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Commercialisation expected for new Degussa propylene oxide process August 29, 2003
The process for making propylene oxide - a precursor for polyurethane polyols - by the catalytic oxidation of propylene with hydrogen peroxide which was developed by Degussa and Uhde in 2001 may be commercialised in South Africa. Since the introduction of the process - one of three similar processes developed in recent years - Degussa has been running it in a pilot plant at its Hanau-Wolfgang site in Germany. Now Sasol of Johannesburg is studying the feasibility of building a commercial plant.
Sasol is a major producer of ethylene glycol ethers, and intends to use the propylene oxide to make propylene glycol ethers. Glycol ethers are widely used in products such as coatings, inks and adhesives.
The hydrogen peroxide process is attractive in that it creates no significant by-products, unlike other methods. It has a high yield and is said to be more cost-effective. It is particularly attractive for Degussa in that the company is the world's second largest producer of hydrogen peroxide and while it has no plans of its own to produce propylene oxide, licensing companies like Saspol to do so increases it sales potential. Earlier this year Degussa increased its hydrogen peroxide capacity by buying an Italian plant from Solvay, which coincidentally is in partnership with BASF to build a hydrogen peroxide plant to supply BASF's own version of the process, in which it has joined with Dow Chemical to build a world scale plant for 2006 start-up.
SMS has appointed a new director to manage its Plastics Technology division succeeding Dr Helmut Eschwey, who left in June to become chairman of Heraeus Holding. He is Steffen R. Burghoff, 35, who has had eight years' experience with the ThyssenKrupp Group in various positions, including three and a half years as managing director of Shanghai Krupp Stainless, a joint venture of Thyssen-Krupp Stainless and the Chinese Baosteel Group, and was subsequently chief financial officer at German portable fuel cell specialist SFC.
Dr Eschwey will still be linked with the SMS Group as a member of the advisory board.
New lead distributor for aerospace adhesives August 29, 2003
Huntsman Advanced Materials has strengthened the UK distribution of its Araldite adhesives for aerospace activities since its recent acquisition of Vantico. It has appointed Aeropia of Crawley as its primary UK distributor for its aerospace adhesives and syntactics.
Synventive rejoins Dynisco companies at Madison August 27, 2003
The former Dynisco hot runner business, the only one of five Dynisco businesses not bought by US investment group Madison Capital Partners three years ago has now rejoined its former associate companies. Madison has bought the business, renamed Synventive Molding Solutions in 2001, from Berwind Industries which had retained it to run as an independent company.
Synventive has four factories - in Peabody (USA), s'-Gravendeel (The Netherlands) and two in Bensheim (Germany) - and employs more than 600 people worldwide. As well as Dynisco, it has its background in Eurotool and Kona. Synventive holds 39 patents and has 79 patent applications pending worldwide. Its Dynamic Feed technology is said to be the only control system able to give independent control of the rate of filling and packing pressures of each cavity of a multi-cavity mould.
Eastman's unsaturated polyester resins business may be put up for sale as part of an effort by the company to improve the profitability of its coatings, adhesives, specialty polymers and inks (CASPI) group. A number of operations in the group have been identified as needing overhaul, having lost $75 million between them on 2002 sales of $650 million, and with the prospect of losing even more this year.
Eastman aims to improve earnings in the CASPI group by $50 million next year and ultimately by $75 - $100 million, to run at double digit profit levels. To achieve this it is looking at a package of measures including 'aggressive' restructuring, consolidation - or divestment.
Borealis is planning to increase the price of its polyethylenes and polypropylenes by Eur 150/tonne on September 1.
Top changes at Bayer August 27, 2003
Bayer has a new man in charge of polymers in Europe. Peter Vanacker, who is currently head of the Polymer Solutions marketing division of Bayer Polymers Americas, will be appointed to the executive committee of the future Bayer Polymers subgroup as head of the Europe, Middle East and Africa region from September 1. His predecessor, Dr Jürgen Dahmer, will take on responsibility for Innovation, Information and Services on the executive committee of Bayer Polymers, and will additionally take over the position of labour director from Dr David Hillenbrand, who will be terminating his active service with the company on August 31.
