Enviromental Awareness

THE INTERNATIONAL GROUP, INC. (IGI) is a world leader in refining and marketing of petroleum wax and wax based products and is committed to preserving the environment. We have established many high level technical projects to address the problems of waste utilization and the impact of our products on the environment.

The current level of heightened awareness of the environmental impact of products and processes used in modern society is resulting in manufacturers and consumers reevaluating their existing use of materials. This is particularly true in the packaging industry, where much of the material ends up as solid waste requiring disposal. Increasingly, legislators in various North American jurisdictions are mandating waste minimization through the directives of Reduction, Reuse and Recycling, thus requiring the packaging industry to respond via product development.

Petroleum waxes are an economical and efficient moisture and gas barrier material for food packaging and paper converting. These waxes have many desirable properties that enhance waste minimization. However, it's most outstanding property, as one of the most effective barriers to moisture and water vapor, makes it difficult to recycle in existing systems and equipment.

Source Reduction

The use of waxed paper packaging in the quick service food industry is growing and displacing other packages such as polystyrene foam and paperboard. The environmental basis for this is life-cycle analysis which has demonstrated that on a per unit basis, there is a significant reduction in energy usage, air and waterborne emissions and waste disposal with light-weight waxed paper. This application demonstrates petroleum waxes' efficiency as a barrier material on paper substrates. Solid waste reduction may be further enhanced by the fact that these products are inherently biodegradable and compostable.

Strategies for source reduction and waste disposal are dependent upon product performance requirements and the ultimate disposition of the product. Petroleum waxes have demonstrated that they play a role in new package design.

IGI has developed products that deliver the required performance of barrier coatings at reduced coating weights, allowing performance delivery with less packaging material.

Recycling/Repulping

Closed-loop recycling of paper products is referred to as repulping. As with many packaging components in use today, those containing petroleum waxes require special handling at recycling mills. The effects in the mill can be several-fold. The most severe problem is that waxes combine with other contaminants to clog the wires and felts of the paper machine, forming "stickies." This interferes with web formulation and contributes defects to the paper stock. Waxes can also delay the defibering in the pulper, and can reduce the strength and coefficient of friction of the paper product. As most existing plants are not equipped to completely remove the contaminants, the practical limit for waxed material contamination is about 1 percent, which is achieved by segregation and inspection.

IGI has developed a dual approach to the solution of these problems. Firstly, our R&D groups have formed partnerships with major paper companies and equipment suppliers to the paper industry, as well as with academic and industry technology centers. Through these partnerships we are investigating new paper technologies or modifications of existing ones to better handle contaminants within the mill. Results have been quite promising.

Modification of existing products and new product development is the second approach. IGI's Product Development staff has been improving the repulpability of our coating and laminants to provide better separation of paper fiber for improved fiber yield and better quality recycled paper products.

Alternate Uses

Water-resistant paper fiber is finding growing uses in other applications. A traditional market is in fiber form containers such as degradable plant containers. Other applications under investigation include wood composite products such as particle board and roofing materials.

In a cooperative effort with the University of Toronto, the use of waxed paper fiber and fiber-reinforced polyolefin composites was investigated. As a reinforcing fiber, the waxed paper provides unique properties including improved processing characteristics and reduced sensitivity to moisture. Waxed paper fiber offers a valuable opportunity in this developing technology.

Composting

Many applications of waxed packages involve direct contact with food stuffs making it unsuitable for recycling or reuse. Paraffin waxes and wax based coatings are, however biodegradable and compostable.  Click on the following links to download TAPPI Journal Articles describing the work done.

Compostabilty of Petroleum Wax-Based Coatings

Work by the TNO laboratories in the Netherlands (supported by the European Wax Federation - EWF) has demonstrated that paraffin wax and wax-based coatings are inherently biodegradable by OECD test guidelines. Samples of waxed papers buried in a temperate forest litter layer had a half-life of approximately two months, showing the same rate of breakdown as the leaf litter itself. These results are important in evaluating the overall environmental impact, especially concerning the minor but high profile solid waste problems of littering.

Composting plays a key role in any strategic plan for waste management and recovery. While it is an ancient process, composting has seen a high level of interest, with pilot facilities starting up in urban centers across North America. The key to a successful composting operation is the quality of compost product, which determines the uses to which the materials can be put. At IGI we have investigated the composting of waxed packaging. With the Paper and Paperboard Packaging Environmental Council (Canada) we supported a project at McGill University to determine the feasibility of composting waxed corrugated containers, and have evaluated the quality of the resultant compost.

The results of this study were very encouraging. Waxed corrugated containers, with suitable subdivision and composition, can produce compost of good quality. The wax itself contributes to temperature generation and an extended thermal period, which is advantageous for pathogen inactivation. On the other hand, significant amounts of wax require a longer stabilization period, good water and air circulation. Under good composting conditions paraffin wax can obtain 100 percent decomposition. Unfortunately, the compost quality will depend on contamination from other package components such as boron from the adhesives, and metals from printing inks. These are factors which can be influenced by package design.