K 2025 Preview: Co-Creating the Future of Sustainable, Recyclable Packaging

Didier Houssier, Director Market Development at Kuraray

Kuraray, the Japanese-headquartered global specialty chemicals leader, is leading sustainable innovation in packaging with new high-performance materials for recyclable mono-material barrier packaging designs – bicircular EVAL EVOH, biodegradable PLANTIC, KURARAY POVAL, EXCEVAL, ELVANOL, and MOWIFLEX. These speciality barrier technologies enable food and beverages brand owners, plastics converters and packaging manufacturers to create performant circular barrier packaging while decreasing their environmental footprint and food waste through shelf-life extension.

Polyvinyl butyral MOWITAL used as a binder for multi-layer packaging products further expands Kuraray’s offering for packaging innovation. Whether combined with paper or plastic-based substrates, the company’s materials are key enablers to help meet the circularity requirement set by the regulations now in place as the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) and help reduce additional fees set by the Extended Producer Responsibilities (EPR) when ECO-Modulation is considered. Kuraray’s solutions support sustainability across a wide variety of packaging formats by recently adding ISCC PLUS-certified products to its product portfolio. Through close collaboration with industry partners (co-creation), the company turns complex packaging challenges into practical, future-proof solutions.

Photo Credit: Messe Düsseldorf

Sustainability starts at the source. Kuraray’s ISCC PLUS-certified grades such as EVAL, KURARAY POVAL, ELVANOL, EXCEVAL, and MOWITAL support the use of renewable feedstocks via a mass balance approach. This certification ensures transparency, traceability, and sustainable practices throughout complex supply chains and allows brand owners to reduce their Scope 3 emissions while maintaining the high performance required in modern packaging. Depending on the grade, verified carbon footprint reductions of up to 60% can be achieved with Kuraray’s materials.

Recently, Kuraray’s Bayport Plant in Pasadena, Texas has received ISCC PLUS certification, following its La Porte Plant, the manufacturing site for ELVANOL, as the company’s second site in the United States to receive this certification. In Bayport, Kuraray produces the polyvinyl alcohol resins KURARAY POVAL and EXCEVAL.

At K 2025, Kuraray will be presenting the following product highlights:

EVAL EVOH – EVAL is a high-performance oxygen barrier for recyclable mono-material packaging in plastic and paper formats. A 1-millimetre layer of EVAL provides the same gas barrier performance as a 10-metre-thick wall of LDPE – enabling ultra-thin, lightweight, and resource-saving multilayer structures and therefore helping to reduce waste. New EVAL grades for metallisation offer an aluminium-free alternative for dry food such as snacks, coffee, milk or soup powders packaging. Moreover, bicircular ISCC PLUS-certified versions are available from the Antwerp plant.

KURARAY POVAL, EXCEVAL, ELVANOL, and MOWIFLEX – KURARAY POVAL, EXCEVAL, ELVANOL, and MOWIFLEX are Kuraray’s polyvinyl alcohols (PVOH) developed for sustainable packaging. They are water-soluble, film-forming, and support recyclable and compostable packaging. KURARAY POVAL is used in biodegradable cushioning foams as an alternative to EPS, offering enhanced structure and insulation. EXCEVAL is biodegradable in water, repulpable, and provides strong gas barriers – even at elevated humidity – as well as strong resistance to oil and grease. ELVANOL also offers excellent resistance to oil and grease as well as solvents, making it ideal for water-soluble film applications. Kuraray’s novel MOWIFLEX TC polymer compound is a thermoplastically processable film designed specifically for packaging applications. In addition, Kuraray’s bicircular polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) products are also available at the Frankfurt plant.

Technical Manager Dentistry Kuraray Europe GmbH

PLANTIC – Renewable PLANTIC film is now also available in pellet form as PLANTIC EP. This thermoplastic starch-based, biodegradable and compostable biopolymer is ideal for packaging dry goods such as coffee, tea and animal feed, as well as MAP food applications. Its excellent oxygen barrier helps preserve aroma and product quality. Furthermore, PLANTIC is dispersible in water, enabling the separation of multilayers and allowing for easy repulping of paper packaging.

MOWITAL – MOWITAL polyvinyl butyral can also be used as an optimal auxiliary in coatings and as a binder for multi-layer packaging products.

The Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) sets clear targets for the circularity of packaging, adding design for recycling criteria. Kuraray provides concrete solutions to produce ready-to-recycle packaging with functionally equivalents to current non-recyclable structures with EVAL, EXCEVAL, or PLANTIC. Kuraray teams provide expertise in working together with industry stakeholders to identify the right material combinations that ensure mechanical recyclability, compliance, and high performance across all barrier packaging.