COMPOUND INNOVATION | SUSTAINABILITY Planning a sustainable future
Global demand for sustainable compounds continues to grow. While the industry is rising to the challenge, issues regarding recyclate availability and quality remain, writes Mark Holmes
Compounders and masterbatchers are finding increasingly innovative ways of progressing the circular economy and meeting rapidly rising demand for sustainable compounds. Availability and quality of recyclate and bio-based polymers is improving, albeit with considerable room for further improvement. Meanwhile, designing for recycling is becoming increasingly commonplace with successful collaborations across the entire value chain providing some promising results. Sustainable plastic compounds are undoubtably
the future but are also very much the present, according to researchers at Aimplas, the Spanish Plastics Technology Centre. “Regulations and social perception of plastics is driving the industry to go in that direction as a result of geopolitical issues and oil prices,” says Luis Roca, Compounding Research Leader. “The rate at which the climate has changed has
been rapid and unexpected, which is evident in the response from the industry and administrators, suggesting neither were prepared or equipped for such fast changes. Specifically, the plastics industry was not ready for these changes in recycled materials. It is not only in recycled materials that the industry was not adequately equipped for the large amount of plastic product required, such as raw
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materials and complex structures, but bioplastics have also had other issues more associated with inadequate capacity to cover current market needs,” he says. Roca sees an emerging sector of society that is
increasingly eager for more sustainable com- pounds, adding that this is one of the reasons why the major industry players are adjusting the role they play in the development of sustainable compounds and raw materials.
When considering the various factors driving
market demand for sustainable compounds, Roca says it is first of all important to distinguish the difference between the recycled and bioplastic paths. “Recycled materials are driving market demand due to regulations and their availability is related to administrative issues to collect more post-consumer recycled (PCR) materials with greater quality” he says.
Quality matters “Technologies, most notably, in mechanical recycling, are strongly dependent on the issue of collecting quality PCR materials to create sustain- able compounds. However, there is not the quantity to keep up with demand, which is further widening the gap between market demand and
February 2023 | COMPOUNDING WORLD 43
Main image: Recycling, bio-sourcing, carbon footprint reduction, and circular material flows are all playing a part in plastics industry
sustainability plans
IMAGE: SHUTTERSTOCK
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