Neste, Mitsui and Mitsui’s subsidiary company, Prime Polymer, have partnered up with the shared aim to manufacture new kinds of packaging from bio-based raw materials, which will gradually replace fossil-based packaging. As the collaboration continues and develops, the companies hope to provide a wider range of alternative packaging solutions.

Neste is a company who specialises in manufacturing renewable Neste RE, which is a polymer feedstock. This feedstock is made completely out of bio-based raw materials. Mitsui Chemicals Group and Prime Polymer will take the feedstock provided by Neste and put it through a process which will turn it into renewable polypropylene. This new material will then be branded as a product under the name Prasus.

The starting point for this collaboration is manufacturing an alternative package, out of the renewable polypropylene (Prasus) for a seaweed snack, provided by the retail market they are primarily aiming for. This retail market is the CO-OP, a brand of Japanese Consumers Co-operative Union (JCCU). Following the completion of this initial stage of their plan, the companies in collaboration aim to develop and scale-up their production of alternative, renewable packaging by making it available to a wider range of products, within the JCCU market.

Neste spoke about the benefits around the use of this renewable packaging material, mentioning that it retains the same quality and performance which packaging produced with fossil feedstocks has. The company also mentioned that the important and effective change the new material has is that it no longer uses fossil fuels within the packaging or the development and therefore this lowers the carbon footprint of the packaging, providing benefits for consumers, retailers and the environment, through this greener manufacturing process.

The head of sustainable partnerships APAC at Neste’s Renewable Polymers and Chemicals business unit, Lilyana Budyanto, commented, “Change begins with small things. In this case, it’s slices of dried seaweed. However, the impact of renewable plastic packaging isn’t small at all. It’s a crucial contributor to the sustainability transformation of the plastics industry and reducing emissions along the value chain. We are looking forward to the cooperation with Mitsui Chemicals, Prime Polymer and JCCU evolving.”