Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic 30-06-2022 - Arhive

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Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

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-Gentlemen here we are, here is the battery that lasts 28,000 years, and will change the world
Thanks to the San Francisco startup Nano Diamond Battery, in a few years you could buy a battery made of radioactive diamonds that will last longer than your life and that of your children and that of their children, and beyond.
To build it, incredibly small layers of nano diamonds (one billionth of a meter) are used, which are exceptional conductors of heat, ideal for electronic devices, much more than copper and silver.
Scientists grow these miniature diamonds using chemical vapor deposition, a process in which gases at extremely high temperatures force carbon to crystallize onto a substrate material.
This process produces blue colored diamonds and higher conductivity than the average diamond. True blue diamonds occur naturally on Earth, but are rarer and even more expensive than man-made blue diamonds.
The big problem with this technology at the moment is the nuclear waste it contains, which is why it has been hypothesized that it can be used for space probes and vehicles with no one on board, which would have almost infinite energy to travel as far as they want.

 Nano Diamond Battery

-Innovia unveils new film targeting PP & PE bottles

Innovia Films has unveiled RayoWrap CMS, a clear BOPP film for shrink, wraparound label applications.

Produced at its UK production facility, Innovia said that CMS30 provides high shrinkage, but only in the machine direction, targeting film for labelling contoured drinkable dairy and beverage containers.

This film is designed for use on small PP or PE bottles, as it can be easily removed to aid recycling of the bottle, or the whole labelled container can be recycled in a polyolefin stream. According to Innovia, this helps the final pack be fully recyclable, and therefore meeting the Plastic Recyclers Europe packaging design recommendations.

Alasdair McEwen, product manager, labels, said: “The technical performance of CMS30, means it performs at every stage of the value chain, from ease of printing, through high-speed roll fed wraparound labelling, and then on to the all-important end-of-life and recycling of the packaging.

-Borealis markets recycled-content line

European firm is making base chemicals with discarded materials content, including plastic scrap and discarded organic materials.

Austria, based chemicals firm Borealis AG says it is strengthening its EverMinds circular product line by offering Borvida, which it calls “a range of sustainable base chemicals.”

The product line will initially be based on what Borealis calls non-food waste biomass, and chemically recycled plastic scrap. In the future it may also draw from atmospheric carbon capture materials.  Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

The Borvida portfolio will offer base chemicals or cracker products (such as ethylene, propylene, butene and phenol) with International Sustainability & Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus-certified sustainable content from Borealis sites in Finland, Sweden and Belgium.

“We are committed to helping to solve the climate crisis through offering credible and sustainable solutions,” says Thomas Van De Velde, a Borealis senior vice president “With the Borvida portfolio, we’re enabling our customers to respond to the growing market demand for sustainably-produced base chemicals without compromising on quality or efficiency. With launching our Borvida portfolio, we are continuously striving towards reinventing essentials for sustainable living.”

The portfolio will initially consist of Borvida B, made from non-food waste biomass, and Borvida C, from chemically recycled waste. In the future, the range may include Borvida A, sourced from atmospheric carbon capture.

The company labels Borvida as complementary and as a building block to Bornewables, a portfolio of polyolefins based on renewably-sourced second generation feedstocks, and Borcycle, which offers circular polyolefins produced from mechanically and chemically recycled plastic scrap.

The basis of the Borvida portfolio is mass balance, a chain of custody model designed to enable sustainable content to be tracked, traced and verified through the entire value chain.  Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

Recycled-content - PET-like-plastic

-Iran applies to join India, China and Russia in BRICS club

Iran’s membership in the BRICS group “would result in added values for both sides”, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. Russia said Argentina had also applied to join.

Iran, which holds the world’s second largest gas reserves, has applied to join the BRICS group of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa that Beijing and Moscow cast as a powerful emerging market alternative to the West. Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

The term BRIC was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill in 2001 to describe the startling rise of Brazil, Russia, India, China. The BRIC powers had their first summit in 2009 in Russia. South Africa joined in 2010.

Iran’s membership in the BRICS group “would result in added values for both sides”, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. Russia said Argentina had also applied to join.

