The Ecorise PLA spunbond nonwoven developed by Mitsui Chemicals Asahi Life Materials Co., Ltd. has been adopted as a packaging material for tennis racquets sold by sporting goods manufacturer Yonex Co., Ltd.

Ecorise will be used for the packaging of tennis racquets slated for a rolling global launch starting February 2024.

Yonex is pursuing eco-friendly production as a part of its sustainability efforts, which is seeing the company look to minimize packaging for all sorts of products while keeping a close eye on any impacts on transportation times and quality assurance. For this latest initiative, Yonex is discontinuing the nylon cases it has previously used for its tennis racquets in favor of packaging that uses Ecorise. This will reduce the use of materials made primarily from petroleum-derived plastic.

The use of embossing technology for the Yonex logo, and of ultrasonic welding technology for the production of the nonwoven bags, has also facilitated the creation of eco-friendly packaging that forgoes the use of pigments and adhesives.

Ecorise is a spunbond nonwoven made primarily from polylactic acid (PLA), a plant-derived biodegradable plastic. Ecorise is able to decompose and be composted under certain conditions, and meets standards laid out by a number of domestic and foreign certification bodies, including the U.S.-based BPI, Austrian-based TÜV AUSTRIA (via its certification center in Belgium) and Japanese-based JBPA. This has seen the material receive certifications such as BiodegradablePla and BiomassPla.