DECOMAB: recyclable barrier shrink film for products with irregular shapes

A barrier shrink film has to do two jobs at the same time. It has to retract precisely under heat to wrap a product with an irregular shape, and it has to resist mechanical stress, punctures and barrier failure for the entire shelf life of what's inside. Reconciling those two requirements is the technical core of this product category.

Two industrial routes to barrier shrink performance

Industrially, this performance can be reached through two main routes. They are distinct technological paths, with very different consequences at end of life.

First route: ionizing radiation

The first route uses ionizing radiation: high-energy radiation crosslinks the polymer chains after extrusion, stabilising the structure and locking in shrink and mechanical behaviour. The cross-bonds introduced by this process are permanent and make the resulting film incompatible with mechanical recycling.

Second route: polymer architecture

The second route works upstream, on the polymer architecture itself. The same functional requirements are engineered through resin design and the orientation step during blown film extrusion, without adding cross-bonds after the fact.

DECOMAB and the Amorphous SBS Soft Shrink patent

DECOMAB takes the second route. The Amorphous SBS Soft Shrink patent is built on this principle, with a direct consequence at end of life: the film stays a clean PE structure, compatible with standard recycling streams.

What DECOMAB delivers in practice

• Soft shrink on irregular shapes
• Hermetic welds for vacuum and MAP lines
• Anti-fog, high optical clarity, high and low barrier versions
• Food contact compliant (Reg. EC 1935/2004 and Reg. EU 10/2011)
• Interzero "Made for Recycling" certified: 17/20 — "Good", 100% mass fraction available for recycling (tested by Fraunhofer IVV, DIN EN 13430)

What this means for specifications written under PPWR

For a specification written today under the PPWR frame, the difference between the two industrial routes is no longer only technological: it is one less item to justify in the recyclability column. Choosing a barrier shrink film that stays compatible with the PE stream, and that carries independent third-party certification, reduces the number of footnotes a brand owner has to manage in compliance documentation.