Packaging DIC Develops Sustainable Production Unit for Coatings for Direct Food Contact Materials

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DIC Corporation has developed a new production facility for coatings suitable for direct food contact materials on the site of DIC Graphics’ plant in Jakarta, Indonesia. With an annual production target of 1,000 tonnes by fiscal year 2030 for markets in Asian countries, the facility is expected to meet the growing demand for sustainable packaging.

Tokyo/Japan – DIC Corporation has recently announced that it has established a new production facility for coatings suitable for direct food contact materials on the site of a plant belonging to PT. DIC Graphics, a wholly owned subsidiary located in Jakarta, Indonesia. This new facility is the first in the world operated by an inks manufacturer to be designed in compliance with the guiding principles of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP), a globally recognized food safety management system. (This statement is based on analysis conducted by DIC. The Company has applied for HACCP certification for the new facility.) The new facility has thus achieved a food safety management system comparable to that of the average food product manufacturer. With an annual production target of 1,000 tonnes by fiscal year 2030 for markets in Asian countries, including the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and Oceania, the facility will help the DIC Group meet the rising demand for sustainable packaging.

To create a food safety management system that affirms the exceptional safety and quality required for direct food contact materials, the new production facility has been equipped with, among others, air showers, dusters with igh-efficiency particulate air (Hepa) filters and antibacterial flooring. The new facility has also earned a certification of compliance with Indonesia’s halal regulations and is compliant with the World Health Organization’s good manufacturing practices (GMP) for guaranteeing that products such as food and pharmaceuticals meet requirements for quality and safety for their intended use. The geopolitically strategic location of Indonesia ideally positions the new facility to serve as an export base for Asia and Oceania, as a result of which DIC is considering further facility expansion going forward.

As the world moves closer toward the achievement of a circular economy, reducing the use of plastics and shifting to reusable materials is now of paramount importance. Conventional food packaging materials are made by laminating plastic onto substrates to ensure they are water and oil resistant, but such packaging materials are difficult to recycle.

DIC produces high-performance coatings that can be applied to film, paper and other substrates to impart the necessary performance features, enabling the creation of highly recyclable mono-material packaging. This makes it possible to develop and manufacture packaging that can be readily recycled. The new production facility—the DIC Group’s first in Asia, outside of Japan, that is dedicated to producing coatings suitable for direct food contact materials—marks a major step toward strengthening the Group’s competitiveness in the global market for sustainable packaging.

Advancing efforts to respond to a circular economy is one of the key sustainability strategies set forth in the DIC Vision 2030 long-term management plan. The DIC Group has also positioned sustainable packaging as a priority business area and is working to expand its lineup of materials that meet the needs of markets for next-generation sustainable packaging. Capital investment in this new facility will make it possible for the Group to offer locally produced high-performance products—for which technologies were originally developed in the United States, Europe, and Japan—in Asian countries, including the PRC, and Oceania, thereby helping to foster sustainable packaging markets in both.

Product lineup at the new facility

High-performance coatings for paper: Hydrect, Sunstar DFC OPV/Coating, others

The DIC Group is expanding its lineup of interior coatings for direct food contact materials, along with exterior coatings for non–food contact applications. Water and oil resistance, as well as sealing properties, that were previously only possible using laminated plastic film, can now be imparted using coatings that do not impede recycling.

Anticipated applications for the new facility’s products include paperboard lunch boxes, pizza boxes, hamburger wrappers and paper cups.

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