Milliken Joins GO!PHA to drive adoption of bio-based, biodegradable PHA polymers in single-use packaging applications

Milliken & Company’s Chemical Division has joined the Global Organisation for PHA (GO!PHA) to help address the technical and market development challenges related to polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) biodegradable biopolymers.

Milliken will bring to GO!PHA its expertise in polymer chemistry to help improve the processing, performance, aesthetics and other important attributes of PHA. The goal is to expand the application range of this family of materials into more packaging applications.

GO!PHA is a coalition of industry and academic stakeholders dedicated to advancing the development, commercialisation and adoption of PHA polymers through advocacy and knowledge sharing. Milliken will collaborate with other GO!PHA members to prioritise technical issues and explore ways to solve them by adapting existing high-performance Milliken additives or developing new technologies.

“Milliken’s participation in GO!PHA supports our corporate sustainability goals by giving us a collaborative platform to tackle the challenges of ocean plastics and natural resource conservation,” noted senior vice president, plastics additives, for Milliken’s Chemical Division, Allen Jacoby. “Replacing traditional materials with bio-based, biodegradable PHA polymers can provide lower impact options for food service and flexible packaging. We look forward to working with other GO!PHA members on enhancements that can make PHA polymers more appealing to product designers, converters and consumers.”

“We are delighted to welcome Milliken to GO!PHA,” said GO!PHA executive bpard member Rick Passenier. “Milliken’s polymer additives expertise and extensive development capabilities add tremendous value to our efforts in optimising PHA properties and processability, and expanding the use of the material in single-use packaging applications.”