Sulapac® key feature: Safe for people and planet

Sulapac materials are safe for people and the environment. We only use raw materials which are not considered harmful to living organisms and do not cause long-term adverse effects in the environment. No release of harmful chemicals or permanent microplastics takes place during the use and end of life of Sulapac materials.

 

Background

In the design of its materials Sulapac pays great attention to all phases of the material life cycle. Sulapac’s co-founders have their academic background in biomedical*) materials, which means that safety is in the DNA of all Sulapac’s materials. Naturally, when we say a material is safe, we mean it is safe for its intended use.

Promotion of circular economy is one of Sulapac’s key priorities. By designing materials the raw materials of which are inherently safe for people and the environment we can promote cycles which are safe on the molecular level. Our ambitious objective has been to develop ‘bio-benign’ materials that would reduce the negative impacts on natural systems when leaked, while also being recyclable and competitive in terms of functionality and costs. Our leading design principle is to mimic the nature.

*) Biomedical materials are materials which are biocompatible meaning they can be placed in human body on medical purposes

 

Key feature

Sulapac materials are safe for people and the planet. The main raw materials utilized are sustainably sourced wood chips originating from industrial side streams and biodegradable binders. All raw materials are sustainably sourced and food contact approved. Furthermore, we only use raw materials which are not considered harmful to aquatic organisms and do not cause long-term adverse effects in the environment. No release of harmful chemicals or permanent microplastics takes place during the use and end of life of Sulapac materials.

Sulapac materials are compliant with EC 2023/2006 regarding Good Manufacturing Practice.

 

Criteria and validation*)

Sulapac Universal, Sulapac Premium and Sulapac Flow materials comply with:

 

  1. Food contact criteria

EU

The European food contact legislations (EU) No 10/2011, (EC) No 1935/2004 and (EC) 2023/2006. The converter or packer has to check the suitability of the article for the application.

 

US

All individual substances are covered by either:

  • a regulation listed in Title 21 Code of Federal Regulations
  • meeting the criteria for GRAS status (including but not limited to a GRAS regulation or GRAS notice)
  • or an effective Food Contact Substance Notification (FCN).

The aforementioned Sulapac materials are produced from substances which comply with the specifications and limitations in all applicable authorizations. Compositionally, Sulapac materials comply with the requirements of the United States of America U.S. Food and Drug Administration Code of Federal Regulations.

 

  1. The limits of heavy metals

The limits are defined in the EU Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994 on packaging and packaging waste heavy metal content as described in Article 11 and with CONEG Regulation on heavy metal content (the cumulative content of Pb, Cd, Hg and Dr(VI) does not exceed 100 ppm).

 

  1. Reach legislation

The EC Regulation 1907/2006 (REACH). REACH compliant means that all relevant substances are:

  • excluded from the regulation, and/or
  • exempted from registration, and/or
  • manufactured/imported under a valid pre-registration until May 31, 2018 and/or
  • have been registered.

Sulapac materials are not intentionally formulated to contain the substances listed as Substances of Very High Concern (SVHC) on the version of the Candidate List of 25 June 2020, or any other CMR 1/2, PBT or vPvB substance in concentrations >0.1% (w/w)

 

  1. CLP regulation

Based upon a review of the manufacturing process of Sulapac products, the information provided by our suppliers of raw materials, and CLP Regulation 1272/2008 (1 May 2020), there are none of the following chemicals present in Sulapac materials

  • Skin sensitizer above 10 ppm or 10 ppb (migrating in simulant)
  • Carcinogenic, Mutagenic, or Reproductive Toxin above 1ppm or 10 ppb (migrating in simulant)

 

  1. Safe formulas***)

These Sulapac materials are not intentionally formulated to contain the substances listed as Maine Chemicals of High Concern (CHC) or Priority Chemicals (PC).

These Sulapac materials are not intentionally formulated to contain substances currently listed in the as Chemicals of High Concern to Children from Washington Children’s Safe Product Act and they are formulated to be compliant with the TSCA chemical inventory.

Based upon a review of the manufacturing process of Sulapac products, the information provided by our suppliers of raw materials, and the California Proposition 65 update (3 January 2020), there are no Proposition 65 chemicals present in Sulapac materials at levels that would require a warning under the California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act.

These Sulapac materials are not intentionally formulated to contain any of the following substances

  • Bisphenol A and its derivatives
  • Formaldehyde
  • Halogenated Polymers (PVC and PVdC)
  • Phthalates
  • Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)

 

  1. Non-GMO

Referring to Regulation (EC) No. 1829/2003 of the European Parliament and the council of 22 September 2003 and Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007 on the genetically modified food and feed these Sulapac materials are non- GMO.

 

  1. Ecotoxicity testing

These Sulapac materials have passed EN13432/ ASTM D6400 ecotoxicity tests performed by a third-party laboratory. This involves testing that the biodegradation products are not ecotoxic by making an examination to see if the germination and biomass production of plants are not adversely affected by the influence of composted sample.

Additionally, Sulapac Flow material has successfully been analyzed in the Daphnia magna plankton toxicity test (according to OPPTS 850.1010 & OECD 202) performed by a third-party laboratory: test series showed that the degradation products of Sulapac Flow are non-toxic, and therefore, do not have any harmful effect on the plankton in the marine ecosystem.

 

  1. No microplastics accumulation

Sulapac materials are biodegradable in the sense that they do not leavy behind permanent microplastics. As all other biopolymers, such as collagen and native cellulose, Sulapac disintegrates first into tiny particles. However, in contrast to conventional plastics, after disintegration Sulapac materials biodegrade on molecular level into CO2, water and biomass in open environments within a similar time frame as naturally occurring biological materials such as wood and tree leaves.  (for details see Key feature “Designed to reduce plastic pollution -no permanent microplastics behind”).

 

  1. Organic recycling

These Sulapac materials are industrially compostable. For details, see Key Feature “Industrially compostable”.

**) Nothing herein is to be construed as a warranty, express or implied. It is the responsibility of the user to determine the applicability of such information or the suitability of any products for their own particular purpose.

***) Sulapac materials are technical products, therefore we cannot rule out the possibility of minimal contamination due to other influences. It should be noted that we do not measure the content of such contamination as a part of our end control procedure.

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