Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth 20-12-2021 - Arhive

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Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

-Coca-Cola encourages recycling, gives plastic bottles ‘second life’

COCA-COLA Philippines and its partners are helping communities realize the value of recyclable plastics by setting up over 200 collection points all over the country where people can drop-off their used, clean recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic bottles.

As part of its global vision to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle or can that they sell, Coca-Cola, together with its partners – Plastic Bank, Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), Plastic Flamingo, PBEST, as well as participating local government units (LGUs) and private institutions – have made it possible to accelerate the company’s initiative on proper collection and recycling of used plastic PET bottles.

What started in 2019 as 30-plus collection points where people can drop off their collected clean, used plastic PET bottles, has since grown, and expanded into multiple sites – covering more areas and communities across the country.

“We’re fortunate to have found several partners who share the same vision on having more litter-free communities in the country. Coca-Cola recognizes the important role we play when it comes to tackling the issue of plastic waste. Providing easier access to collection points is one step forward to achieving a World Without Waste,” shares Atty. Cashmer Dirampaten, director for public affairs, communications, and sustainability of Coca-Cola Philippines.

The beverage company’s local bottling partner, Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines Inc. (CCBPI) has also been working with different LGUs to help improve collection rates in their respective cities and municipalities. Its project, “Tapon to Ipon,” encourages people in the communities to practice proper waste segregation and bring their used, clean plastic PET bottles to the participating LGUs’ waste collection hubs.

Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

-New PBT Compounds Incorporate Glass Fiber Diverted from Industrial Waste Stream

Sabic’s polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) compounds offer the mechanical properties and color equivalency of Elcrin iQ grades with virgin glass-fiber reinforcement at a reduced carbon footprint.

Sabic has launched two new polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) compounds — LNP Elcrin WF006XXPiQ and LNP Elcrin WF0061XPiQ — representing the first two grades in a new portfolio of materials that incorporate pre-consumer recycled glass fiber diverted from the waste stream of industrial processes. These PBT compounds, each reinforced with 30% pre-consumer recycled short glass fiber, offer the mechanical properties and color equivalency of Elcrin iQ grades that use virgin glass-fiber reinforcement. This new technology further decreases the carbon footprint of Elcrin iQ materials, which already support the circular economy and help reduce plastic waste by using upcycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from discarded water bottles.

“We are continually pursuing new avenues to accelerate carbon neutrality for our materials across our portfolio,” said Luc Govaerts, Director, Formulation and Application Development for Sabic’s Specialties Business. “This effort includes evaluating each component of our thermoplastic compounds and collaborating with others in the value chain to identify potential replacements that can drive circularity. Central to this process is the prioritization of customer needs, so that greater sustainability goes hand-in-hand with outstanding performance, consistent quality, and processing efficiency.”

Sabic has launched two new polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) compounds — LNP Elcrin WF006XXPiQ and LNP Elcrin WF0061XPiQ — representing the first two grades in a new portfolio of materials that incorporate pre-consumer recycled glass fiber diverted from the waste stream of industrial processes. These PBT compounds, each reinforced with 30% pre-consumer recycled short glass fiber, offer the mechanical properties and color equivalency of Elcrin iQ grades that use virgin glass-fiber reinforcement. This new technology further decreases the carbon footprint of Elcrin iQ materials, which already support the circular economy and help reduce plastic waste by using upcycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) from discarded water bottles. Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

“We are continually pursuing new avenues to accelerate carbon neutrality for our materials across our portfolio,” said Luc Govaerts, Director, Formulation and Application Development for Sabic’s Specialties Business. “This effort includes evaluating each component of our thermoplastic compounds and collaborating with others in the value chain to identify potential replacements that can drive circularity. Central to this process is the prioritization of customer needs, so that greater sustainability goes hand-in-hand with outstanding performance, consistent quality, and processing efficiency.”

Sabic is one of the first materials suppliers to adopt pre-consumer recycled glass fiber for thermoplastic compounds. The short glass fiber used in these new Elcrin iQ materials contains 100% recycled content, according to Underwriters Laboratories’ Recycled Content Validation procedure (UL 2809), following the mass balance approach. Compared to virgin PBT reinforced with virgin glass fiber, the LNP Elcrin WF006XXPiQ compound contains 67% recycled content and lowers the carbon footprint by 29%, while the LNP Elcrin WF0061XPiQ compound contains 55% recycled content and reduces the carbon footprint by 24%.

