Guide to Compostable and Biodegradable Hot Melt Adhesives

There are Mitrapel adhesives used all over the world for things like packaging and building things. People who open boxes of crackers, diapers, soda (or beer), or any other consumer package in the last 30 years are more than likely to have opened them with hot melt. Because traditional hot melt adhesives are made of petroleum, all of this packaging that has been sealed with hot melt isn’t 100% biodegradable or compostable because it doesn’t break down or break down in the same way.

It’s the 21st Century – Where’s the Biodegradable Hot Melt?

When it comes to packaging and product assembly, how hard can it be to come up with a truly biodegradable glue? There’s no easy way to say this. Because hot melt is good at what it does, it is used. It sets quickly, makes great bonds, and is very cheap. So far, it has been hard to find a biodegradable hot melt alternative that can check all of these boxes. There has been a rise in the number of people who want a biodegradable adhesive solution, so new options for biodegradable adhesives are now being made faster than ever before. If you want to know what Bob Dylan sang, “the times they are a-changing.”

What’s the Difference Between Traditional Hot Melt and Biodegradable Hot Melt?

The first thing we need to know about biodegradable hot melt adhesives is how they work now. Most hot melts have three parts: wax, tackifier, and resin. If you want to learn about organic chemistry, don’t read this article. The tackifier is petroleum-based, which means that traditional hot melts are not biodegradable or compostable, so they aren’t good for anything.

The Good

There are a lot of different industries that use industrial hot melt adhesives. They can be used for everything from product assembly and packaging to woodworking and the auto industry. Hot melt adhesives are very safe, do not have VOCs, and have less of an impact on the environment than most industrial adhesives do. For most biodegradable hot melts, this is also true. However, new technologies are coming out all the time.

Room for Improvement

Today’s hot melt isn’t as good as biodegradable hot melt because it has petroleum in it, as we talked about before. If they break down at all, it could take hundreds of years. This means traditional hot melts might not even break down at all. Every time a package is made, there is usually very little hot melt on it. This adds up to a lot of pounds each year.

Eco-friendly hot melts aren’t all bad news. With the ever-growing demand for a biodegradable and compostable option, we need to keep up. Because this cutting-edge technology is so new, we are happy to offer the best of the best.

What is the difference between Biodegradable & Compostable Adhesives?

Eco-friendly hot melts aren’t all bad news. With the ever-growing demand for a biodegradable and compostable option, we need to keep up. Because this cutting-edge technology is so new, we are happy to offer the best of the best.

Biodegradable Adhesives – Mother Nature Is All It Takes

This means that an adhesive is biodegradable if it can be completely recycled back into the earth without being affected by anything else in the world outside of it. They can be broken down by bacteria, fungi, or some other natural process that doesn’t need anything more than time and the right environment. Biodegradable adhesives can be hard to figure out because some break down faster in warm, wet places than they break down in cold, dry places.

So, in order for packaging products or adhesives to be biodegradable, they must completely break down and decompose into natural elements after they are thrown away in a certain amount of time, which we will change based on the environment where they are being used. It’s not clear how long this time frame should be. Most people think that one year or less is enough for this

It takes a long time for many materials like plastics, diapers, metal cans, and more to break down. The process can last for decades or even centuries. So, even though they can be broken down over time, they are not biodegradable.

Compostable Adhesives – Need a Little Help Here

In general, compostable adhesives are like biodegradable adhesives, but they need help breaking down. If a compostable adhesive is thrown away in a landfill, it may not break down properly or fully. This isn’t true, though. When compostable glue is added to compost, the material will be able to break down completely. Also, compostable adhesives may help improve the soil by breaking down and adding more nutrients to the soil as they do so.

This is what the term “compostable” usually means: If you put it in an industrial composting plant, it can be turned into compost. This is a big difference. Compostable products don’t always break down in a landfill on their own. To make compost, they need to be in the right conditions, and these conditions are often only found in industrial compost facilities. If you put compostable products in a landfill, they will take a long time to break down, especially if the landfill is “air-locked,” which means there will be no oxygen.