Amcor expands and consolidates in flexible packaging August 27, 2003
Rexam is pulling out of flexible packaging with the sale to Amcor of its Healthcare Flexibles Sector for £135 million. The company remains firmly involved in the healthcare and pharmaceutical packaging businesses - earlier this year it bought the Risdon Pharma business - but Healthcare Flexibles is its only flexible packaging operation and is seen as having 'a more appropriate home in a group specifically focused on the flexible packaging industry'. Rexam will use the sale proceedings to reduce borrowings.
Rexam Healthcare Flexibles employs just over 1,000 people at 10 factories worldwide. In 2002 it had an operating profit of £11 m on sales of £163 m. Amcor has also tidied up its European flexible packaging business - which includes the former Rexam plants at Ledbury and Thetford - by exercising its option to acquire the minority stake in Amcor Flexibles Europe retained by Danisco and Ahlstrom when Amcor bought Danisco Flexible and Akerlund & Rausing in 2001. Amcor has paid Eur 99·5 million for the 28·1 per cent stake.
Production of extrusion systems in China has been so successful for SMS Plastics Technology that it is to spend more than $2 million on another production plant. Battenfeld Chen Extrusion Systems was set up in 1996 and is now building 25 - 35 complete lines a year with a turnover of around $13 million. Initial reaction to its pipe and profile equipment has led to the addition of blown film lines to the range, with three in production and four on the stocks. Blown film equipment is expected to account for around a third of the company's business this year. Battenfeld Chen also plans to start building conical twin screw extruders later this year.
Capacity for white opaque packaging/labelling film at ExxonMobil Chemical has been increased by more than 13,500 tonnes with the installation of 6·6 m line for oriented polypropylene at the company's Shawnee, Oklahoma, USA plant. ExxonMobil Chemical's Films Business makes OPP film at seven plants: three in Europe (Virton, Belgium; Kerkrade, the Netherlands; and Brindisi, Italy) and four in North America (LaGrange, Georgia; Stratford, Connecticut; Shawnee, Oklahoma and Belleville, Canada). Its European head office is in Luxembourg.
Modest growth in plastics in 2002 - but less to come this year August 27, 2003
Last year's roller coaster of processors building plastics stocks ahead of price rises forced by higher feedstock costs, and then the fall in demand and prices as they ran down stocks in the second half of the year, left Western European consumption slightly ahead of 2001 at just over 33 million tonnes - a 2·8 per cent increase. This 'modest recovery' as Applied Market Information puts it in its latest report on Western European polymer consumption, will not be matched this year, and on first half performance AMI anticipates growth of not more than 2 per cent.
The packaging market gave commodity polymers a better growth rate than achieved by engineering materials, with polypropylene and PET experiencing particularly good demand - PP demand was up nearly 7 per cent on 2001, its highest rate of growth since 1997.
Engineering plastics demand only achieved a 1 per cent growth over 2001 at just over 2·5 million tonnes, mainly caused by a fall in demand for ABS and SAN, and limited growth for nylons. These two materials account for over half of the engineering plastics market. AMI says that demand was depressed in many of the major markets for engineering plastics, particularly mobile communications, information technology and electrical and electronic goods in the face of weak consumer demand. Automotive applications tended to hold up better but concerns regarding the implementation of EU legislation on the recycling of cars may lead to a change in the materials specified, with a trend towards polypropylene and other polyolefin-based materials which are perceived to be easier and cheaper to recycle than styrenic-based materials.
The UK market remained one of the weakest of the major European countries, says the report. Demand has only been averaging 1 per cent for the past five years, with the high value of the pound against the Euro causing an exodus of manufacturing to lower cost locations in Central Europe and Asia.
The German market was weak last year with growth of only 1 per cent in the face of a virtually zero GDP growth, rising unemployment and low consumer confidence. France and Italy fared better with growth of over 3 per cent mainly as a result of investments in processing for packaging materials.
Spain showed the strongest growth in Europe thanks to continuing investments in household and consumer goods, as well as increasing demand for more sophisticated forms of plastics packaging. Demand also held up well in building and automotive applications in Spain.
AMI's 2003 West European Plastics Industry Report costs Eur 345/£245 and is currently discounted to Eur 295/£210.
Clariant to increase output of tailored-property waxes August 27, 2003
Production of polyolefin waxes made using metallocene catalysts is to be stepped up by Clariant. Licocene 'metallocene waxes' have a property profile which can be optimised and tailored to suit specific applications - properties such as hardness, melting point and viscosity can be adjusted over a wide range in practically unlimited combinations. They have already been used as dispersing aids in the production of masterbatches, in adhesives and sealants and in glass fibre coatings for composites.