In addition to their improved sustainability profile, these materials deliver structural performance in terms of stiffness and strength, chemical resistance, and colorability for applications in the consumer electronics, automotive, and electrical and electronics industries. Furthermore, the new LNP Elcrin WF0061XPiQ compound offers non-halogenated flame retardance. As a drop-in replacement for incumbent virgin PBT and Elcrin iQ grades, the two new compounds enable customers to increase application sustainability without the need for design or tooling changes.

Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

-Ineos And Petroineos At Grangemouth Partner With Plastic Energy In An Important Breakthrough In The Recycling Of Plastic

The process will use existing refinery operations replacing oil with TACOIL made from waste flexible food packaging to remake virgin plastic for reuse in food and hygiene applications.

This trial and the evolution of the policy environment in the UK will inform the development of a large-scale advanced recycling plant, which aims to be the first of its kind in the UK. Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

17 December 2021 – INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe and Plastic Energy have today announced that they are working together on a trial to convert ‘hard to recycle plastic material’, such as flexible packaging, back into ‘food-grade’ quality plastic for use in food packaging, and other high hygiene standard applications.

The companies have come together to launch a preliminary trial in Q1-2022 at the INEOS Grangemouth facility in Scotland. This preliminary trial and the evolution of the policy environment in the UK will inform the development of a large-scale advanced recycling [1] plant, which aims to be the first of its kind in the UK.

Advanced Recycling creates a closed-loop system for plastics management, helps reduce landfill, prevents plastic from ending up in the environment, and reduces the use of fossil derived raw materials. The circular re-use of ‘end of life’ plastic is a further step to reduce total emissions.

INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe and Plastic Energy have a shared goal to create a world class circular economy value chain in advanced recycling, driving circularity to create the next generation of food-grade recycled content packaging.

Plastic Energy uses its advanced recycling process to convert post-consumer plastic, otherwise destined for landfill or incineration, through a pyrolysis process, into a liquid raw material (called TACOIL) for re-use in the next generation of plastic production. TACOIL is used as a replacement for fossil derived materials, to make food-grade and/or medical grade plastics.

The trial will take place in partnership with Petroineos at Grangemouth. It will use the existing refinery operations to process the TACOIL supplied by Plastic Energy, which already operate two recycling plants in Spain.

Plastic Energy’s technology allows for the improvement in circularity of highly demanding labelling, and packaging applications, such as chocolate bars, snacks and biscuits, pet and dry food. The new project is complementary to the existing use of mechanically recycled plastic in INEOS Recycl-IN range of products.

Petroineos will supply the recycled raw material to INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe to be transformed into Certified Circular plastic with the identical properties expected of conventional plastics made from oil and gas.

The partners recognise the need for collaboration to make such innovations sustainable at scale – in the spirit of “SDG#17 Partnerships for the Goals”, each partner contributes complementary skills and expertise that together create the circular value chain. Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

-Eurozone growth at 9-month low as 4th COVID wave hits: IHS Markit

The eurozone economy is being dealt yet another blow from COVID-19, with rising infection levels dampening service sector growth to result in a disappointing end to 2021, according to UK-based IHS Markit. Germany is being especially hard hit, seeing the economy stall for the first time in a year-and-a-half, but the growth slowdown is broad based across the region.

However, encouragement comes from the manufacturing sector, where the strain on supply chains is showing some signs of easing, in turn helping to revive factory production, it said. Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

These easing supply constraints have alleviated some of the upward pressures on inflation, though the overall rate of price increase in December was still the second highest on record. While inflation could soon peak, the rate of increase remains elevated, it said in a press release.

Looking ahead, the Omicron variant poses downside risks to the growth outlook as the world heads into 2022, and any accompanying disruption to supply chains could result in price pressures spiking higher again.

The headline IHS Markit Eurozone Composite purchasing managers index (PMI) in the zone dropped by two points from 55.4 in November to 53.4 in December, according to the ‘flash’ reading, indicating an easing in the rate of output growth to the lowest since March.

