PETpla.net Insider 06 / 2020

8 NEWS PETplanet Insider Vol. 21 No. 06/20 www.petpla.net Further postponement and venue change of Chinaplas The 34 th edition of Chinaplas cannot be held as scheduled and will be further post- poned from 3-6 August 2020 to 13-16 April 2021, and the show venue will be changed from the National Exhibition and Conven- tion Center in Shanghai to Shenzhen World Exhibition and Convention Center in Shenzhen. This was announced by the organiser Adsale Exhibition Services. In the announcement Adsale states that the coronavirus is largely under con- trol in China, but poses a high degree of uncertainty globally. “China has now a formidable task of fighting against local rebound infections while preventing the next wave of outbreak from imported cases.” On 6 th April 2020, the State Council of China issued the circular of “The Further Control and Preventive Measures of the Novel Coronavirus at Key Venues, Units and Groups”. According to “Preventive Suggestions” in the circular, it has clearly mentioned that all kinds of exhibitions have to be cancelled for the time being. Safety and health of all show partici- pants are put as top priority. Regarding the participation or admission fee paid by exhibitors and visitors, the show organiser will make the necessary arrangements and notifications. www.chinaplasonline.com Open-source collaborative initiative for safety masks from PET PCR bottles Company Moldintec share their beverage industry-focused solu- tion of a Safety Mask made from a PET PCR bottle. “There are many masks already shared on the web, we are aware of that. But we have tried to adapt the machinery we use every day to produce a suitable mask.” The Argentinian engineers prepared two versions starting from: PCO 1881 3 l bottle & PCO 48-41 6 l bottle. Recently, the CCU Group has deployed in Chile a facial mask made from a PET bottle: A total of 160,000 units will be produced that will be donated to the community throughout the country. Just over a month ago, Moldintec promoted an open-source collaborative initiative to the entire PET industry to design and manufacture a face mask to protect against the spread of Covid-19 using the technical and material resources available in their factories. The team of engineers working from their homes in preventive isolation developed the first model of a mask that can be cut from a PET bottle with simple office supplies (scissors, staplers, perforators). Moldintec quickly received the support of Syphon S.A., a preforms manufacturer in Argentina, who contributed with the blower, laboratory, the preforms, and, most importantly, the selfless collaboration of its engineers. The manufacturing team at Moldintec’s tool-shop in Buenos Aires coordinated the production of the first pilot mould that was completed just 24 hours later. After an intensive working month, CCU S.A. Chile presented the first industrial deployment of the mask. In the first stage, CCU plans to produce 160,000 units. Inmates will conduct the cut- ting and assembly manually in the penitentiary Colina-I which runs an educational and workcentre. “From Moldintec, we want to thank all those who selflessly contributed their knowledge and their skills working from home isolation to manufacture the first moulds.” said a company spokesman. “The design is open source, so if you want to make masks for donation, we are here to support you!” www.moldintec.com Wolfgang Steinwender becomes new CEO of NGR As of May 1, Wolfgang Steinwender took over as CEO of the Austrian plastics recycling machines manufacturer NGR. His predecessor Josef Hochreiter will devote more time to the further development of Next Generation Holding. Despite the worldwide uncertainties due to Covid 19, NGR is convinced it can continue the successful course supporting the plastics industry during its transition to the circular economy. Since joining the company in 2014, Wolfgang Steinwender has been serving as Managing Director of the NorthAmerican office inAtlanta, Georgia, where he headed the market penetra- tion and customer support of theAmericas. Together with CTO Thomas Pichler and COOGerold Barth, Wolfgang Steinwender will focus on the further development of the circular economy. NGR offers a full range of post-consumer, post-industrial and PET recycling equipment. “About 400 million tons of plastics are being produced per year worldwide. It is key to put an emphasis on end-of-life plastics. Mechanical plastics recycling conserves resources, protects the environment and improves the CO 2 balance. It is the key to sustainability. Therefore, it is crucial to achieve the highest possible quality of recycled materials by using innova- tive technologies and thus continuously increase the amount of recycled material in end products,” says Wolfgang Steinwender. Josef Hochreiter has been heading NGR for 12 years and grew it into one of the leading companies in its industry. Start- ing in May, he will focus on the further development of Next Generation Holding and, according to Josef Hochreiter, will continue to develop this global technology provider to support the transformation from a linear to a circular economy in plastics following the mission “Working for a better future”. www.ngr-world.com