Avantium and Plastipak sign offtake agreement for the use of PEF for beverage and food packaging

Avantium N.V., a leading company in renewable and circular polymer materials, has signed a conditional offtake agreement with Plastipak, a world leader in the design and manufacture of high-quality, rigid plastic containers for the food, beverage, and consumer products industries. Plastipak supplies containers and packaging products to many of the world’s largest consumer products companies. Plastipak will purchase the 100% plant-based, recyclable polymer PEF from Avantium’s FDCA Flagship Plant for the use in beverage and food packages, for consumers to use and enjoy in the United States.

Plastipak is driven to develop circular solutions that protect the environment and meet its customers’ exacting standards for sustainability and performance. Over the past year, the company has been actively involved in evaluating the application of Avantium’s PEF (polyethylene furanoate), a 100% plant-based, high-performance polymer that can be recycled in existing PET (polyethylene terephthalate) recycling streams. PEF is for instance included in the Critical Guidance Protocol from the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), one of the most universally accepted measures for assessing recyclability in plastic packaging design.

Plastipak has successfully demonstrated the enhanced performance of PEF in monolayer and multilayer bottle applications. PEF is distinguished by its superior barrier properties, which extend the shelf life of food and beverages, its higher mechanical strength that allows for less material, and its lower processing temperature that reduces energy consumption compared to traditional plastics derived from fossil resources. PEF’s unique characteristics make it an ideal monolayer packaging material and also provide benefits when used in conjunction with PET (polyethylene terephthalate). In multilayer PET packages, PEF serves as an effective barrier layer to ensure product shelf life when a single PET layer is insufficient.

Plastipak, in collaboration with Avantium, is now set to further validate the use of PEF in Plastipak’s food and beverage packages on a commercial scale in the United States market.

“As a leading producer of plastic packaging, we are keenly focused on reducing the carbon footprint of our products and at the same time maximize our resource efficiency. PEF helps enable our strategy to introduce sustainable and innovative materials and products to the market”, states Matthew Franz, Chief Operating Officer at Plastipak Packaging.

Tom van Aken, CEO at Avantium, comments: “We are delighted with the success of the cooperation with Plastipak, making PEF available for monolayer and multilayer packaging for beverages and food in the United States. Plastipak represents an important part of the market for containers for food and beverages, personal care products and household products. With this conditional offtake agreement with Plastipak, Avantium can further scale and build the PEF value chain.”

About Plastipak Packaging, Inc.

Plastipak Packaging, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Plastipak Holdings, Inc., is a world leader in the design and manufacture of high-quality, rigid plastic containers for the food, beverage, and consumer products industries. Plastipak is also a leading recycler of rigid plastic packaging, producing food-grade post-consumer recycled resin for inclusion in new packaging. Plastipak operates more than 40 sites in the United States, South America and Europe, with a total of over 6,500 employees. Its customers include some of the world’s most respected and recognized consumer brands. Plastipak is also a leading innovator in the packaging industry, holding more than 420 United States patents for its state-of-the-art package designs and manufacturing processes. In addition, Plastipak licenses various packaging technologies around the world. Plastipak was founded in 1967 and is headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan.

About Avantium

Avantium is a pioneering commercial-stage company focused on renewable & circular polymer materials. Avantium develops and commercialises innovative technologies for the production of materials based on sustainable carbon feedstocks, i.e. carbon from biomass or carbon from the air (CO2). The most advanced technology is the YXY® Technology that catalytically converts plant-based sugars into FDCA (furandicarboxylic acid), the key building block for the sustainable plastic PEF (polyethylene furanoate). Avantium has successfully demonstrated the YXY® Technology at its pilot plant in Geleen, the Netherlands, and is currently constructing the world’s first commercial plant for FDCA. The official opening ceremony for the FDCA Flagship Plant is set on 22 October 2024. Avantium also provides R&D solutions in the field of sustainable chemistry and is the leading provider of advanced catalyst testing technology and services to accelerate catalyst R&D. Avantium works in partnership with like-minded companies around the globe to create revolutionary renewable chemistry solutions from invention to commercial scale.

Avantium’s shares are listed on Euronext Amsterdam and Euronext Brussels (symbol: AVTX). Avantium is incorporated in the Euronext Amsterdam SmallCap Index (AScX). Its offices and headquarters are in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.