February 2022

Recycling is becoming an ever more integral element of plastics processing. But how is post-consumer waste to be converted into high-quality recycled material that can be used in place of virgin material? That question becomes all the more pressing when a high-purity result is desired and the recovered plastic feedstock brings with it inks, colorants, additives, contaminants or even foreign polymer.

Extrusion is a process widely used in the polymer processing industry. It involves pushing material through a die with a specific cross-sectional shape, resulting in products like profiles, thin sheets, films and tubes. However, the shape of the final product (the so-called extrudate) is highly influenced by a phenomenon called swell. Ph.D. candidate Michelle Spanjaards has developed a numerical model that reduces this problem.

The Malay Mail

The Coca-Cola Company on Thursday said it will aim for 25 per cent of its packaging globally to be reusable by 2030, a move hailed by environmental groups who have called out the soft-drink maker for worldwide plastic pollution.

Plastics Technology

Ring Container has developed a growing stable of proprietary technologies emphasizing source reduction, recyclability and performance enhancements in barrier and hot-filling. Trimlite PET jars, shown here, use blow-trim technology to lightweight the neck area. Ring Container Technologies is not your average blow molder. For one thing, it’s bigger: Based in Oakland, Tenn., the firm (ringcontainer.com) operates 20 plants in 14 states, Canada and the U.K.

Strong gains for polyolefin elastomers in solar panel encapsulation at the expense of ethylene vinyl acetate resin, as well as applications in automotive and flexible packaging, fuel projected 7.4% CAGR through 2030.

The University of Birmingham has licensed the rights to a ‘supercritical water’ technology to technology consultancy Stopford to develop a novel process for recycling mixed plastic packaging.

Unilever’s new reusable packaging for Dove Body Wash encourages in-store and ecommerce shoppers to purchase smaller, more sustainable refill packs instead of single-use plastic bottles.

The British Plastics Federation (BPF), in association with Plastics Europe, is set to hold a key seminar containing crucial guidance for packaging manufacturers or importers looking to incorporate recycled plastics into their products.

To mold acceptable parts that meet cosmetic and dimensional specifications, it is important to understand the basics of fountain flow and how it exerts itself throughout the entire molding process. In thermoplastic injection molding, the mold is always said to be “cold”—that is, relative to the temperature of the plastic melt. A mold temperature of 330 F for a PEI material is still “cold” compared with the resin’s 750 F melt temperature.

Plastics Technology

A new graphene nanotube concentrate, which reportedly provides targeted conductivity to injection molded ABS, PC, filled PPS, and TPU automotive components at working loadings starting from 0.1 wt.% of nanotubes in the final system has been launched by OCSiAl, the world’s largest manufacturer of single-wall carbon/graphene nanotubes. This approach reportedly allows automakers to optimize the painting process and reduce the final production cost.

Going into January, prices of polyolefins had dropped, most significantly for PP. Despite an announced PE price increase, the trajectory generally projected for both PP and PE was further decline, at least for the first quarter. Contributing factors include rising supplier resin inventories, lower feedstock prices, slowed domestic and exports demand, and new PE capacity scheduled to come on stream.

Bullitt Group, the global licensee for Cat® phones, will be demonstrating the first ever fully antimicrobial smartphone, the Biomaster protected Cat S42H+, at Mobile World Congress, the largest mobile technology show in the world in Barcelona at the end of February. 

Sumitomo Rubber Industries will launch its first EV-specific tires in China, the Dunlop eSport Maxx, this April. While developing the tire, the company focused on the areas of energy efficiency and noise reduction. By utilizing advanced material development technology, SRI fine-tuned the tire’s rubber compounds, resulting in a product that delivers a high energy efficiency, excellent wet weather performance and steering stability.

The Malay Mail

Malaysian Rubber Council and the Northern Corridor Implementation Authority (NCIA) today signed a memorandum of collaboration to attract more investors to Kedah Rubber City.

The Malaysian Recycling Alliance (MAREA), which comprises the country’s 10 leading fast-moving consumer goods companies, has targeted to recycle an initial 5,000 tonnes of plastic waste by year-end.

Singapore on Thursday recommended supermarkets start charging for disposable carrier bags, a move aimed at slashing carbon emissions in a tiny nation that produces enough annual waste to fill hundreds of Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The Rubber Authority of Thailand (RAOT) and tire maker Yokohama recently held a seminar to help rubber farmers in Thailand improve the quality and productivity of their natural rubber. This is the second time both parties have held the event, with the first seminar taking place in 2020. Fifty farmers from the Surat Thani province took part; each was gifted 250kg of fertilizer developed using RAOT’s specialist knowledge.

Vietnam’s rubber export revenue is expected to reach 3.5 billion USD in 2022, and rubber price would rise to 3.8 USD per kg in the second half of the year, experts have said.

HSBC Bank Vietnam has rolled out Vietnam’s first card made from recycled Polyvinyl chloride (rPVC) plastic as part of a programme launched by the HSBC Group to introduce sustainable cards across all its global locations.