Melodea introduces sustainable packaging solution, opens pilot plant

Melodea Ltd., an Israeli startup and global supplier of sustainable plant-based barrier coating products, has launched a new sustainable packaging solution and is opening a pilot plant and innovation center to support its delivery.

VBseal, designed to reduce plastic waste in consumer-packaged goods, is a green coating solution resistant to water vapor, oil and aroma. The fully recyclable, one-stop solution for both water vapor and heat sealing is free of paraformaldehyde and bisphenol A.

A recent study by the Back to Blue group, an initiative of Economist Impact and The Nippon Foundation, found that the amount of plastic used worldwide could almost double by 2050, surpassing 450 million tons per year, unless action is taken.

“Packaging producers have an urgent need for a sustainable barrier coating that has both water vapor protection and heat sealable properties and can replace the commonly used plastic PE layer,” Cee Azerraf, Melodea vice president of sales and marketing, said in a news release. “Our R&D team worked on this new product joining our existing VBcoat and, as with all of our products, it was crucial that it be recyclable and easy to apply on existing coating lines.”

VBseal joins Melodea’s existing eco-friendly barrier coating products, MelOx for oxygen and VBcoat for water vapor and oil and grease. The material is designed to line packaging of fresh foods, cereals, fast foods and confectionary such as cookies and ice cream as well as detergents and cosmetics.

Melodea has opened a $500,000 pilot plant with advanced equipment and analytics tools to support CPG companies and packaging producers. The site will help companies explore sustainable barrier solutions in plastic, paper and bioplastics, test existing barrier coating products and produce coated reels and pouches at pilot scale.

“We offer our clients a location to evaluate their products using our eco-friendly solutions with full control of the coating process,” said Shaul Lapidot, Melodea CEO and co-founder. “We can utilize Melodea’s R&D team’s vast know-how of coatings with optimizing barrier performance and analyze the results on site, as well as help shorten time-to-market for new products and packages.”

Melodea, with proprietary technology protected by 14 patents, was a winner of the Worldstar Packaging Award for 2020. The company has global investors from the pulp, paper and chemical industries.