Henkel are working with their customers and the wider packaging industry to help drive awareness of the environmental benefits of solvent-free adhesives in Australia and New Zealand.

The leading global adhesives supplier says that more and more businesses, industry groups and governments in the Asia Pacific region are starting to push for greener technology.

 “Contributing to creating an environmentally sustainable future, whilst still remaining economically viable, are some of the main concerns for packaging customers,” says Roda Luna, Liofol® Strategic Business Unit Manager at Henkel Australia / New Zealand.

In response to these concerns, Henkel has developed a solvent-free lamination or polyurethane adhesive which is environmentally friendly and has also been found to result in 50-60 percent cost reduction per square metre when compared to other ad-hesives systems.

Food packaging laminations rely mostly on reactive two-component polyurethane adhesive systems which are either solvent-based or solvent-free. The solvent-based lamination adhesives were always considered more cost effective, although worse from an environmental sustainability standpoint, primarily due to their production effi-ciency capabilities. 

Solvent-free lamination adhesives eliminate the odours solvents leave behind in fin-ished laminates. In addition, coating weights are reduced, running speeds are in-creased and bond strength and good optical appearance are retained.

The latest solvent-free lamination adhesives are not only more environmentally friendly but have proven to be safer for production workers. The lamination speed, especially with solvent-free adhesives, has increased from about 150 to 500 metres per minute over the last ten years.

The use of polyurethane adhesives overseas is comparatively high, with more than 50 percent of the European market and more than 40 percent of the American mar-ket using the eco-friendly adhesives today. However, the Asia Pacific market’s un-derstanding of the economic and environmental benefits of using solvent-free lamina-tion or polyurethane adhesives are still relatively low with only 8 percent of converters in the region currently using such adhesives in place of solvent-based ones.

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About Henkel

Henkel has been committed to making people's lives easier, better and more beautiful for more than 130 years. A Fortune Global 500 and Germany's most admired company according to a recent Fortune survey, Henkel offers strong brands and technologies in three areas of competence: Home Care, Personal Care and Adhesive Technologies. Each day, more than 52,000 employees in 125 countries are dedicated to fulfilling Henkel's claim "A Brand like a Friend.” In fiscal 2008, Henkel generated sales of 14,131 million euros and adjusted operating profit of 1,460 million euros.   

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