AlSafe® , the result of Altus Coating’s R&D efforts to find anti-bacterial, anti-viral hygiene and health and safety solutions, will be introduced in preview at Luxe Pack Monaco.
Altus Coating, the Alchemy of Polymer and Material
The creator of UV varnishes UV, UV Lacquers and Dyes: Engineered, specialized, aesthetic, and ethical solutions for coating materials (plastics, metals, glass, bio-sourced or recycled materials, paper, cardboard) – is present at Luxe Pack Monaco for a 10th time. The company management will notably introduce their latest antimicrobial innovation, AlSafe®, as well as various bio-sourced solutions.
In 2020, as a preferred partner of manufacturers and clients in the world of cosmetics, perfumery and luxury, Altus Coating began thinking ahead, as part of its agile approach to innovation, with the aim to offer, on demand, an essential component for personal hygiene and safety in devices, as a supplement to its UV varnishes, UV lacquers and dyes. The company also contributes to preventing or reducing pollutants to better protect our natural environments.
AlSafe®, a clear, colorless antimicrobial component, essential for the non-proliferation of contaminants on surfaces in contact with hands.
UV-cured varnish contains special molecules that destroy contaminants over time. This is a key selling point for major clients who are eager to offer hygiene and health safety to their customers, as they see their products being handled all day long (mascara, powder compact, perfume, etc.).
The high technology behind UV-dried varnishes for finishing cosmetic containers, developed by Altus Coating since 2007, based on in-depth polymer knowledge, was a legitimate reason to plan this R&D endeavor in bio-chemistry in 2020. Today, this allows the company to offer an engineered antimicrobial solution capable of neutralizing bacteria and viruses as soon as the contaminants land on the varnish, without affecting the aesthetic, specialized, or ethical properties of the coated products.
In the current state of research (1), the fact that the active ingredient AlSafe® is directly added into the various varnish formulas developed by Altus Coating, favors the longevity of its effectiveness. Only excessive wear (2) would affect ingredient activity over time, well beyond the estimated active life displayed on the packaging.
This major varnish innovation for objects used in cosmetics and perfumery can also be considered for any object requiring bacterial and viral neutralization! We need more and more protection from our everyday objects.
1The tests were carried out on the bacteria E. Colis and S. Aureus and, for the time being, with the Coronavirus E229, which shows great similarities with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, responsible for the Covid-19; tests on the virus causing the Covid-19 disease are prohibited in commercial laboratories.
2The specifications specific to each object, which vary according to its geometric shape, its use, etc., with varnish application of varying thickness, induce surface wear that is more or less rapid.
This major varnish innovation for objects used in cosmetics and perfumery can also be considered for any object requiring bacterial and viral neutralization! We need more and more protection from our everyday objects.
A More Environmentally-Friendly Solution
The AlSafe® solution would also significantly reduce the use of disinfectant products, which have been proven to play a role in the release of VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) into the atmosphere. This technology is compatible with the use of bio-based varnish.
The active ingredients of AlSafe® do not contain nanoparticles. These ingredients meet regulatory requirements and are listed in the Biocidal Products Regulation, BPR (REACH). They do not contain SVHC substances and are not endocrine disruptors. They are considered Food Contact Substances (FCS) by the Food and Drug Administration (USA).
Packaging treated with AlSafe® can follow its normal processing/recycling cycle.
The initial feasibility, compatibility, stability, efficiency and aging test results recorded in the laboratory in 2021 have encouraged Altus Coating to showcase AlSafe® to professional visitors at Luxe Pack Monaco.
In the context of its agile innovation approach, Altus Coating works with each manufacturer and customer to look for ways to adapt this new AlSafe® technology to its own packaging techniques (lamination, flexography, screen printing) and to various substrates (plastics, metals, glass) with various finishes (gloss, mat, etc.). In-situ testing carried out at the customer’s premises is an integral part of the company’s quality approach.
Altus Coating, a company with strong CSR commitment in its DNA
Specialized from its inception in the field of UV-crosslinked polymers, whose technological and aesthetic performance is undeniable, Altus Coating anticipated the required energy savings: convection was replaced with radiation.
Choosing to adopt a progressive development approach as early as 2016, Altus Coating quickly attained the ISO-9001 standard. In 2018, Altus Coating took an environmental and societal approach, based on the ISO-26000 standard in partnership with Afnor, with its first E-CSR certification initiated. This then allowed the company to win an Ecovadis silver medal, followed by a gold medal in 2020.
As a signatory of the “Responsible Care” charter in 2018, and winner of the CSR Trophy for companies in the Bourgogne Franche Comté region in 2019, Altus Coating continues to improve its performance.
In its daily activities as a responsible manufacturer, Altus Coating has chosen to minimize its environmental footprint: through participatory collaboration with its customers on the development of products that are more environment-friendly, by reducing VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) and limiting energy consumption during their implementation, and by using bio-based substances, in particular for “high dry extract” varnishes, an innovation nominated at the Luxe Pack Green in 2019.
About Altus Coating
As an independent family-owned manufacturing company, created in 2007 in Bourgogne-Franche Comté by Lucien and Eric Pertus, Altus Coating, labeled as a “Young Innovative Company” in 2010, has – since its inception – resolutely chosen to adopt an agile approach to innovation and to cooperation with its industrial customers and main clients in the cosmetics world.
It is with this mindset that Altus Coating creates its varnishes, which provide targeted responses in line with specifications, as well as environmental solutions. The complexity of each technical problem is managed by a multidisciplinary team from its R&D laboratory.
The team is currently comprised of 14 people, supported by an efficient ecosystem, and shows a steady revenue increase of around 15% per year, amounting to €3.7 million for the last fiscal year.
