PETpla.net Insider 05 / 2020

TRADE SHOW REVIEW PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 05/20 www.petpla.net 50 Polyone seminar on Sustainability and the Circular Economy For the first time PolyOne, a premier provider of specialised polymer materials, services and solutions organised a seminar on the hot topic of Sustainability and the Circular Economy. The company invited 60 exclusively selected customers and international top speakers to the two days event in Prague, Czech Republic. After a warmly welcome from Denis Keller, Marketing Director at PolyOne, Walter Ripple Vice President for Sustainability at PolyOne presented the sustainability strategy of PolyOne and PolyOne’s vision on the Circular Economy. Walter, with 28 years experience in the industry explained: “Our mission is to enable our customers’ innova- tion and sustainability goals through world-class products and services and excellence in the four cornerstones: people, products, planet and per- formance.” He mentioned the meg- atrend of recyclability in the Circular Economy and drew attention to the challenges and the opportunities this offers. Walter continued by explaining that PolyOne helps their customers to save energy, use less material and to focus on renewable energy applica- tions. The company wants to improve recyclability for example on PET bot- tles. Therefore PolyOne developed toners for PET, special acetaldehyde scavenging additives as well as UV light barriers, oxygen scavengers and IV builders for PET. To pursue their goals of a Circular Economy and to be able to implement them within the industry Walter pointed out that Poly- One is a founding member of the Alli- ance to End Plastic Waste. This inter- national consortium has around 30 members who committed an invest- ment of $1,5B for over five years to help clean up plastic waste. Marie-Raphael Morvillier, Senior Industry Manager for Food & Beverage Packaging - Colour & Additives at Poly- One opened her presentation with the enthusiastic statement that she never saw the packaging industry as active as now. She talked about the love & hate relationship with plastic packag- ing. She shared PolyOne’s perspective on the key pressures and challenges for the industry such as the problem of waste & sorting, the use of PCR and rPET and finally how we utilise resources. In details she mentioned the problem of incorrect disposal which contaminates the collection stream. She added that there is a lack of inher- ent sortability for specific packaging, as well as the effectiveness of sorting technologies & processes. There is also a lack of incentives for consumer and industry, the undersised waste management infrastructure is a big problem and a public education pro- gram on the need for proper disposal is missing. Marie highlighted some of Poly- One’s current solutions for these chal- lenges. Among them a strong portfolio of solutions dedicated to PET, natural colours. She was also highlighting that a strong collaboration with waste sort- ing industry leaders will be a key way to further address some of these chal- lenges, including PolyOne’s involve- ment with the Alliance to End Plastic Waste, Operation Clean Sweep and Petcore Europe. In the conference rooms, PolyOne presented the new OnColor Infrared Sortable Black for Recyclable Packag- ing, which enables automated sorting, developed in cooperation with recy- cling company Pellenc. It is a black colorant created without the addition of carbon black pigment which permits black polymers to be detected by near infrared (NIR) automatic sorting equip- ment, enabling recycling. OnColor IR Sortable Black is available in a range of blacks, and can also be customised to support the needs of brand owners, allowing black packaging to remain an option for current products. It is available as solid or liquid, for PET & polyolefins resins. It can be used for extrusion, injection and thermoforming. Another presentation has been held by Neil Skeffington, CEO from Novelplast. He talked about future sustainability of plastics with Novel- plast. The company is an Irish Start- Up specialised in the reprocessing of post-industrial PET scrap and byprod- ucts. It is privately owned and funded with a total investment of >€ 6m and began operation in August 2019. Naomi Bennett, Marketing Communica- tion Manager Color & Additives EMEA Polyone and Walter Ripple, Vice Presi- dent for Sustainability Polyone Neil Skeffington, CEO Novelplast