Compounder Avient (Avon Lake, Ohio / USA; www.avient.com), formerly known as PolyOne, has launched a new light-blocking additive technology for PET dairy packaging. Part of the group’s existing portfolio of "ColorMatrix Lactra" light-blocking additive concentrates, the new additive technology enables packaging products to comply with new titanium dioxide restrictions in Europe under the EU Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC.

Avient said its new Lactra additive was compatible with the PET recycle stream for fibres, sheet, and strapping. The group said testing revealed in established opaque white PET recycle streams its Lactra products were suitable for closed-loop bottle-to-bottle recycling.

In July 2020 Avient completed its USD 1.44 bn (EUR 1.28 bn) acquisition of masterbatch giant Clariant, and reported a near-20% decline in second quarter revenues, pointing the finger of blame at the coronavirus-led slump in the automotive and consumer goods sectors (see Plasteurope.com 28.07.2020).

The most recent change is the European Commission’s classification of TiO2 as a suspected carcinogen (cat 2.) by inhalation which is limited to certain powder forms will apply from 1 October 2021. The EU’s regulation on the classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (CLP) was published in the EU Official Journal on 18 February 2020 (see Plasteurope.com of 24.02.2020). The Titanium Dioxide Manufacturers Association (TDMA, Brussels / Belgium; www.tdma.info) continues to disagree with the classification of TiO2 as there is no reliable, acceptable or available data to suggest that TiO2 causes cancer, the association claims.