PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2014

NEWS 9 PET planet insider Vol. 15 No. 03/14 www.petpla.net First South African-European colloquium on recycling Petco, the PET Recycling Company (Pty) Ltd of South Africa, hosted the first-ever South African-European forum on the subject of recycling, in December 2013 from Cape Town, S Africa. The forum, entitled “Global Partnerships for a Sustainable Recycling Sector: Sharing. Dialogue. Action”, was dubbed a colloquium – an informal meeting or discussion. It attracted more than 200 delegates, from Africa, Europe and N America, the majority attending via videofeed. Six plenary sessions saw 15 members of the European Association of Plastic Recycling and Recov- ery Organisation (Epro), and 15 of South Africa’s experts on recycling, waste management, recovery and sustain- ability, deliver papers on the challenges, opportunities, latest trends and innovations. Panel debates involved the audience to pose questions and comments to local and international experts. Janez Potočnik, European Union Commissioner on the Environment, highlighted the value of waste as a resource that should not be landfilled or burned, as well as the need for a transition to a circular economy as a more sustain- able economic growth model. He encouraged joint efforts and initiatives aimed at increasing material recovery and reducing the impact of litter on the environment on a global scale. Cheri Scholtz, CEO of Petco, said that S Africa is the leading country in Africa in plastics recycling and is not far behind European countries in recycling and waste recovery solutions. Part of the intention of inviting Epro to South Africa to have their first ever General Meeting on African soil and to participate in the colloquium was to create a platform for the sharing of ideas and set the stage for future global partnerships. According to Scholtz, the international delegation was eager to share with South African audiences their knowledge and experience from activities in Europe and the United States, and was also keen to learn from experiences across all packaging streams in Southern Africa, the BRICS and other devel- oping countries represented on the programme. Waste management is an important element of the South African economy and places a strong emphasis on job creation and service delivery. www.petco.co.za www.epro-plasticsrecycling.org Chinaplas 2014 “to be biggest ever” The organisers of the 28th International Exhibition on Plastics and Rubber – better known as Chinaplas 2014 – which will be staged at Shanghai New International Expo Centre, China, April 23-26 2014, say that this year’s edition will be the largest in the event’s history. It is expected to attract more than 2,900 exhibitors and will occupy an exhi- bition area of over 220,000m 2 , and will feature international pavilions from countries in Europe, the Far East, Turkey and the USA. Bayer MaterialScience, Dow, Kolon Plastics, and Sunshow, Uniplas have confirmed their attendance. In order to help delegates to find their way around the large exhibition area, some products will be classified into partic- ular zones; Chemicals and Raw Materials, Colour Pigment and Masterbatch will be located at additional exhibition hall C10, with Additives in hall C11. The exhibitor list and app has been launched and can be found online at the address below. www.ChinaPlasOnline.com Milacron buys IMSI and PPM US company Milacron LLC has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Industrial Machine Sales, Inc. (IMSI) and its sister company, Precise Plastics Machin- ery (PPM). IMSI specialises in the application engineering of primary plastics processing and support systems for operations including injection moulding, extrusion and blow moulding. PPM was established in 1994 as a full service support company for the plastics industry, including offer- ing pre-owned equipment and turnkey services. Imsi and PPM and their staff will continue to be based in Southlake, Texas, which will serve as a High Impact Technical (H.I.T.) centre in the region providing machinery support, train- ing, and aftermarket parts and service. Their customer base includes major manufacturers in the plastics industry located in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missis- sippi, New Mexico and the northern border of Mexico. Larry Burchett, the president and owner of IMSI and PPM, will serve as Vice President of Sales and General Manager of the Milacron Certified Pre-Owned Machinery division. Bur- chett began his career at Milacron, leaving on his purchase of IMSI in 1991 but maintaining a connection through a 20-year agent association between IMSI, PPM and Mila- cron. www.milacron.com