Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Rubber News
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • Digital Edition
    • End Markets
    • Special Reports
    • Newsletters
    • Videos
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • K Show
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Processor of the Year
    • Best Places to Work
      • 2023 winners
    • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Rising Stars
    • Diversity
    • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • One Good Resin
    • Pellets and Politics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • From Pillar to Post
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Fake Plastic Trees
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
  • Events
    • K Show Livestream
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Editorial Livestreams
    • Ask the Expert
    • Plastics News Events Library
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Injection Molding & Design Expo
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Bioplastics Live
    • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Numbers that Matter Live
    • Plastics in Politics Live
    • Sustainable Plastics Live
    • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
  • Rankings & Data
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Directory
  • Resin Prices
    • Resin Prices Overview
    • Commodity Thermoplastics
    • High Temperature Thermoplastics
    • Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Thermosets
  • Custom
    • Sponsored Content
    • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
    • Conair Sponsored Content
    • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • White Papers
    • Classifieds
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
December 05, 2014 01:00 AM

Imaflex buys rights to Advaseal mulch films

Michael Lauzon
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print

    Imaflex Inc. has expanded its tool kit of engineered agricultural films to include another product that aids in sustainable farming practices.

    The Montreal company acquired the rights to Advaseal, agricultural mulch film coated with plant protection products. The technology was developed by Bayer Innovation GmbH, a subsidiary of German conglomerate Bayer AG. Imaflex announced the deal Dec. 1 but did not disclose terms.

    The Advaseal technology complements Imaflex's existing mulch films designed to suppress pests and micro-organisms in farm fields, explained Imaflex vice president of marketing and innovation Ralf Dujardin in a phone interview. A big attraction to Advaseal is that Bayer had already registered the coated film technology with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

    “Acquiring all assets of the Advaseal coated releasing films allows us to get a registered product into growers' hands in the 2015 spring season and to make a substantial step forward to our goal to offer a sustainable alternative to fumigants,” Dujardin stated.

    “We are confident that once growers have tested our active ingredient releasing films they will be convinced by the performance, cost and environmental benefits,” he added.

    Treated mulch films have potential to reduce or eliminate pesticide spraying on farm fields, often an environmental concern.

    Advaseal HSM will be the first commercial product in Imalex's acquired technology. Bayer was “on the verge” of introducing the film on the market when Imaflex bought it. The HSM film is an herbicide-coated plastic barrier film that controls undesirable broadleaf and sedge weeds while reducing emission of volatile pesticides such as the fumigant methyl bromide. Suppressing such weeds is important in growing fruits and vegetables, Imaflex points out in a news release.

    Bayer officials were not available to comment on why the conglomerate sold its Advaseal portfolio. Among Bayer's diverse interests is crop protection technology.

    Advaseal fits well with Imaflex's own technology to compound pesticides into resin that is extruded on blown film equipment to make mulch film. Dujardin said this type of mulch film is also designed to cut down on pesticide emissions in farm fields. Imaflex will submit the film, a multilayer construction with pesticide compounded into the bottom layer, to the U.S. EPA in 2015.

    Imaflex has also developed metallized mulch film suited to repelling insects that spread greening disease in citrus crops. Imaflex has received its first bulk order for the Shine N' Ripe XL film from a large Brazilian citrus grower

    “It is foreseeable that Shine N' Ripe XL could become the industry standard, non-chemical approach for the management of citrus greening,” stated Imaflex CEO Joseph Abbandonato in a mid-November announcement.

    Citrus greening is a bacterial disease that causes a tree to drop its fruit prematurely. In the past decade the disease has destroyed an estimated 25 percent of the world's citrus crops, according to Imaflex. Imaflex's metallized film reflects UV light to deter the insects carrying the bacteria. Imaflex claims conventional metallized films lose reflectivity after ten months but its Shine N' Ripe XL maintains reflectivity for up to five years.

    Imaflex mainly extrudes multilayer polyethylene films for agricultural and industrial uses. Dujardin said the company has developed advanced processing methods to make its special ag films. The metallized film, for example, needs special techniques to deposit the metalized layer on a PE substrate, which normally melts at temperatures used for metal sputtering. Imaflex's production plants are in Montreal, Victoriaville, Quebec, and Thomasville, N.C.

    Imaflex initially will rely on toll processors to make the coated Advaseal films. Eventually the company hopes to invest in required coating equipment to make the films in house. The coating process allows Imaflex to add multiple pesticides because coating is done at ambient temperatures that won't degrade the pesticides. The technology also allows coating of film with delicate biologicals, naturally occurring pesticides such as bacteria that could further bolster claims of sustainability.

    “There are upwards of 3 billion pounds of plastic mulch used annually worldwide, almost all in combination with spraying herbicides and pesticides or application of fumigants,” Abbandonato noted. “Now that we have consolidated all the key assets for active ingredient-releasing films, we are poised to disrupt this enormous market with our patented products.”

    Another environmental thrust at Imaflex is illustrated by the firm's patent application for recycling paint waste into blown plastic film. The U.S. patent application addresses challenges posed by varying particle sizes in waste latex paint, according to Dujardin. Latex paint contains acrylic resins and other particles that can act as modifiers in film, he said.

    Imaflex recorded sales of C$29.7 million (US$26.1 million) and a net loss of C$412,000 (US$363,000) for the first six months of 2014. The company trades on the Toronto Venture Exchange.

    RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
    Clean Vision to spend $50M on West Virginia pyrolysis plant
    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Most Popular
    1
    Texas Injection Molding expands again
    2
    Germany's Stratec buys medical molder Natech to boost US presence
    3
    Plastics treaty urged to include EPR for flexible packaging ‘to make it work'
    4
    Phillips-Medisize closing Medford, Wis., plant, cutting 83 jobs
    5
    Resin Prices
    SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE NEWSLETTERS
    EMAIL ADDRESS

    Please enter a valid email address.

    Please enter your email address.

    Please verify captcha.

    Please select at least one newsletter to subscribe.

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber News
    • Tire Business
    • Urethanes Technology
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • K Show
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
      • Digital Edition
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • Special Reports
        • Processor of the Year
        • Best Places to Work
          • 2023 winners
        • Women Breaking the Mold
        • Rising Stars
        • Diversity
        • Most Interesting Social Media Accounts in Plastics
      • Newsletters
      • Videos
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • One Good Resin
      • Pellets and Politics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • From Pillar to Post
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
      • Fake Plastic Trees
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • K Show Livestream
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Injection Molding & Design Expo
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
      • Industry Events
      • Injection Molding & Design Expo
      • Livestreams/Webinars
        • Bioplastics Live
        • PN Live: Mergers and Acquisitions
      • Editorial Livestreams
        • Polymer Points Live
        • Numbers that Matter Live
        • Plastics in Politics Live
        • Sustainable Plastics Live
      • Ask the Expert
      • Plastics News Events Library
        • Plastics Caps & Closures Library
        • Plastics in Healthcare Library
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
      • Processor of the Year submissions
    • Rankings & Data
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Directory
    • Resin Prices
      • Resin Prices Overview
      • Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temperature Thermoplastics
      • Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Recycled Plastics
      • Thermosets
    • Custom
      • Sponsored Content
      • LS Mtron Sponsored Content
      • Conair Sponsored Content
      • KraussMaffei Sponsored Content
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • White Papers
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified