MicroGREEN Polymers to Unveil InCycle™ Sheets for Reducing Environmental Footprint of Packaging and Containers at Pack Expo 2010

InCycle Sheets Are Made from Less Source Material, Environmentally-Friendly to Produce, Contain Post-Consumer Recycled PET, and Can Be Recycled

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MicroGREEN Polymers, Inc., (MicroGREEN) today unveiled InCycle™, a revolutionary transformation of recycled PET into a lightweight, insulating, grease and moisture proof printable sheet, as a cost-effective, sustainable alternative for print, packaging, and container applications.

“We’re excited to help CPGs address consumer demand to transition to a sustainable material for a broad swath of packaging, container and print applications - cost-effectively and without sacrificing the intrinsic qualities needed for their products.”

InCycle sheets are made from recycled PET, which is then expanded using MicroGREEN’s patented Ad-air^® technology to reduce the amount of plastic required and significantly lower the environmental footprint of products made from them. For example, the amount of source material recycled from one 20oz. PET beverage bottle can produce seven 12oz. hot beverage cups made from InCycle.

As demonstrated in a lifecycle inventory and analysis study of hot beverage cups conducted by Franklin Associates, an InCycle sheet made into a hot beverage cup has the lowest total amount of energy required to produce a hot beverage cup and the lowest total solid waste as measured in both volume and weight when compared to expanded polystyrene (EPS) and coated paperboard hot beverage cups, the two most commonly used in the market today. Therefore, InCycle sheets help Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies increase their environmental scorecard rating for their packaging and enhance their brand’s sustainability position by reducing the amount of their packaging waste.

In addition to lowering footprint, InCycle sheets actually improve recycled PET’s functionality in terms of useful temperature range, insulation, flexibility and impact strength, making this increasingly prolific recycled material available to a broader range of applications. InCycle sheets are lightweight and can be controllably engineered to meet the various performance requirements for different types of print, packaging and container applications. InCycle sheets are also highly insulating and maintain their integrity at a broader range of service temperatures (-20°F up to 400°F) compared to solid PET. These properties now make recycled PET well-suited for extreme temperature applications, such as freezer-to-microwave meals.

InCycle sheets also have an integral skin which is grease and moisture proof, can be printed on directly, and is available in a variety of finishes, including high-gloss, semi-gloss, matte, and satin. The integral skin is also naturally white without the addition of pigments and highly reflective, which makes print appear to jump off the surface. InCycle sheets are available in a variety of gauges, from 0.022” to 0.060”.

“At MicroGREEN Polymers, we’re focused on creating a world where plastic packaging is not seen as waste, but as a resource. InCycle represents a real breakthrough in ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ - it reduces the amount of material required, is a reuse of recycled PET, and can be recycled again,” said Tom Malone, CEO of MicroGREEN Polymers. “We’re excited to help CPGs address consumer demand to transition to a sustainable material for a broad swath of packaging, container and print applications - cost-effectively and without sacrificing the intrinsic qualities needed for their products.”

MicroGREEN Polymers will be exhibiting InCycle sheets at Pack Expo in Chicago from October 31-November 3, 2010 in booth #8107. Sample products made from InCycle on display will include: thermoformed and convolute cups, convolute overwraps, printed flat sheet, blister pack cards, thermoformed trays, and folded boxes, clamshells, and other food service containers.

About MicroGREEN Polymers, Inc.

MicroGREEN Polymers is a privately held enterprise and was founded in September 2002 to commercialize its patented solid-state microcellular expansion technology called Ad-air^®, which significantly reduces the financial and ecological costs of many plastic products while maintaining key material characteristics. Ad-air technology is applicable to plastics in food and beverage packaging, general packaging, transportation, building materials, appliances and consumer electronics industries. MicroGREEN is headquartered in a 40,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Arlington, Washington. To learn more, please visit www.microgreeninc.com.