August 2021

The prevalence of greenwashing in recent years has driven brand owners to creative solutions — including carbon-14 testing — to prove their plant-based packaging materials are the real deal.

Creating a medical component with a rubber material requires careful attention to various factors that will affect performance and manufacturability. Material choices and manufacturing options present many trade-offs.

High-gloss emblems, both jet black and white, are a current trend in the automotive industry. The combination of two Plexiglas Hi-Gloss acrylic resins is used by Austrian automotive supplier, Ulbrichts GmbH, to create the emblem’s modern look.

Tire Technology International

Tire maker Continental is to start using reprocessed polyester obtained from recycled plastic bottles in its tire production as of 2022. The sustainable polyester yarn will be obtained from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles via a mechanical process and will be used in the construction of the tire carcass. This material, says Continental, should be able to completely replace conventional polyester.

Engineering thermoplastics supplier Polyplastics has developed a testing method that identifies gas formation during injection molding and ultimately can help reduce mold deposits. Dubbed Gas Investigation Method in Injection Molding (GIMIM), the concept entails the addition of gas traps at each stage of molding: plasticization, metering, and injection.

PlasticsToday.com

Avient’s Complēt moisture-resistant polyamide features smooth surfaces that are virtually free of visible fiber. These formulations feature polyamide 6 and 6/6 with delayed moisture absorption, which prolongs the effectiveness of their structural performance in moisture-rich environments.

Tire Technology International

“High-performance carbon black supplier Orion Engineered Carbons has announced a partnership with RISE (Research Institutes of Sweden) in which the pair will jointly develop and produce renewable carbon black. By replacing traditionally used carbon black feedstock with pyrolysis oil from biomass oil, the newly formed collaboration hopes to produce a more climate-neutral carbon black product.”

InterPlas Insights

The Membranes And Catalysts Beyond Economic and Technological Hurdles (MACBETH) project, the largest EU-funded research project co-ordinated by Evonik, has reached its first milestone after 18 months in operation.

New Straits Times

Malaysia’s rubber companies and smallholders have so far enjoyed higher rubber prices driven by strong demand and tight supplies.

BusinessWorld

The pandemic’s impact on global trade risks worsening in coming weeks as more factories across Southeast Asia brace for closures amid one of the world’s deadliest outbreaks. Factory shutdowns are accelerating in Vietnam, while Thailand is prepping for outbreaks among its manufacturers and the Philippines tightens restrictions in its economic heartland.

Manila Bulletin

From redesigning product packaging, developing sustainable lifestyle program for employees to community programs, they covered it all. According to Nestle, they already accomplished one of their goals by being a plastic neutral company.

BusinessWorld

Global building solutions provider Holcim Group recently launched a solar-powered vessel that can collect plastic litter in Manila Bay to help in ongoing rehabilitation efforts. The Circular Explorer, built in partnership with the Germany-based environmental organization One Earth One Ocean, is powered by 100% renewable energy and can recover four tons of floating marine plastic per day. The catamaran, with a lifespan of 25 years, has a cleaning capacity of 21,000 square meters per hour.

The Jakarta Post

Tackling the archipelago’s plastic problem will require huge funds but also create millions of jobs, experts say. Meanwhile, medical supplies have caused a new type of waste going to the ocean.

Channel NewsAsia

Researchers from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) have developed a cycling helmet that they say will reduce the chances of critical injury to the wearer. Not only is this helmet – made of a new plastic material – easier to produce, it will also offer the same level of protection …

Asia One

AsiaOne has launched EarthOne, a new section dedicated to environmental issues — because we love the planet and we believe science. Find articles like this there. Asia’s first recycled plastic “Eco-Block” school has been built in a small, earthquake-devastated village in Lombok, Indonesia. The pilot project’s success has spawned a new wave of Eco-Block schools slated to begin construction in coming months on the Indonesian island.

Straits Times

The nation cannot do away with the use of plastic entirely, especially as its functionality has come to the fore amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, solutions should tackle how it can be recycled or disposed of sustainably.