Packaging supplier Aripack (Brooklyn, NY), announced a partnership with NEO Plastics (Brooklyn), an innovative startup plastics company that offers a new option toward a zero-waste sustainability strategy that addresses the decades-long accumulation of plastics in landfills. The plastics packaging additive from NEO is designed to convert waste in landfills to useful biogas to ultimately produce sustainable clean energy. All packaged products shown in this article contain the NEO additive.

Note: Additional information about this story was published September 12, NEO Plastics’ biogas additive used by Aripack packaging: more details emerge.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, “landfill gas (LFG) is a natural byproduct of the decomposition of organic material in landfills. LFG is composed of roughly 50% methane (the primary component of natural gas), 50% carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and a small amount of non-methane organic compounds.”

With the rise of LFG to Energy efforts, including the EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP), NEO Plastics support these endeavors by enabling ordinary plastics to provide after-use value. By accelerating the natural process in anaerobic landfills, the NEO organic additive unlocks the energy inherent in plastics to deliver useful biogas to waste facilities that now collect and convert this resource into clean sustainable energy. As part of a Waste to Energy (WTE) strategy, NEO Plastics’s solution in the “ALL IN” fight for a cleaner environment provides an innovative option for brands looking for sustainable packaging solutions.

The company’s organic additives are tested using ASTM methods. NEO Plastics launched in late 2017.

Aripack has been providing custom-made flexible and rigid packaging materials for a wide variety of companies and industries in North America, including food and beverage companies such as Wise, Godiva, Lesser Evil, Ricola, Fruit Bliss, Mayorga Organics Coffee and more.

PLASTEC Minneapolis 2018 held October 31-November 1 is part of the Midwest’s largest advanced design and manufacturing event that also includes MinnPack brings you the latest in materials and additives, injection molding, rapid prototyping, coatings, automation, packaging and more. For details, visit PLASTEC Minneapolis .

“Consumers are becoming more aware of the impact packaging has on our environment and demand a response,” explains Isak Bengiyat, Aripack founder. “Innovation is who we are at Aripack and we believe in providing our customers with options, especially when it comes to the environment. The key is creating practical solutions that add value without disruption, and we believe NEO is that solution.”

“NEO is currently available for use in a wide variety of flexibles and rigid containers,” Bengiyat tells PlasticsToday. “Because this is a new technology, we are educating people and trying to get as many people and brands on board as possible.”

The NEO organic additive can be a liquid or powder and added at to the plastic masterbatch. According to Bengiyat, the material is added to all layers of multilayer constructions.

What’s the benefit to Aripack?

“To offer our customers a new end-to-end solution in innovative packaging and sustainability,” Bengiyat responds. “Consumers can feel good about simply throwing their packaging in the regular trash bin and there is no confusion [about what’s recyclable and what isn’t].”

Aripack has featured NEO at Snaxpo and the Specialty Coffee Show and will continue to attend relevant conferences. As with many plastics- and sustainability-related initiatives, Bengiyat points to education as the key challenge and the key opportunity.

“We have submitted press releases and will continue to work in partnership with new brands who incorporate NEO into their packaging,” says Bengiyat. “We have a small social media presence and we have a brand guidelines document that features ways to include the NEO logo on packaging.

“It’s all about getting people to hear and learn about waste to energy and NEO as an option and getting people to believe in this innovative solution.”