At present Licocene waxes are made in a continuous pilot plant, but this is too small to satisfy the increasing demand, so Clariant is to build a production plant at the Höchst Industriepark near Frankfurt in Germany which is planned to come on stream by the beginning of 2006. Subsequently Clariant will focus its polyolefin wax technology and production at this site.
The power cuts that blacked out north east America and eastern Canada a couple of weeks ago are likely to have cost Nova Chemicals around $10 million in earnings. The company reckons to have lost around 4,500 tonnes of ethylene, chemical co-products, polyethylene, styrene and expandable polystyrene production. On the brighter side, soft seasonal demand and current narrow margins mean that the loss in profits is not likely to be as big as it might have been at another time.
New source of talc fillers August 27, 2003
Blagden Specialty Chemicals has been appointed exclusive UK distributor for talc products made by Luzenac of France - a member of the Rio Tinto mining group. Blagden has a 60,000 sq ft warehouse and distribution centre in Speke, Liverpool, with facilities to blend, mix, break bulk and re-pack powders and liquid products.
Bayer is selling another of its films businesses to Finnish packaging group Wihuri as part of the disposal of its non-core operations. The company being sold is Walothen which employs some 240 people making oriented polypropylene films for tobacco packaging, print lamination, and films for overwrap and general purpose packaging. Annual sales are around Eur 60 million.
Walothen is one of four companies, originally divisions of Wolff Walsrode, which were spun off into separate businesses in 2001 with the possibility that they would be sold.
One of these businesses, coex film producer Covexx, was sold two months later to Wihuri group subsidiary Wipak.
Wihuri's packaging division has been a customer for Walothen's OPP films.
DuPont names Koch as possible fibres business buyer August 13, 2003
The company reported
earlier this year to be in negotiations with DuPont to buy its Textiles & Interiors (DTI) business has been named as Koch Industries of Wichita, Kansas, USA. Negotiations have reached the point of Koch employees conducting due diligence investigations at DTI sites.
DTI was set up in February last year as a vehicle to package some of DuPont's fibre interests for disposal.
Koch sees a fit between the DTI businesses and its KoSa polyester business and its subsidiaries, combining KoSa's capabilities with DTI's strong brands - such as Lycra - and strong positions in nylon and spandex.
Milacron's president and chief operating officer Harold J Faig is to take early retirement, leaving the company at the end of September after 36 years. No replacement is currently being sought, but in June Milacron announced a new worldwide focus for its injection and blow moulding machinery operations with global vice presidents for the businesses.
Bayer to expand Chinese PU coatings production August 13, 2003
Bayer Polymers is to expand its Caojing site, near Shanghai in China, making it the Asian Pacific centre for coating raw materials. Production plants for aliphatic and aromatic polyisocyanates as well as the monomer hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) will be constructed in three phases at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park.
In April this year, an 11,500 tonnes plant for Desmodur N aliphatic polyisocyanates came on line. These materials are used primarily in the formulation of general industrial and automotive refinishing coatings, as well as coatings for plastics. A plant for Desmodur L aromatic polyisocyanates is currently under construction and will bring capacity to 11,000 tonnes which it starts up in late 2004. These materials are used in high performance polyurethane coatings for wood and furniture.
The third phase will be the construction of a plant for the production of HDI, which is used as a raw material for aliphatic polyisocyanates. The plant will ultimately have a total capacity of 50,000 tonnes, with 30,000 tonnes available by 2006. Capacity could be expanded by roughly 20,000 tonnes in a second phase of construction if warranted by market growth in the region.
Brückner gets turnkey Russian BOPP contract August 13, 2003
A biaxially oriented polypropylene film plant is to be set up by Novatek of Russia using a turnkey line from Brückner. The line will have a working width of 8·2 m, a wide range of thicknesses, products and applications, and will produce around 25,500 tonnes per year of metallised film, high shrinkage tobacco film, adhesive tapes and other opaque, plain and co-extruded films for packaging.
Brückner is managing the whole project from the erection of the buildings to the supply of all the equipment, peripherals and services.