Russia cast the applications as evidence that the West, led by the United States, was failing to isolate Moscow after the invasion of Ukraine.

“While the White House was thinking about what else to turn off in the world, ban or spoil, Argentina and Iran applied to join the BRICS,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

Argentine officials could not be reached for immediate comment but President Alberto Fernandez, currently in Europe, has in recent days reiterated his desire for Argentina to join BRICS.

China has by far the largest economy in the BRICS grouping, accounting for more than 70% of the group’s collective $27.5 trillion economic might. India accounts for about 13%, with Russia and Brazil each accounting for about 7%, according to IMF data.

BRICS account for more than 40% of the world’s population and about 26% of the global economy. Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

Since the Iranian Revolution of 1979 swept U.S.-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi from power, Iran has been ostracised by the West and its economy crippled by a myriad of sanctions. It hold’s around a quarter of the Middle East’s oil reserves.

Recycled-content - PET-like-plastic

-Tronox Issues 2021 Sustainability Report

Tronox Holdings plc (NYSE: TROX) (“Tronox” or the “Company”), the world’s leading integrated manufacturer of titanium dioxide pigment, today announced the publication of its 2021 sustainability report: “Brilliant Transformation.” The report details the significant steps taken over the last year to advance its leadership role in sustainability and protecting the environment:

Accelerated its targets to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

Entered an agreement for renewable solar energy in South Africa, which will reduce Tronox’s global GHG emissions intensity approximately 13 percent from the 2019 baseline.

Restructured its Board to designate a committee with specific responsibility for sustainability oversight. Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

Aligned with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) and Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) reporting.

“This year, we set new goals and commitments to achieve a brilliant transformation and empowered our people to seek opportunities to achieve them,” said Melissa Zona, senior vice president, chief sustainability and human resources officer. “The ESG targets we set in last year’s report were our first public targets and were done as steps toward achieving carbon neutrality. Just one year later, we are updating and accelerating these targets, enabled by successes across the organization.”

Tronox commits to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. The Company’s initial goal to reduce GHG emissions intensity (compared to 2019 baseline) by 15% by 2025 has been increased to 35%. The initial goal of 35% by 2030 has been updated to 50%.

Tronox intends to reduce the amount of waste that it sends to landfills by 15% in 2025 and 25% in 2030, with zero waste to external dedicated landfills by 2050.

Tronox is targeting a goal of zero injuries, zero incidents, and zero harm by building capabilities in its people, plants, and processes. Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

Tronox is striving to improve gender balance and diversity of its workforce, leadership and succession planning in order to build a workplace that is even more representative of its local communities and where all people feel valued, represented and respected.

Recycled-content - PET-like-plastic

-Euratex’s ReHubs initiative to tackle Europe’s massive textile waste problem

ReHubs, an initiative by the European Apparel and Textile Federation (Euratex) launched in 2020, aims to tackle Europe’s huge textile waste problem – currently, 7 to 7.5 million tons of it are generated (mainly by private households) but only about 30 to 35 percent are collected. Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

The European waste law wants to change that and accordingly, all EU member states must separately collect textile waste in the next 2.5 years.

While some countries are designing schemes to face the waste collection challenge, currently no large-scale plan exists to process it – and this is where Euratex’s ReHubs initiative comes in as it plans to pursue fibre-to-fibre recycling for 2.5 millions tons of textile waste by 2030.

Textile recycling is lucrative

According to the ReHubs Techno Economic Master Study (TES), the textile recycling industry could generate around 15,000 direct new jobs by 2030 in Europe, and increase the need for nearshoring and reshoring of textile manufacturing. This would result in economic, social and environmental benefits amounting to 3.5 billion to 4.5 billion euros by 2030.

“Transform Waste into Feedstock”, ReHubs first project, aims at building up a 50,000 tons capacity facility by 2024, led by Texaid AG. It will focus on further developing and scaling such sorting technologies. Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

“We assess that to reach a fibre-to-fibre recycling rate of around 18 to 26 percent by 2030, a capital expenditure investment in the range of 6 billion to 7 billion euros will be needed, particularly to scale up sufficient sorting and processing infrastructure,” estimates Euratex.

