Cortec® Corporation Launches Biobased Film Products for Marine and Anaerobic Digestion Markets

Cortec® Corporation, a leading bioplastics producer located in Minnesota, USA, is pleased to announce the launch and commercial availability of EcoOcean™. This new bioplastic offers a unique combination of environmental and performance benefits previously unattainable—flexibility and strength; commercial and low-temperature backyard compostability; 77% annually renewable raw material content; anaerobic and marine biodegradability.

Boris Miksic, CEO of Cortec Corporation, collecting plastic garbage from Galapagos beaches with National Geographic's scientist Dr. Lynn Fowler (Photo: Business Wire)

EcoOcean™ is the result of not only novel bioplastics resin technology, but also production and processing breakthroughs attained after years of development work by Cortec's extrusion plants in Cambridge, MN and Beli Manastir, Croatia. The new EcoOcean™ films and bags bridge the environmental and performance gap that has existed for decades with other films.

“EcoOcean™ will revolutionize the use of flexible packaging, especially in coastal areas of the world,” states Boris Miksic, CEO of Cortec® Corporation. Ideally, EcoOcean™ is disposed of in commercial composting, or in oxygen deprived anaerobic digesters. However, as is seen worldwide, plastics can still end up in the waterways—even in communities with the harshest and strictest penalties for litter.

EcoOcean™ has an advantage in nearly all intentional and unintentional disposal methods. In entombed landfills, the main benefit is the film's renewable content. In composting, it allows rapid aerobic biodegradation naturally and safely. The films rapidly breakdown in as little as 15 days in anaerobic digestion (AD) systems or methane producing landfills (WtE). EcoOcean™ has been tested to numerous standards and specifications, including, but not limited to the following:

ASTM D 7081: Standard Specification for Biodegradability in Marine Environments
ASTM D 5511: Standard Test Method for Anaerobic Biodegradation (15 Days)
ASTM D 6400: Standard Specification for Commercial Compostability

EcoOcean™ soon available in standard sizes and forms in over 70 countries.

About Cortec Corporation

Cortec® Corporation is the world leader in innovative and environmentally responsible technologies for industry. Cortec® manufactures over 450 products distributed worldwide with five plants in the U.S., one in Europe, and sales channel partners in over 70 countries. ISO 9001, ISO 14001:2004, & ISO/IEC-17025 Certified.

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