Cleaner, cheaper propylene oxide process comes closer to reality August 7, 2003
The new hydrogen peroxide route to propylene oxide production being developed by Dow and BASF has advanced, and the two companies have now signed a joint development agreement.
The two companies say that in the past year they have made significant progress in defining the process technology for a world-scale plant. This would allow the production of propylene oxide without co-products and be expected to lower capital costs significantly when compared to current technologies. Plants using the new process would require less infrastructure, have a smaller footprint and be extremely cost-efficient even at lower capacity utilisation.
BASF and Dow anticipate the completion of their pilot plant scale research by the end of 2003 and engineering for the first world scale HPPO plant with a capacity of 300,000 tonnes is expected to begin at that time, with start-up expected as early as 2007. Integrated sites owned by BASF and Dow in the United States and in Europe are currently being reviewed as possible locations.
BASF back in the black - but it's still uphill going August 7, 2003
A relatively flat second quarter year-on year added to a good performance in the first quarter of this year to bring all BASF's operating divisions back into profit in the first half, with an overall group result of Eur 1·8 billion before special items - an increase of 8·3 per cent on 2002.
In common with its competitors, BASF made this improvement through economy measures, and like its competitors is not expecting the economic climate to improve before the end of this year. The disparity between first and second quarter performance is partly blamed on customers stockpiling before the Iraq war, and then running down stocks afterwards.
Sales of BASF's plastics operations fell 2·9 per cent in the second quarter compared with last year's Q2 to Eur 2·2 billion, partially due to weak demand in Asia. Oversupply, especially of styrenics, led to further pressure on prices and margins. Pre-tax earnings fell 64 per cent to Eur 76 million, but this figure contains integration costs for the engineering plastics business acquired from Honeywell as well as start up costs for the 140,000 tonnes TDI and precursors plant in Yeosu, South Korea.
Bayer improves profitability, but plastics and rubber are weaker August 6, 2003
Second quarter pre-tax profits at Bayer shot up 80 per cent on the 2002 second quarter figure, bringing a first half profit up 40 per cent at Eur 1·5 billion. And the company expects to continue making double digit percentage improvements through the year.
The strength of the Euro caused a 3·3 per cent drop in sales value to Eur 7·3 billion, but in local currencies the second quarter was up 7·3 per cent, and the first half was up 9·8 per cent.
The group's Polymers Division increased earnings from Eur 15 million in the 2002 second quarter to Eur 69 million, but this was achieved mainly with improved cost structures in polyurethanes, coatings and fibres. The plastics and rubber businesses saw earnings fall back from Eur 22 million to Eur 6 million, and together with the chemicals sector, were the only parts of the group to reduce their profitability. The group overall increased return on sales from 3·4 to 6·3 per cent in the quarter.
The first half figures show an even bigger disparity between the businesses in the polymers sector, with plastics and rubber profits falling from Eur 31 million to Eur 9 million (a drop in profitability from 1·2 to just 0·4 per cent) while polyurethanes, coatings and fibres increased profits from Eur 5 million to Eur 134 million, taking their profitability up from 0·2 to 5·3 per cent. Overall group return on sales in the first half was 10·5 per cent.
Falling demand for cobalt butadiene rubber and the steady switch to lithium polybutadiene for use in high impact polystyrene will see Bayer pull out of CoBR production. The plant at its Marl site in Germany, which has a capacity of 45,000 tonnes, will be shut down in the first half of next year.
Bayer will continue to make lithium polybutadiene in the USA, France and at Dormagen in Germany.
Clariant plans business sell-off and closures August 5, 2003
Clariant is to sell off some of its businesses to generate cash and reduce costs as it focuses on speciality chemicals. The cellulose ethers, electronic materials and several other businesses are to be sold and four agrochemicals plants in the USA and Germany are to be closed. The asset sales are expected to bring in more than SFr 1·5 billion and return on capital is planned to increase from 7 per cent to at least 12 per cent within the next three to four years.
The company already has a cost reduction programme, which it reckons to have saved around SFr 60 million in the first half of this year and is targeted to reduce the cost base by SFr 100 million by 2004. With other cost saving measures Clariant hopes to improve its operating profit by SFr 400 million in the medium term.
Overall Clariant lost SFr 49 million in the first half of this year compared with a profit of SFr 114 million in the first half of 2002, after allowing for retructuring costs and disposals.
