MicroGreen Polymers Inc. has begun marketing its first product, InCycle, a recycled PET sheet.
InCycle sheets are made from material that is expanded using MicroGreen's patented Ad-air technology, according to an Oct. 27 news release from Arlington, Wash.-based MicroGreen.
MicroGreen uses Ad-air — developed at the University of Washington and marketed in 2008 — to reduce the amount of plastic required to produce consumer products. Ad-air creates bubbles within solid-state plastics to expand the materials and improve their functionality by creating an internal microcellular structure that its creators say is lighter in weight, more insulating, strong and highly reflective.
The company is marketing InCycle as an eco-friendly and sustainable alternative to expanded polystyrene and coated-paperboard hot-beverage cups, the two materials most commonly used. For example, the firm said the amount of plastic recycled from one 20-ounce PET beverage bottle can produce seven 12-ounce hot cups made from InCycle.
According to MicroGreen, InCycle sheets are liquid-proof and grease-proof and maintain their integrity at a range of service temperatures from minus 20° F to 400° F. Those properties make the sheet well-suited for extreme temperature applications such as freezer-to-microwave meals.
“InCycle represents a real breakthrough in 'reduce, reuse, recycle,' “ CEO Tom Malone said in the release.
The printable sheets are available in finishes like high-gloss, semi-gloss, matte and satin, and in gauges from 0.022-0.060 inch.
They can be made into thermoformed trays and cups, convolute cups and overwraps, clamshells and other food-service containers.