In addition to “Transform Waste into Feedstock”, three further projects have been announced: to increase the adoption of mechanically recycled fibres in the value chain, to expand capacity by solving technical challenges for thermo-mechanical textiles recycling, and to create a capsule collection with post-consumer recycled products.

What is the ReHubs initiative?

The ReHubs initiative consists of three stakeholder groups: a business council pooling together pioneering companies to perform the TES study; a stakeholder forum with a wider pool of business, research and academia players, which has been gathered twice to share high-level information and to support future collaboration, and a Euratex task force with 14 national associations to review progress of the ReHubs initiatives and to align with policy and industry developments and on a national level.

Recycled-content - PET-like-plastic

-German environment minister backs EU fossil fuel car phaseout, with tweak

Germany’s environment minister says the country will support EU plans for a 2035 ban on new fossil-fuel cars, with a tweak. Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

Germany can support a European Union proposal to effectively ban new fossil fuel car sales from 2035, if an option is added to allow sales of cars running on “CO2 neutral” fuels, German environment minister Steffi Lemke said.

“This addition is important to Germany in terms of our position, we believe it can also be a bridge for the overall discussion,” Lemke told a meeting of EU environment ministers, who are attempting to agree a deal on the law on Tuesday.

Germany’s proposed addition to the law would ask Brussels to make a separate proposal allowing vehicles “running exclusively on CO2-neutral fuels” to be sold after 2035, she said.

The comments are in contrast with those of Finance Minister Christian Lindner, who said at an event hosted by Germany’s BDI industry association last week that the German government would not agree to the plan.

Lemke said earlier that she expected difficult discussions on EU rules regarding emissions-emitting cars, which are to be part of a package of ambitious climate laws she is discussing with EU counterparts. Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania want to delay the end of combustion-engine sales by five years to 2040, according to a document seen by Reuters.

The policy is a key pillar of the EU’s plans to tackle rising emissions as the bloc strives to cut economy-wide net greenhouse gas emissions 55 percent by 2030, from 1990 levels.

German environment minister backs EU fossil fuel car phaseout, with tweak

-EPFL researchers develop PET-like plastic from waste biomass

It could become a stronger alternative to PLA used in 3D printing for packaging and bottles

EPFL scientists have developed a new, PET-like plastic that is easily made from the non-edible parts of plants. Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

The plastic is tough, heat-resistant, and a good barrier to gases like oxygen, making it a promising candidate for food packaging. Due to its structure, the new plastic can also be chemically recycled and degrade back to harmless sugars in the environment. Used in 3D printing, it could also provide a viable and stronger alternative to PLA, used for end-use applications such as packaging and bottles.

The development of degradable or recyclable polymers made from non-edible plant material referred to as “lignocellulosic biomass”, are part of an effort to address the challenges deriving from both fossil fuels and the accumulation of plastics in the environment. Producing competitive biomass-based plastics is not straightforward. In the article reporting the findings on the official EPFL website, EPFL’s Nik Papageorgiou points out that conventional plastics are so widespread because they combine low cost, heat stability, mechanical strength, processability, and compatibility – features that any alternative plastic replacements must match or surpass. And so far, the task has been challenging.

The EPFL scientists, led by Professor Jeremy Luterbacher at EPFL’s School of Basic Sciences, have successfully developed a PET-like plastic, which is biomass-derived plastic and meets the criteria for replacing several current plastics while also being more environmentally friendly. Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

Highly transparent and flexible strand of the bioplastic. Credit: Lorenz Manker

“We essentially just ‘cook’ wood or other non-edible plant material, such as agricultural wastes, in inexpensive chemicals to produce the plastic precursor in one step,” said Luterbacher. “By keeping the sugar structure intact within the molecular structure of the plastic, the chemistry is much simpler than current alternatives.”

The technique is based on a discovery that Luterbacher and his colleagues published in 2016, where adding an aldehyde could stabilize certain fractions of plant material and avoid their destruction during extraction. By repurposing this chemistry, the researchers were able to rebuild a new useful bio-based chemical as a plastic precursor.

EPFL researchers develop PET-like plastic from waste biomass

Recycled-content – PET-like-plastic

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