Austrian chiller and air humidity specialist Fasti has transferred its UK and Ireland representation to Hamilton Machinery from Eurodata, whose principal Colin Wood is now in virtual retirement.
Fasti's cold air chillers are used for cycle time improvement in blow moulding, which fits well with Hamilton's representation of Bekum blow moulding machines. Other equipment from Fasti includes: material dryers including a special unit for clean rooms; mould sweat protectors, dehumidifiers and water chillers.
Air cushion turner bar protects film surface August 5, 2003
A blown film turning bar which protects the surface of the film with a cushion of air has been introduced by Reifenhäuser. The REIcofly bar has a microporous coating through which compressed air is pumped to keep the surface of the film from contacting the bar. This air is supplied by a standard factory air system and does not need a dedicated compressed air blower.
Tests have been done at the company's Troisdorf R & D centre and the bar has been shown to be effective with high VA content EVA protective film, coextruded LLDPE stretch film and film with high optical properties.
Benefits claimed for the new turner bar include reduced noise and cost from using factory compressed air, no frictional heat generation, and no bending of the turner required so no wrinkling of the film.
The REIcofly bar can be retrofitted.
Weak polyolefins market pushes Borealis into loss August 5, 2003
Profits at Borealis tumbled in the second quarter as polyolefin prices collapsed and pushed the company into a loss for the first half year. The second quarter yielded an operating profit of Eur 21 million before restructuring charges, compared with Eur 78 million in the same period last year. Aggregated half year results showed a Eur 26 million operating profit compared with Eur 65 million in 2002, giving a Eur 22 million loss after tax compared with a Eur 5 million profit last year.
As well as selling prices being forced down (second quarter sales were Eur 946 million compared with Eur 954 million in the second quarter last year) there was also a 9 per cent reduction in volume, while feedstock prices remained high.
The company expects this 'challenging business environment' to continue throughout this year, but says its continuing restructuring programme should improve its financial performance.
3D-MID process 'is simpler and cheaper' August 1, 2003
A simpler way of moulding 3D interconnect devices has been developed in Germany. The laser direct structuring process developed by LPKF Laser & Electronics draws the circuits on the surface of a moulding with a laser. The action of the laser removes the surface layer of plastic, and at the same time activates an organometallic compound in the material that provides an adhesion key for the conductive tracks when the surface is subsequently metallised.
The additive technology technology has been licensed to Bayer, which plans to produce grades of its Pocan PBT and PET for the technique.
As well as being simpler to operate than other 3D-MID processes such as two-component injection moulding, hot embossing or film insert moulding, the LDS process is said to be cheaper, and more environmentally friendly, because it eliminates surface activation and washing processes. It is also more flexible to use, as the circuit layout can be edited in the CAM program that drives the laser, right up to the moment of application.
Remak robots break from Ferromatik Milacron August 1, 2003
Robot manufacturer Remak, which for many years has been represented in the UK by Ferromatik Milacron, has broken away from its association with FM machines and set up its own UK representation through a new company in Milton Keynes. Renmar (01908 631770) is headed by Kevin Horne, who in the past has worked at Jenco, Labotek UK and UPM.
Remak says the new company will be seeking new customers 'with special offers of discounted prices through to providing units on trial for evaluation', and also hopes to set up closer liaison with all machinery suppliers 'now we are independent'.
Dow Europe has increased the price of its Lighter PET by Eur 100/tonne from today to restore margins in the face of rising raw material costs.
Jobs to go as Milacron tries to stem losses August 1, 2003
Milacron has seen a worldwide increase in orders for its injection moulding, blow moulding and extrusion machinery, but it is still losing money and plans to cut nearly 300 jobs in the USA and Europe as part of an accelerated cost-saving plan.
In the second quarter its US and India businesses received 11 per cent more orders than in the 2002 second quarter, while in Europe orders rose 40 per cent. Sales in the USA and India were at the same level as in 2002, while in Europe they also rose 40 per cent, although around half the European sales increase was due to currency exchange.
Overall the company lost $9·8 million before taxes in the second quarter, slightly more than in 2002, on sales value up 7 per cent at $182 million.
