours, as well as replacing white-colored polyester films.

The ACTEbond® Hardeners range includes:

• HT-049-S – An aliphatic, yellowing-resistant hardener for aluminium laminates.

• HT-020 – An aromatic, reactive hardener with exceptionally low curing time and no tempering necessary.

• HT-038 – An aliphatic, yellowing-resistant hardener for transparent laminates.

The eradication of BPA and Epoxysilane from the ACTEbond® portfolio is also in line with ALTANA’s wider business focus on market leading sustainability standards. The company has set itself an ambitious target of reducing its CO2 impact from production and energy procurement, to zero worldwide by 2025. In support of that goal, in March 2020, the power supply at all its locations was converted to renewable energies.

“This will enable us to achieve climate neutrality in our direct sphere of influence,” concludes Dr. Thomas Sawitowski. “ACTEGA is fully committed to supporting sustainable, environmentally-responsible packaging production. While it’s not yet regulation that we remove BPA and Epoxysilane from our products in Europe, it’s important to us that all steps are taken to ensure the highest consumer standards. What’s more, early customer feedback confirms that ACTEbond® without these potentially harmful substances continues to deliver the usual high performance, but with the additional competitive advantage of enhanced product safety.”