PETpla.net Insider 03 / 2020

PET news 6 NEWS PET planet Insider Vol. 21 No. 03/20 www.petpla.net Bekum celebrates three anniversaries and breaks ground on a new facility The Bekum group celebrated recently three anniversaries – 60 years Bekum in Berlin, Ger- many, 50 years Bekum in Traismauer, Austria und 40 years Bekum in Williamston, USA. As part of the celebrations at the American location, the groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of production capacities was made on November 26, 2019. A new building with a production area of 3,700 m² and almost 700 m² of office space will be added. This increases the site’s operational area to more than 15,000 m². Michael Mehnert, Managing Partner, who traveled from Germany for this celebration, stated: “My father founded this company sixty years ago. Today I’m standing here and lay the foundation for a new production hall in order to be able to serve the continuously increasing demand in the USA in the future!” Steve London, COO and President of Bekum America Corporation said: “The groundbreaking on our new facility was a great kick off to our 40 th anni- versary celebration with our dedicated employees. The Bekum team has continually been providing state of the art products for our clients, and this event is the perfect opportunity to celebrate all the individuals who complete Bekum.” Bekum America was established in 1979 with the mission to introduce top quality blow moulding machinery, designed to produce plastic bottles, containers and other large plastic parts in the North American marketplace, via blending German design and technology with American skill and ingenuity. Bekum’s customer base includes large multi-national customers, as well as owner/opera- tor plastic bottle manufacturers. www.bekum.com Worldwide acclaim for reduce-reuse-recycle principle High accolades go to an innovation developed especially for the circular economy. The patented stand-up pouch from Werner & Mertz and Mondi has been chosen to receive the prestigious WorldStar Packaging Award in the “Household” category. “The highly innovative 100% recyclable pouch leapfrogs sorting and recycling hurdles on the way to true recyclability. […] This is Cradle-to-Cradle!”, said the com- petition’s jury of the World Packaging Organization (WPO) about its decision. The award will be presented during the trade show Interpack in Düsseldorf on 8 May. In a four-year project based on Cradle to Cradle principles, Werner & Mertz and the global packaging and paper firm Mondi developed a completely recy- clable pouch of a monomaterial (polyethylene) with a removable sleeve or wrap-around label. The concept solves the problem of recycling printed plastic. About 80% of the packaging material is not printed and there- fore can be recycled with no loss of quality as it is not contaminated by ink. The remaining 20%, the printed sleeve, is completely recyclable and, because no adhesives or bonding agents are used, the material can flow back into new applications. The independent Institut Interseroh certified that the stand-up pouch has “very good recyclability that cannot be optimised any further.” www.werner-mertz.de Managing Director Michael Mehnert (2 nd from left) at the groundbreaking ceremony with the manag- ers of the US subsidiary CFO Owen Johnston, Chairman Martin Stark, President & COO Steven London (from left) Chinaplas rescheduled to 3-6 August 2020 The organiser of Chinaplas, Adsale Exhibition Services Ltd., announced a new date for the 2020 show edition. Chinaplas 2020 will be held 3-6 August 2020 at NECC in Shanghai. The fair had been postponed in order to control the coronavirus epidemic in China. Ada Leung, General Manager of Adsale, expressed, “As an important trend- setter, Chinaplas has expeditiously responded to the market needs. Many market activities like consumption, manufacturing and investment etc. are put on hold during the epidemic. And now, some companies have already resumed work and manufacturing in an orderly manner. We believe that once the outbreak is controlled, all suppressed market demand will be released. The postponement of Chinaplas to August in Shanghai will help the upstream and downstream industries to seize business opportunities during market rebound period.” In this epidemic, plastics and rubber have been used as important raw materials for prevention supplies. Many companies in the plastics and rubber industries have donated money and materials, sped up their manufacturing process etc. to assist in the epidemic control measures. Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of People’s Republic of China announced the scope of medical emergency protection materials. In the list, there are coated spunbond, breathable film, meltblown non-woven fabric, PE /PC anti-fogging rolls and sheets, seals, zippers, antistatic agents and other important raw materials for producing medical protective clothes and masks; as well as plastic packaging materials such as plastic bottles (barrels) and labels. The epidemic could also trigger the industries to rethink of the future manufacturing processes, consumers’ pursuit of healthy lifestyles, safe and private commute, and sterilising electric appliances. If enterprises can seize the opportunity to transform and upgrade their business, there will be a potential business growth, states Adsale. www.chinaplasonline.com