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-China – Polyethylene terephthalate continues to be weak, PTA and MEG prices are assessed mixed

PET Bottle grade export 1,250/1,290 $/ton – PET Bottle grade domestic market 9,800/9,950 yuan/ton – PET Filament grade domestic market 9,650/9,800 yuan/ton

PTA Taiwan 1,020/1,040 $/ton – PTA domestic market 7,650/7,800 yuan/ton – MEG $ 865/875 $/ton – MEG domestic market 7,150/7,300 yuan/ton – PX Korea 1,280/1,290 $/ton

POY 150D/48F  domestic market 10,850/11,000  yuan/ton – DTY 150D/48F  domestic market 12,400/12,550  yuan/ton – PSF domestic market 10,650/10,750  yuan/ton

-Study finds plastics packaging helps reduce solid waste   

A new study by the Earth Engineering Center at City College of New York (EEC|CCNY) finds that plastics play a role in creating an environment where municipal solid waste (MSW) generation rates decline, even when income and consumption rises.

Historically, the amount of MSW produced by a country or region rises with the economy or personal consumption expenditures (PCE).  In the mid-1990s, the rate of MSW generation stopped tracking along with PCE in the United States and began to slow.

-Crude Oil Price Trend

-Record number of plastic bottles being recycled in Britain

Statistics from the charity RECOUP show 351,907 tonnes were collected from households in 2017, up 2.5% on the previous 12 months.

A record number of plastic bottles are being recycled in Britain after the biggest increase in three years, according to new figures.

Statistics released by RECOUP, a plastic recycling charity, show 351,907 tonnes were collected from households for processing in 2017 – up 2.5% on the previous 12 months.

-Johnson Matthey and Eastman License new Ethylene Glycol Technology for new Plant in inner Mongolia 

Johnson Matthey plc (London, U.K.; www.matthey.com) and Eastman Chemical Company (Kingsport, Tenn.; www.eastman.com) announce that their proprietary technology for the production of ethylene glycol from coal has been selected by Inner Mongolia Jiutai New Material (Jiutai) for its planned 1,000,000 metric tons per year (m.t./yr) ethylene glycol facility.

Ethylene glycol, commonly referred to as mono ethylene glycol (MEG), is a key industrial chemical and is also a building block in the production of polyesters for fiber and packaging applications

-Jindal Introduces Bicor™ Ultraseal Opp Film Technology

Jindal Films is demonstrating a breakthrough OPP film technology, ULTRASEAL, this week at FachPack. Its unique heat seal performance capabilities are designed to replace blown polyethylene (PE) or cast polypropylene (PP) films used in flexible packaging laminates.

BICOR™ 40 & 50 MB344US films are the first products to benefit from Jindal Films’ new ULTRA SEAL technology which consists of a new high clarity, oriented polypropylene (OPP) film range featuring high seal strength, low seal initiation temperature and exceptional hot tack performance. The technology provides robust seal performance in numerous packaging formats, especially pouch and stand-up pouch applications.

-Polypropylene September 2018 Price Review

The European PP market saw little movement. While the propylene reference contract increased slightly, producers’ plans to lift prices fizzled as buyers remained in a holiday mood. Lower output met with lower demand as the summer lull made a comeback.

-Axiom is moulding a new manufacturing future

In his 12 years working with Axiom Precision Manufacturing, Shannon Wride has seen a transformation in the way the business operates.

“We’ve strived to take on that high end work, and as a company we’ve always tried to do the jobs other people say they can’t do,” says the company’s operations supervisor and Brand South Australia’s latest I Choose SA ambassador.

“We’ve had people come to us saying no one else is willing to touch this and we’re always willing to give it a crack.”

When Shannon started out with Axiom as an apprentice in 2006 the company was then called Diemould Tooling and was based in Edwardstown, the work focused around the state’s automotive industry in producing plastic injection moulds.

-From Small Batch Size Labelling to Industry 4.0 and Beyond

At FachPack 2018, Logopak is demonstrating a new type of Multiformat Labelling System LSC 100 at stand number No. 244 in Hall 1; the product promises decisive advantages to companies in the Point-of-Sale labelling.

Up to 150 products per minute and flexibly customizable

Manufacturing companies in the segment of food, cosmetics and medicines, including beverage and chemical industries, are often faced with the problem of labelling cylindrical products that require some effort of configuration in the labelling system; this, however, stands in no relation to the total effort especially for small and average-sized product volumes.

-Trusted quality knits from Catalonia

Spain’s circular knits finishing specialist Tinfer has recently taken delivery of a new Montex stenter at its Barcelona plant.

In opting to partner with Monforts for the supply of its third fabric stenter, commission dyer and finisher Tinfer put service – along with the proven reliability of advanced Montex stenters – at the top of its list of priorities.

Founded in 1973, originally as Tintes Fernández, in Arenys de Munt, the company shortened its name, expanded and relocated to its present plant in Pineda de Mar just down the coast from Barcelona at the beginning of the 1980s.

-EU’s War On Biotechnology: Science Strikes Back

Europe is not a particularly friendly place to be a biologist. Sure, Europeans believe in evolution, but that’s about it. Vaccines and GMOs? Not so much.

Currently, Europe is experiencing an outbreak of measles that has infected more than 41,000 people and killed 37. In 2017, Italy alone had 200 times more measles cases than the United States on a per capita basis. Despite all this, vaccine skepticism appears to be on the rise: 40% of French people believe vaccines are unsafe.

-$100 Oil Is A Distinct Possibility

An oil price spike is starting to look increasingly possible, with a rerun of 2008 not entirely out of the question, according to a new report.

The outages from Iran are worse than most analysts expected, and bottlenecks in the U.S. shale patch could prevent non-OPEC supply from plugging the gap. To top it off, new regulations from the International Maritime Organization set to take effect in 2020 could significantly tighten supplies.

Put it all together, and “the likelihood of an oil spike and crash scenario akin to the one observed in 2008 has increased,” Bank of America Merrill Lynch wrote in a note. BofAML has a price target for Brent at $95 per barrel by the end of the second quarter 2019. In 2008, Brent spiked to nearly $150 per barrel.

-“Taking the Packaging Film Procurement Process out of the Eighties”

While there has been tremendous innovation in flexibles technology over recent years, accompanied by huge changes in end use markets, Anantshree Chaturvedi (FlexFilms’ international vice chairman & CEO) remarks that across the industry little has changed in film buying since the 1980s.

FlexFilms, the global film manufacturing arm of India’s largest multinational flexible packaging solutions company, Uflex, has launched first of its kind e-commerce website, FLEX-BuzzR, that will make the complete range of film offerings from its Poland plant available to customers in Europe at a click of a button.

-French plastics law violates European legislation, claims Petcore Europe

A modification to French agricultural law that prohibits the availability of plastics containers and disposables for catering in school, university and nurseries is in conflict with European law, says Petcore Europe.

Despite current discussions in Europe affecting the end-of-life disposal of some of the same items targeted in France, as of today, the European Union has not yet adopted any restrictive measures against single-use plastics packaging and food

-United States: Bayport Polymers to Double Polyethylene Capacity

Bayport Polymers, LLC (“Bayport Polymers”) – a 50/50 joint venture owned by Total S.A. (“Total”) and Novealis Holdings LLC, itself a joint venture of Borealis AG (“Borealis”) and NOVA Chemicals Inc. (“NOVA Chemicals”) – announces the final investment decision to build a 625,000-ton-per-year polyethylene unit at its production site in Bayport, Texas.