STV quits refurbishment for life on the internet August 1, 2003
Used machinery specialist STV has switched from refurbishing machines to become a full time on-line secondhand machine broker. The company used to refurbish around 60 machines a year, mainly Boy and Arburg injection moulding machines, but was hampered in further growth by the need for larger premises and more technical staff.
It started its Marketplace on-line brokerage service in 2001 and is currently selling machines for anything from £1,000 - £30,000 with exports to Hong Kong, India, Nigeria, Zimbabwe the Middle East and Continental Europe representing 20 per cent of sales.
The operation is based on a straightforward commission of 10 per cent or £500 - whichever is the greater - on a no-sale-no-fee basis. The company vets potential buyers to eliminate time wasters and encourages contact between buyers and sellers to establish the history of the machine.
PEEK producer pushes protection August 1, 2003
Indian agrochemicals manufacturer Gharda Chemicals has extended the patent cover for its polyether ether ketone polymer. Earlier this year it obtained a British patent, and has now secured an American patent for Melt Processible PEEK.
In this context PEEK is an acronym for polyether ether ketone. PEEK is also the trade name used by Victrex for the polyether ether ketone originally developed by ICI, and which it now refers to by the more generic definition of polyaryl ether ketone.
Gharda's PEEK - tradenamed Gatone - is made in a different process from Victrex PEEK in that it uses an electrophillic process developed by Gharda, and does not involve fluorine monomers. Gharda says that its process, only commercialised in 2000, is cheaper than that used by Victrex, but that the product is comparable.
Gharda also makes polyether sulphone, polysulphone and polyphenylene sulphone, and has plans to introduce further sulphone polymers with continuous use temperatures exceeding 300 degC.
Gharda materials are now sold in the UK by Lati UK.
K-M adds add-on injection for added flexibility August 1, 2003
Add-on injection units are now available from Krauss-Maffei to upgrade injection moulding machines for two component operation, and to extend existing two-component machines to three-component.
They are built in vertical and horizontal format and are intended to be moved easily between machines, both in terms of their mechanical connection and the interface of their MC4 control software. The vertical unit is available in 3 sizes with stroke volumes between 21 and 258 cm3. The L version is offered in four sizes, with the extra size providing 456 cm3 stroke volume.
Reed Exhibitions is now taking reservations for stand positions at Interplas 2005. Sandretto, Arburg and Sepro Robotique have nailed theirs down. To secure your position call Jim Hughes on 0208 910 7853.
The joint venture glass reinforcement plant being built by Owens Corning and Saint-Gobain will be at Xicohtencatl, Tlaxcala in Mexico, adjacent to a Saint-Gobain Vetrotex America plant. Construction is expected to begin in early August.
The roving products produced by this 50/50 joint venture will be sold in equal shares to Saint-Gobain Vetrotex and Owens Corning. Production and delivery of product is planned for late 2004.
What price plastics scrap? August 1, 2003
A report on various recycled materials by WRAP (the Waste & Resources Action Programme) concludes that price information on recyclate is meaningless. Review of Market Price Information in the UK Recycling Sector covers glass, plastic, paper and wood recyclate and was compiled by Deloitte & Touche from a survey of around 50 key public and private sector organisations. The research found that current recyclate price information is perceived to be of limited value in making trading decisions because of a lack of consistency in standards for recyclate on which to base price information and variations in the costs that are included in the prices quoted. Respondants also reported that most available price information appears to be biased towards spot rather than term contract trades, whereas most trading is term contract-based.
The report also found an unwillingness among buyers and sellers to share price information. In general, manufacturers and some processors said they already have sufficient price information from their own trades and are unwilling to provide source data for reasons of commercial sensitivity. Local authorities and some waste collectors were more forthcoming.
These factors, and reservations about the number and type of organisations from which price information was derived and lack of formal verification processes, meant that many respondants had little faith in existing published price information.
To address this, the report suggests creating clearer definitions of the commodities and encouraging the adoption of standard material specifications and trading contracts across the market to improve the consistency of price information; tackling the differences in market awareness and sophistication between buyers, who appear to have greater knowledge, and sellers, who could benefit from better understanding of the issues involved in recyclate trading; and making fundamental price information more available.
The best way of improving plastics recycling in the UK is to collect more plastic bottles, according to a report published today by Waste Watch, in conjunction with Recoup and Valuplast, and funded by Biffaward.
