October 2021

Bags and other products made of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) film can be manufactured to dissolve completely in water in minutes or weeks. Despite its flaws and an unfavorable view by the general public, those ubiquitous high-density polyethylene grocery bags are sustainably efficient when scientifically evaluated compared to other materials such as paper or cotton.

Sabic and Microsoft have collaborated to create Microsoft’s first consumer electronic product. The Microsoft Ocean Plastic Mouse features an exterior shell containing 20% recycled ocean plastic. Ocean plastic is defined as plastic that has been certified by a third party as recovered from any ocean or ocean-feeding waterways or where it washed ashore from these locations.

Digital color standards can be used in software to specify and communicate color, formulate recipes for new colors, perform batch corrections, and control color quality. Processors need new ways to formulate and produce accurate color faster, with less waste. Implementing digital color standards into a digital workflow can be an effective way to streamline production, stay agile and meet sustainability goals.

A custom extruded, medical-grade TPE film said to deliver a high level of patient support and treatment-friendly wound healing, has been developed by custom compounder of TPEs and TPE films United Soft Plastics (USP), Lawrenceville, Ga. Developed in conjunction with a Danish start-up under the brand name Impervious, the USP custom medical grade TPE is said to relieve patients of undue irritation and pain.

Apollo Tires, Bridgestone, Continental Tires, Goodyear Tire, Hankook Tire, Kumho Tires, Michelin, Nokian Tires, Pirelli, Sumitomo Rubber, the Toyo Tire Group and Yokohama Rubber are the first companies to have adopted natural rubber policies that are fully aligned with the policy framework of the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber (GPSNR).

Specialty polypropylene is optimized for large thin-wall, injection-molded refrigerated food containers. Strong growth in the thin-wall injection molded (TWIM) packaging industry is being propelled by consumers’ enthusiasm for online grocery shopping and concerns about environmental impacts, together with manufacturers’ efforts to drive down costs. Lightweight, yet strong and stiff TWIM containers effectively protect foods, conserve space during storage and shipping, and reduce raw material usage.

PLA-based biodegradable compounds for extrusion and thermoforming of cosmetics, food and non-food packaging have been added to the M-Vera line of compounds from German compounder Bio-Fed, a branch of Akro-Plastic GmbH. The three new M-Vera PLA compounds are certified OK compost Industrial (according to EN 13432), The renewable content in the polymer is from 50% up to nearly 100%, depending the M-Vera grade. Some grades are transparent.

Everyone agrees that producing products from recycled PET (rPET) is a good thing, but producing quality parts from a relatively random feedstock like post-consumer PET bottles is not an easy task. A lot of attention is paid—and rightfully so—to the sophisticated process equipment in rPET plants that is used to achieve that goal (e.g., optical sorting, filtration, extrusion, etc.).

A plastic foam packaging guideline for online and direct-to-consumer retail shipment includes the three most common polymers for packaging, PE, PP, and EPS.

In California, Apple has announced environmental targets including its intention to eliminate mining and use recycled and renewable materials in its products. The announcement follows a comprehensive evaluation of its supply chain, which includes 45 elements and raw materials. Based on impact profiles, Apple is prioritizing efforts to move these materials to a circular model.

Four best practices for maximizing the shelf life of plastic-packaged products that minimize the amount of packaging and food waste.

The food-and-beverage behemoth is looking to compostable flexible packaging, 100% rPET bottles, and reusable plastic bottles to create a more sustainable future.

UK-based sustainable packaging company, Transcend Packaging, has announced it is entering a strategic partnership with fellow innovator BioPaxium Technologies, which was recognised as a top materials technology company in the UK.

Solvay has conducted a proof of concept showing that polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) has the potential to be recycled. PVDC is used in food, beverage and healthcare multilayer barrier packaging across the world.
The proof of concept involves a process to recycle Ixan PVDC bioriented film from a post-industrial waste source from food packaging without compromising the performance of the high barrier polymer.

Manufacturers said they oppose the imposition of safeguard duties on imports of two key raw materials for making plastic goods — high-density polyethylene (HDPE), used in bottles and pipes, and linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), used in bags, toys and containers.
Danny Ngo, Philippine Plastics Industry Association, Inc.

Environmentalists in Indonesia keen to send a message about the world’s worsening ocean plastics crisis have created a museum made entirely from plastics, to convince people to rethink their habits and say no to single-use bags and bottles. The outdoor exhibition in the town of Gresik in east Java took three months to assemble.

The Malaysian Rubber Glove Manufacturers Association (Margma) on Tuesday appealed to the government to allow foreign workers to enter the country to meet growing demand this and next year, citing a critical shortage of 25,000 workers since 2019.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) has announced the first review of the anti-dumping measures imposed on a number of plastic products imported from China, Malaysia and Thailand.

Vietnam exported 23,510 tonnes of rubber worth 41.87 million USD to the US in the first 7 months of 2021, up 61 percent in volume and 92.3 percent in value year-on-year.

Myanmar’s rubber export generated more than US$401 million revenue in the past ten months (October-July) of the current financial year.

Thailand’s SCG Packaging Pcl (SCGP) on Monday announced an 11.8 billion baht (US$353.93 million) expansion in its packaging paper business in Vietnam, anticipating growth in demand.

Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính has approved a plan for Vietnam to proactively prepare for and take part in the building of a global agreement on ocean plastic pollution.

The upsurge in global demand for PPE presents many scalable opportunities in Malaysia’s rubber glove industry.
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