The December slowdown was led by the service sector, where business activity grew at the weakest rate since April. Slower service sector activity growth was in turn led by a steep fall in tourism and recreation activity of a similar magnitude to the declines seen at the start of the year amid rising COVID-19 infection rates and associated restrictions across the region.

Inflows of new business into the service sector in the Eurozone also slowed, dropping to the lowest since the recovery from early-2021 lockdowns began in May, IHS Markit said. Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

By country, growth stalled in Germany due to the first drop in new orders for goods and services since June 2020, ending a 17-month recovery. A renewed fall in service sector activity outweighed a pick-up in manufacturing production growth.

France meanwhile continued to grow at a solid pace, albeit down on November, as a relatively resilient service sector helped offset a decline in manufacturing output for the second time in the past three months.

Eurozone growth at 9-month low as 4th COVID wave hits: IHS Markit

-Coal fueling increased environmental impact of plastics

A new study published in Nature Sustainability by researchers at the Swiss university ETH Zurich demonstrates that the impact of plastics production on human health and climate is greater than previously thought, with plastics accounting for an estimated 4.5 percent of global greenhouse gases.

The study, which analyzed the global plastics value chain, found that coal-fired power plants contribute far more heavily to the carbon footprint of plastics than thought, mainly because more coal is being used for process heat, electricity and as a raw material in making resin. Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

Coal-based emissions from plastics production have quadrupled since 1995, the study said, with the greatest impact coming in newly industrialized countries such as China, India and South Africa. Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

To date, most research into the global environmental impact of plastics has been primarily focused on the disposal phase, with only a handful of studies examining the impact of plastics production on, for example, climate and air quality. To do so requires detailed information about supply chains and processes in order to be able to trace relevant material and energy flows.

“So far, the simplistic assumption has been that the production of plastics requires roughly the same amount of fossil resources as the amount of raw materials contained in plastics — particularly petroleum,” said Livia Cabernard, a doctoral student at the Institute of Science, Technology and Policy (ISTP) at ETH Zurich. As a result, the relative significance of production versus disposal has been significantly underestimated, reseachers said.

Cabernard and researchers led by Stephan Pfister, senior scientist at the ISTP, and Stefanie Hellweg, ETH professor of ecological systems design at the Institute of Environmental Engineering, analyzed the climate and health impact of the global plastics supply chain from 1995 to 2015.

Coal fueling increased environmental impact of plastics

-Swedish study finds plastic-degrading enzymes correlate with pollution

December 16, 2021 | Global themes | Susanne Nilsson Lindh & Joshua Worth, Chalmers University of Technology | Gothenburg | Sweden

​The number of microbial enzymes with the ability to degrade plastic is growing, in correlation with local levels of plastic pollution. That is the finding of a new study from Chalmers that measured samples of environmental DNA from around the globe. The results illustrate the impact plastic pollution is having on the environment, and hint at potential new solutions for managing the problem.

The problems of global plastic pollution are all too widespread, as mass-production of plastic has exploded in the last 70 years or so – from around 2 million tonnes per year to around 380 million. This has given sufficient evolutionary time for various microbes present in the environment to respond to these compounds, and many different enzymes have been discovered in previous studies with the ability to degrade different plastics. Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

The new study, recently published in the scientific journal mBIO, analysed samples of environmental DNA from hundreds of locations around the world. The researchers used computer modelling to search for microbial enzymes with plastic-degrading potential, which was then cross-referenced with the official numbers for plastic waste pollution across countries and oceans.

“Using our models, we found multiple lines of evidence supporting the fact that the global microbiome’s plastic-degrading potential correlates strongly with measurements of environmental plastic pollution – a significant demonstration of how the environment is responding to the pressures we are placing on it,” says Aleksej Zelezniak, Associate Professor in Systems Biology at Chalmers.

More enzymes in the most polluted areas

In other words, the quantity and diversity of plastic-degrading enzymes is increasing, in direct response to local levels of plastic pollution. In total, over 30,000 enzyme ‘homologues’ were found with the potential to degrade 10 different types of commonly used plastic. Homologues are members of protein sequences sharing similar properties. Some of the locations that contained the highest amounts were notoriously highly polluted areas, for example samples from the Mediterranean Sea and South Pacific Ocean.

Plastic degrading enzymes Coca-Cola Plastic recycling PBT Compounds Eurozone growth

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