New Indestructible PLA material

Due to the growth in shipped product we were looking for a way to create primary retail packaging which had a greater longevity and was able to withstand a greater amount of impact and handling throughout the product’s journey.

Having experimented with a range of design types and materials, we tested a laminating process using layers of PLA (potato starch) material. The result surprised even us.

We inadvertently created a ‘shape memory polymer’ which is not only more durable than standard materials, it has such a high memory that even under a high impact crush, the material can bounce back to its original state.

Check out our amazing video here:

As you can see the standard tuck end carton design requires no heat application, and can be printed using standard inks (we’ve used our digital process here with foil effect and embossing).

In production, the creases would have to use special die tooling – but we have developed a system for this too.

Key Features

• Improved durability over time and in transit
• Environmentally sustainable PLA
• Printable using litho, flexo and digital inks (treated version)
• Die cutting and creasing possible (using modified cutting formes)
• Material can be manufactured in thicknesses from 250 up to 625microns
• A metalized top layer is also available