The massive K show takes place once every three years. | Messe Düsseldorf/ctillmann
K show will draw 3,200 plastics and rubber industry exhibitors from around the world to Germany this month. With growing concern about plastic waste, recycling will play a prominent role.
Dow recently announced it will collaborate with a Thai virgin plastics producer on recycling solutions. | Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock
Dow recently inked agreements to boost plastics recovery in Europe and Southeast Asia, including through the use of chemical recycling technologies.
Companies using microwaves to depolymerize PET and PS report equipment advancements, and a startup is blending RPET and nylon to create a pellet with enhanced strength.
Essel Propack created HDPE barrier tube packages that meet recyclability guidelines. | Picsfive/Shutterstock
A packaging manufacturer that specializes in tubes for toothpaste, cosmetics and other products has developed two tubes that meet recyclability guidelines.
Challenges remain to scaling up TPO bumper collection to a national scale. | Kaentian Street/Shutterstock
TPO bumper covers can be processed into a high-quality recycled pellet that’s cheaper than virgin plastic, but challenges remain in feedstock collection and preparation.
A number of companies received approval to use their recycling technology to produce recycled plastic for use in food and drink packaging.| Somsak21/Shutterstock
A company was given the go-ahead to recycle post-consumer PET into multi-layer reheatable food trays. Meanwhile, a global packaging company was OK’d to recycle LDPE films into reusable bags.
Dow is recognized for a polyurethane foam chemical recycling technology, and a project testing invisible packaging markers to improve optical sorting wraps up.
Photo provided by Milliken shows the results of the use of Millad NX 8000 clarifier.
A market-dominating polypropylene clarifier has undergone testing to prove that it neither complicates the plastics recycling process nor harms the finished product.
Some readers challenged the environmental benefit of Arqlite’s plastic gravel product. | Via Arqlite’s Instagram page.
A startup won money and media attention for its recycled plastic gravel, but some readers are concerned the product could cause more environmental harm than simply landfilling the scrap plastic.
Dow has a goal of incorporating at least 100,000 metric tons of recycled plastics into its product offerings sold in the European Union by 2025. | Richard Frazier/Shutterstock
Dow has become the latest virgin plastics company to announce it will offer products derived from a chemical recycling technology.