POLYOLEFINS | MATERIALS
Circling around: polyolefin materials and applications
The demands of sustainability mean that new polyolefin grades – or packaging designs – must incorporate some form of circularity, such as using recyclate or being more recyclable
Polyolefins are the most widely used materials in plastics extrusion – and account for the largest volume in extruded film. Recently, film extruders in particular
have wrestled with the challenge of recyclability. As a consequence, a key trend within polyolefin extrusion is that of developing mono-material packaging that has equivalent properties to multi- layered structures. In addition, there is a greater focus on
incorporating more recyclate into packaging.
Kind packaging Many brand owners have been increasing the amount of post-consumer recycled content in their plastic packaging. Mars recently began wrapping its Kind snack bars in this way – with help from Taghleef Industries and others. The packaging is a new flexible BOPP structure made with certified circular food grade PP. The mono-material packaging helps end-of-life recycling in existing collection and sorting opera- tions without affecting quality or processability. “Our mission is to ensure that our products are aligned with Circular Economy principles and meet our important needs such as product protection, performance, and sustainability,” according to Monica Battistella, group sustainability manager at Taghleef.
Other partners in the project include Landbell – which co-ordinated collection of mixed used plastics – and Plastic Energy, which converted the materials into pyrolysis oil before its conversion back into plastic.
PCR in sacks Borouge has developed a method to incorporate post-consumer recycled (PCR) content into
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PE-based heavy duty shipping sacks. New sacks are made from 30% PCR content – originally used in the same type of product – together with Borouge’s Borstar and Anteo PE grades. Borouge worked with partners Han King Plastic Machinery, Kunshan Golden Alliance, Shanghai Longstone and Shanghai Tianqiang to develop the closed-loop PE for heavy-duty sacks, with the aim of developing a sustainable solution with a lower carbon footprint. Material from used sacks is recovered through waste collection streams, then mechanically recycled. The recycled resins are then incorporated – with
virgin PE – to the end application. “This circular solution enables multiple recycling cycles within the same application, which takes us a step closer towards a circular economy,” said Eddie Wang, senior vice president for Asia North at Borouge.
Main image: Nova Chemicals says its EX-PCR-NC4 grade, made from mechani- cally recycled PE, helps meet sustainability goals
� January/February 2023 | FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION 37
IMAGE: NOVA
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