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Melodea, a sustainable barrier coatings producer for packaging, has introduced a new high-performance barrier product engineered to enable recyclability of plastic food packaging. MelOx NGen is a water-based, plant-sourced coating designed to line the inside surface of various plastic food packaging forms including films, pouches, bags, lidding and blister packs. It is currently being rolled out to the global plastic industry and has been approved by the FDA and BfR as compatible for food contact. The barrier coating could help extend the shelf-life of foods such as snacks, confectionery and nutrition bars. The innovation is a new iteration of Melodea’s bio-based, renewable material MelOx for paper packaging, but designed specifically for use on plastic. It is used to line packaging as a transparent layer, aiming to offer a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to petroleum-based Ethyl Vinyl Alcohol copolymers (EVOH) which are widely used in packaging for food preservation properties as well as met-PET plastic materials commonly used to produce lids. Melodea believes that MelOx NGen could help expand the scope of plastic food packaging eligible for recycling and empower food packagers to align themselves with government regulations aimed at reducing single-use plastics. Cee Azerraf, VP of sales and marketing at Melodea, said: “The majority of plastic packaging available today cannot be recycled due to its multi-structure composition. EVOH, which is typically infused into the thin plastic films of the food packaging to serve as an oxygen barrier, is non-recyclable preventing the entire package from being recyclable.” “MelOx NGen presents an eco-friendly and cost-effective solution by being applicable to various forms of plastics, including monostructure plastics that possess exceptional performance properties and are recyclable. Our solution will also relieve the current bottleneck in the supply of EVOH.”