Sustainability

The fashion industry is disrupting the PET circular economy by taking it into an application that recycles less than 1% of its products.

Outdoor apparel company Patagonia Inc. has partnered with two materials firms to produce one of its warmest parkas yet –– the StormShadow –– using high-performance textiles made from recycled coastal and marine plastic. Patagonia leveraged W.L. Gore & Associates’ development of expanded polyethylene (ePE) and married it with efforts by New York-based materials engineering company Bionic, which repurposes ocean-bound waste plastics in Costa Rica.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory scientists have used artificial intelligence (AI) to develop a tool to help users find the most sustainable polymers for specific applications. The tool, called PolyID, predicts material properties based on molecular structure.

Introducing a new series: ‘Sustainability Management Tip of the Month’ to provide plastics processors with tips on how to improve internal and external sustainability and to demonstrate this to the outside world.

The V-Carbon technology is based on a patented “chemolysis” recycling process and offers up to 85% of carbon fiber’s original strength.

In British Columbia, a new law will prohibit single-use plastics starting December 20, 2023. This bill seeks to curtail the production of packaging that contributes to nearly half of the province’s annual plastic pollution, signifying strides towards a sustainable, circular economy.

SABIC’s renewable polypropylene used in in-mold label project. It also launches 10 LNP Elcrin polycarbonate-based copolymers with high post-consumer content.

The plastic industry uses color in almost all applications, as it gives an aesthetic and personal feel to the product. Brand owners can achieve qualities such as “warm”, “soft”, “shiny” and “pleasant” through color, but is it affecting post-consumer recycled?

Dutch specialty chemicals producer Nouryon said it has launched full-scale production at its new Expancel expandable microspheres plant in Green Bay, Wis.

Colorado State University researchers say they have developed a series of polymers that mimic the properties of polyolefins and are more easily recycled.

Carbios said on Oct. 26 that it has been granted a building permit to construct the world’s first PET bio-recycling plant in Longlaville, France.

Charge Amps uses circular grade of SABIC’s Lexan PC to injection mold a new EV charger housing. The resin reduces carbon emissions in housing production.