Bioplastic – Can private value chains boost polyolefin recycling? 07-08-2024

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Bottle Closure Printing Station for Labelless Water Bottles

Domino Printing Sciences has launched a new range of high-speed product handling and printing solutions to support the shift away from labels on bottles for environmental and legislative reasons. These stations print variable data and machine-readable codes, including QR codes, onto HDPE bottle caps and closures.

Nigel Allen, Marketing Manager at Domino, highlights the growing interest in labelless bottles within the beverage industry, emphasizing their role in promoting a circular economy. Removing labels simplifies recycling, reduces plastic usage, and can save manufacturers up to 5% on production costs. Bioplastic

Governments worldwide are exploring projects to increase plastic recycling rates. South Korea, for instance, will prohibit external labels on bottled water from January 2026. This poses a challenge for manufacturers to meet labelling requirements without compromising production performance.

Domino’s solution includes high-speed, in-line variable data printing on bottle closures, providing a link to all necessary product information. The stations can be customized for various production environments, offering high-speed printing of loose caps and in-line coding of filled bottles. Bioplastic

The in-line solution features advanced product handling, high-resolution printing, and integrated machine vision for code inspection. Domino recently installed its first in-line bottle closure printing station in Korea, with several more installations following as brands recognize the benefits of labelless PET bottles.

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Invista to Reopen Nylon Intermediate Plant

Invista plans to invest $17 million to reopen its hexamethylenediamine (HMD) plant in Maitland, Ontario. This plant was previously shut down in 2009 along with the production of another nylon 6,6 raw material, adipic acid, at the same site. The company aims to restart operations at the Maitland plant by 2025, contributing to its global nylon supply chain. The reopening is part of Invista’s broader strategy to enhance its production capabilities and meet growing demand for nylon intermediates. Bioplastic

In 2023, Invista had announced the shutdown of HMD and its raw material adiponitrile production in Orange, Texas. The decision to reopen the Maitland plant signifies Invista’s commitment to maintaining a robust supply chain and its strategic investments in key production facilities. The $17 million investment will focus on modernizing the plant’s infrastructure, ensuring it meets contemporary environmental and operational standards. This move is expected to bolster the local economy, providing job opportunities and supporting the region’s industrial base. Bioplastic

Invista’s reopening of the Maitland plant underscores its proactive approach to managing its global operations and addressing the needs of its customers in the nylon industry. The company’s efforts to revitalize its production capabilities highlight its dedication to sustainability and innovation in the manufacturing sector.

Invista to Reopen Nylon Intermediate Plant

Polymer Center Drives Bottle-to-Bottle Circularity

Republic Services’ award-winning facility is on a mission to turn plastic waste into packaging for customers including Coca-Cola. Bioplastic

  • The Nevada Polymer Center processes post-consumer PET, HDPE, and PP.
  • In July 2024, Coca-Cola sourced 500,000 lb of rPET flake from the center to make new bottles.
  • At a second Polymer Center, in Indianapolis, Blue Polymers will produce rHDPE and rPP pellets.

The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) honored Republic Services with the 2024 Sustainability Game Changer Award, for the company’s eight-month-old Polymer Center in Las Vegas.

The 71,000-square-foot Polymer Center, Republic’s first in a planned national network of centers, processes baled plastics from materials recovery facilities into recycled PET (rPET) flake and color-sorted high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and polypropylene (PP).

Incoming post-consumer materials include plastic bottles, jugs, and containers collected from homes and businesses. The Las Vegas Polymer Center has the capacity to produce more than 100 million pounds of recycled plastics per year. Bioplastic

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Polymer Center Drives Bottle-to-Bottle Circularity

Can private value chains boost polyolefin recycling?

Major players are best placed to form partnerships across industries and bridge the yawning supply gap. Bioplastic

Sustainability and circularity is key to the future of the plastics industry, yet Wood Mackenzie data, only about 30% of polyolefins reaching the market today are recyclable. With demand for more environmentally friendly products rising rapidly, improving recyclability is a pressing issue.

We recently published an in-depth insight into the potential role of private value chains in boosting polyolefin recycling. Fill in the form to download a complimentary copy of the report, which is based on data and analysis from our Recycled Polyolefins Service, and read on for some key takeaways. Bioplastic

Despite strong demand for recycled plastic, most polyolefins being produced are non-recyclable

Industries across the plastics value chain are keen to decarbonise their operations by using products with a lower carbon footprint. Yet linear design practices in product development and waste management result in seven out of every ten tonnes of polyolefins produced ending up in landfill or being incinerated. Aside from the environmental impact, the lack of suitable material for recycling is one of the main reasons why the polyolefin market is so supply-constrained. Bioplastic

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Can private value chains boost polyolefin recycling?

Bioplastic Fishing Nets: A Sustainable Innovation

A recently completed EU research programme has explored solutions to reduce plastic pollution on land and at sea. The four-and-a-half-year European research programme, called SeaLive (Strategies of Circular Economy and Advanced Biobased Solutions to Keep Our Lands and Seas Alive from Plastics Contamination), which concluded last March, assessed the feasibility of producing bioplastic fishing nets based on polylactic acid (PLA), as well as equipment and packaging made from polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and other bio-based polymers. Bioplastic

TotalEnergies Corbion contributed its Luminy PLA to the project. The fishing nets studied by SeaLive can be industrially composted at the end of their useful life and are expected to degrade naturally after 10 years if accidentally dispersed at sea, which is 40 times faster than conventional plastic fishing nets. PLA has also been used to evaluate new applications in fishing boxes and net bags for oyster cultivation. Bioplastic

As part of the research program, Pellenc ST developed an optical sorter capable of identifying and separating bioplastics from waste streams, avoiding contamination and ensuring the circularity of materials. The machine is also able to separate different fractions of biopolymers, such as PLA, PBS, PBAT, PHB-PHBV, and cellulose acetate.

In addition to fishing gear, solutions to reduce plastic pollution on land and at sea have been studied, including rigid food containers, flexible packaging, single-use cutlery, and agricultural films. Bioplastic

Bioplastic Fishing Nets: A Sustainable Innovation

Loop Industries Hits Milestone

Loop Industries, Inc., a clean technology company whose mission is to accelerate a circular plastics economy by manufacturing 100 percent recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic and polyester fiber, provided an update regarding the Company’s joint venture (JV) partnership and financing agreement with Reed.

Reed and Societe Generale announced that Societe Generale has agreed to acquire 75 percent of Reed and provide funding for Reed initially amounting to $250 million, which can be further increased to $350 million. This transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approval, would secure Reed’s funding for its planned investments, including its previously announced JV partnership for the European deployment of Loop’s technology and a tiered financing package for Loop as disclosed in the agreement between Reed and Loop. Bioplastic

Under the terms of the agreement between Loop and Reed, Reed would provide capital as follows:

  • 10 million investment in a Convertible Preferred Security to be issued by Loop, which contains a 13 percent PIK dividend rate and 5 year term, which may convert into Loop stock at $4.75 per share or redeemed in cash Bioplastic

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Loop Industries Hits Milestone

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Pyrolysis – BMW is collaborating with the German startup DeepDrive to develop dual-rotor electric motors for new electric cars 06-08-2024