MOSCOW (MRC) -- Berry Global Group announced a collaboration with SABIC to drive the innovation and use of polyolefin resins made from chemical recycling, said Britishplastics.
The companies boast a long partnership and focus on their shared values of sustainability and promotion of a circular economy.
The partners will focus on innovation and use of polyolefin resins from chemical recycling. The move is a part of Berry’s sustainability strategy Impact 2025 announced earlier this year.
According to the strategy, Berry will transform its packaging to be completely reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
The company has also planned to collaborate with ‘trusted suppliers’ to introduce environmentally sustainable packaging.
Berry chairman and CEO Tom Salmon said: "As a leader in sustainable packaging, we place a high value on innovation surrounding the methods, by which we recover valuable plastic materials. "SABIC’s timeline for beginning semi-commercial production is one of the fastest we have seen in the industry and we were eager to join with them in initiatives that support circular economy."
Chemical recycling involves removal of contaminants, inks and colourants. It can recycle mixed plastic waste and develop new material for food packaging. SABIC is planning to construct a unit in the Netherlands to purify feedstocks produced from mixed plastic waste recycling.
The company’s plants have already produced certified circular polymers, which Berry used to develop a recyclable, coextruded stand-up pouch. Berry’s pouch includes 30% post-consumer recycled content sourced from SABIC’s circular polymer.
SABIC Sustainability Technology and Innovation executive vice-president Bob Maughon said: “This exciting project is testament to our commitment to scale up advanced chemical recycling processes of plastics back to the original polymer.
Earlier this year, Berry pledged to design 100% of its packaging to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
SABIC announced at the end of 2018 its project to build a semi-commercial unit in the Netherlands to refine and upgrade feedstocks produced from the recycling of low-quality, mixed plastic waste.
As it was informed earlier, SABIC signed a preliminary agreement with the state-controlled Russian Direct Investment Fund and Moscow-based ESN Group for a potential investment in a methanol plant in the Russian Far East, as the Middle East’s biggest petrochemicals producer looks to expand its international footprint.
Besides, in the first week of September 2019, SABIC Europe, an affiliate of SABIC, started maintenance work at its cracker No.3 at Geleen site in the Netherlands. The planned maintenance is slated to last around 2 months. The company operates two steam crackers in Geleen which are capable of producing 1,250,000 tons/year of ethylene and 675,000 tons/year of propylene in total.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polyprolypele (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 1,436,390 tonnes in the first eight months of 2019, up by 9% year on year. Shipments of all PE grades increased. At the same time, the PP consumption in the Russian market was 909,260 tonnes in January-August 2019, up by 10% year on year. Shipments of PP block copolymer and homopolymer PP increased.
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) ranks among the world's top petrochemical companies. The company is among the worldпїЅs market leaders in the production of polyethylene, polypropylene and other advanced thermoplastics, glycols, methanol and fertilizers.
MRC