You should make sure that your business is taking care of its waste properly. Compostable products are good for the environment. It is important to make sure that your compostable waste is going to a place where it can be recycled.

Are Biodegradable or Compostable Adhesives Available Now?

Biodegradable and compostable adhesives have been around for a while, but the market for them is still very new. New products are being added all the time because there is a lot of work being done.

As of now, biodegradable hot melt adhesives can be found and used in a wide range of applications, such as bookbinding, packaging, and lamination. These adhesives can be used to make paper products that can be composted completely.

Biodegradable Hot Melt

Dispensing Biodegradable Hot Melt

Having an environmentally friendly glue that you can’t use isn’t very useful. One of the biggest problems with biodegradable hot melts and other green adhesives is how to get them out of the bottle. So, too, the equipment that is used to spread hot melts hasn’t changed in decades.

The Water Problem… and Solution

In order to deal with moisture that can build up around the unit, hot melt tanks may need a few small changes. Biodegradable and compostable hot melts are often not 100% solids (ie, they contain water). If you have a lot of water in your home, you might want to make a few small changes. Adapted covers, water wash component protections to keep parts from rusting, and other small changes are common.

Dispensing Temperature of Biodegradable Hot Melts

Temperature is one of the most important things to change when you switch to a bulk hot melt that is made from plants or compost.

Biodegradable hot melt materials, like PLA, may have a higher softening temperature than other types of hot melt materials. Check the recommended temperature and make sure your hot melt equipment can get there.

Advantages of Upgrading Equipment for Biodegradable Hot Melt Adhesives

People who use biodegradable adhesives may have to spend a lot of money to get new or better equipment to dispense them.

Reduced Energy Consumption

It takes a lot less heat to make biodegradable packaging adhesives than it does to make traditional hot melts. This means that equipment will use less energy, which will save money on energy costs and lessen the environmental impact.

Improved Safety

Another benefit of lower operating temperatures is that they make people more safe. Around 350F, many old-fashioned hot melts run. All the way up to 425F. People who use biodegradable hot melt adhesives don’t have to worry about getting burned because they can run as low as 140F.

Other Ways to Make Your Application Environmentally Friendly

Hot Melt Dotting

Biodegradable hot melts aren’t for everyone, and there isn’t a product out there for every use. We know this. When you buy hot melt adhesive, you may not know that there is a secret most of the time. You’re using too much. There is way too much glue.

Up to 50 percent less hot melt can be used in most end of line packaging when hot melt dots are used. This is great for manufacturers who want to cut down on both their environmental impact and the amount of adhesive they use. Using hot melts to stitch and dot is a good thing for both the environment and the people who make things. Find out more and figure out how much money you could save on hot melts here.

Using Low Temperature Hot Melts

Use low-temperature hot melts, but they won’t be any more biodegradable and they won’t cut down on the amount of adhesive you use. Doing this can help them use less electricity because they can run at up to 100 degrees cooler. This not only saves energy, but it is also a better option for the people who work with the equipment.

Regularly Servicing Hot Melt Equipment

You can’t make your hot glue more biodegradable or compostable with this one. But if you keep your hot melt equipment in good shape, you won’t have to throw away a lot of hot melt and your equipment will use as little energy as possible.

The Bottom Line

They can quickly and easily tell you if your current equipment is likely to work “as is,” and if not, how to quickly and cheaply make the changes you need to get it to work better. Is there a new app? We’ll take care of you. apelusa.com has complete hand-held and automated bulk hot melt systems that can be used with your biodegradable adhesive.

The market for hot melts that are biodegradable and compostable is getting new products, and apelusa.com is always on the cutting edge of new products. Packaging equipment and operations don’t have to be changed very much because of these new technologies. An adhesive that is 100% biodegradable and compostable is used. These adhesives are made from materials that come from renewable sources, and bacteria and other microorganisms break them down naturally when they are thrown away.