Green materials: Sabic’s recycled ocean bound plastics portfolio; Versalis’s 75% post-consumer PS for food packaging

Chemical firm Sabic is paving the way for recovery of ocean-bound plastics with the launch of a new recycled material made from plastics recovered from ocean-feeding waterways and inland areas within a 50 km radius of the ocean. The ocean bound material is mechanically recycled and converted into components for new consumer goods and electronics applications, such as TV remote controls and electronic razors. It has the potential to also be used in other industries in the future, such as automotive.

Part of Sabic’s Trucircle portfolio and services, the new recycled material is a Xenoy PC/PET compound comprising of a minimum 10% recycled ocean bound PET blended with polycarbonate.

According to an internal SabicLCA Study based on a resin grade comprising 20% recycled content, for every 1kt of product containing the ocean bound recycled Xenoy PC/PET compound, an equivalent of 24 million single-use 0.5 l PET water bottles can potentially be diverted away from oceans, preventing them from becoming marine litter.

The new material, part of Sabic’s engineering thermoplastics (ETP) product range, offers reductions in carbon footprint of up to 7% and energy consumption of up to 11% compared to its virgin grade.

The Trucircle portfolio spans design for recyclability, mechanically recycled products, certified circular products from feedstock recycling of used plastic, certified renewables products from bio-based feedstock and closed loop initiatives to recycle plastic back into high quality applications and help prevent valuable used plastics from becoming waste.

Meanwhile in other news, Italian firm Versalis, Eni's chemical company, is expanding its range of “circular” products, made from recycled raw materials. The Versalis Revive® portfolio will now include a new product for food packaging made with 75% domestic post-consumer polystyrene (PS).

The product, referred to as Versalis Revive PS Air F - Series Forever, is the result of the existing collaboration with Forever Plast S.p.A., an Italian company in the recycling of post-consumer products into high-quality raw materials, and has been developed as part of a collaborative project with various players in the PS industry value chain: Corepla, ProFood and Unionplast.

This collaboration has given rise to an innovative recyclable tray suitable for food and composed of recycled PS developed by the companies that are members of Pro Food.

The tray consists of an inner layer containing Versalis Revive PS Air F - Series Forever and two outer layers made from virgin PS. This structure, known as the A-B-A functional barrier, ensures food contact compliance. The functional barrier design and stringent testing were developed in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging (IVV), a German applied research institute that works with industries to develop viable technologies for bringing innovative products to the market.

The Versalis Revive PS Air F – Series Forever is scheduled to be marketed to the meat and fish packaging market.

The Versalis Revive range comprises products exclusively from mechanical recycling of post-consumer and plastics and those from the industry supply chain.

In addition to Versalis Revive PS, other polymer-based products are available on the market: expandable polystyrene (Versalis Revive EPS) and polyethylene (Versalis Revive PE).

(PRA)

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