Other recommendations in Plastics in the UK economy - a guide to polymer use and recycling are to maximise the recycling of plastic packaging from commerce and industry; develop technologies for the efficient recycling of plastics from vehicles and electrical waste; develop a range of end markets for recovered plastics and promote public procurement and to increase the cost of waste disposal by raising the landfill tax or introducing a general disposal tax.
Behind what might be considered a statement of the obvious Waste Watch points out that more than 570,000 tonnes of plastic bottles and bottle tops entered the UK market during 2002, but only 18,000 tonnes were recycled. It says that while more than 37 per cent of plastic packaging in the commercial and industrial sector is currently recycled there is potential for this to be increased, and recommends work to increase recyclables collection from business parks and businesses in the SME sector.
Recycling of plastics from cars and waste electrical and electronic goods is hampered by the relatively high cost of dismantling components. The report advocates developing technology to handle plastics after shredding. 'This is a technical challenge but could enable manufacturers to access hundreds of thousands of tonnes of shredded plastics for new uses.'
And what of these hundreds of thousands of extra tonnes? 'Develop a range of end markets for recycled plastics and encourage government to buy these materials. There are good opportunities to develop new uses for recycled polymers, for example, in products used in the construction industry. Use in the automotive sector is also growing with, for example, Ford using over 30,000 tonnes of post consumer recycled plastics in 280 components within its vehicle range.'
If the carrot doesn't work, Waste Watch has a stick. 'Increase the cost of the waste disposal alternative by raising the landfill tax or introducing a general disposal tax. This will make it more cost effective to recycle more plastic.'
Valpak, which is the UK's largest packaging waste compliance scheme, has turned its attention to the European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive.
It has set up a Valpak Member WEEE Council of representatives from Brother, Canon, Dixons Group, Gillette, Hewlett-Packard, JVC, Lec, Miele, Mitsubishi Electric, Philips, Powerhouse Retail, Safeway, Tesco, Tyco Electronics, Virgin Mobile, Vivid Imaginations and Worcester Bosch. Its aim will be to propose practical solutions to the implementation of the WEEE directive and will liaise with the Government to discuss specific models in detail.
Solvay losses slowed by speciality materials August 1, 2003
Solvay's strategy of moving more towards speciality plastics materials is putting the brakes on losses. Overall group profits fell 18 per cent in the first half of this year over the 2002 first half, but the 23 per cent fall in Plastics Sector profits was largely because of a significant drop in the company's PVC business after pronounced growth in the first quarter. Profits and margins for the Speciality Polymers business continued to rise.
Atlas completes big film slitter contract in China August 1, 2003
Valmet Converting's UK-based Atlas division has completed its biggest-ever sales contract in China. The order for the Jiangsu Shuangliang Packing Material Company was one 6·7 m wide and three 8·3 m wide primary film slitters, worth approximately $10 million.
Jiangsu Shuangliang is a manufacturer of industrial air-conditioning equipment. It is entering plastics film production with four BOPP film production lines in September 2004.
The four Atlas film slitters will be running at up to 1,200 m/min processing up to 120,000 tonnes of BOPP film per year. Most of the film produced will be destined for the packaging industry, for wrapping a wide range of consumer goods for both the domestic and export markets.
The project also represents the biggest ever single investment in BOPP film production lines in the world. This company will become one of the biggest producers of BOPP film in China by 2005.
DuPont joins Chinese company in international brush filament business August 1, 2003
DuPont Engineering Polymers is to join an international joint venture with a Chinese company to supply brush filaments. It is linking with Wuxi Xingda Nylon Co to set up an operation for the production and distribution of filaments used in toothbrush, paint brush, cosmetic and industrial brush applications.
The joint venture will operate as three legal entities: DuPont Xingda Filaments Co; DuPont Filaments Europe; and DuPont Filaments Americas. Ownership of each company will be 70 per cent DuPont and 30 per cent Xingda. Start-up is scheduled the fourth quarter of this year.
Manufacturing will be based at sites in the United States, the Netherlands and China with products sold globally.
A third generation of control has come into being at Engel. Georg Schwarz, son-in-law of the company's founder Ludwig Engel, has passed chairmanship of the Engel Holdings board to his son-in-law, Peter Neumann, who has been responsible for the board of Engel Austria. Gotthard Mayringer, finance director of Engel Austria, has also been appointed to the the holding company's board.
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