MOSCOW (MRC) -- Clariant (Muttenz, Switzerland), a focused, sustainable and innovative specialty chemical company, has officially joined the EU Circular Plastics Alliance, which is part of the company's active support for the transition towards a more circular plastics economy, as per the company's press release.
The alliance aims to enhance plastics recycling in line with the objectives of the EU Circular Economy Action Plan and the Green Deal program.
Clariant is committed to the Alliance’s goal to boost the EU market for recycled plastics to 10 million tons by 2025. The company’s focus is on addressing the obstacles that are hampering a higher circularity of products within the plastics value chain, in line with the waste hierarchy principles. Clariant’s strategy is based on a smart combination of design for reduction, recycling, and reuse options, as well as solutions for mechanical or chemical recycling.
“Specialty chemicals can act as enablers for new solutions that enhance circularity of plastics by maintaining the value of products, materials and resources in the economy for as long as possible, and by minimizing the generation of waste. Clariant aims to be a leading provider of specialty chemicals that are indispensable to transform a one-way plastics value chain into a circular plastics economy,” said Richard Haldimann, Head of Sustainability Transformation.
Back in 2019, Clariant also established EcoCircle, a company-wide initiative that goes beyond a product focus, looking at the entire value chain, identifying the most sustainable and viable solutions for a circular plastics economy. “With EcoCircle we have the right platform and competencies to identify solutions for closing the loop and to engage with key stakeholders to accelerate plastics circularity,” added Richard Haldimann.
As MRC wrote previously, earlier this month, Clariant and India Glycols Limited (IGL), a leading company in the manufacturing of green technology-based chemicals, announced a strategic partnership to establish a 51-49% joint venture (JV) in renewable ethylene oxide (EO) derivatives.
And in October 2020, Clariant announced the construction of a new state-of-the-art catalyst production site in China. This project represents a significant investment which further strengthens Clariant’s position in China and enhances its ability to support its customers in the country’s thriving petrochemicals industry.
The new facility will be primarily responsible for producing the Catofin catalyst for propane dehydrogenation, which is used in the production of olefins such as propylene. Thanks to its excellent reliability and productivity, Catofin delivers superior annual production output compared to alternative technologies, resulting in increased overall profitability for propylene producers, says the company. Construction at the Dushan Port Economic Development Zone in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province was scheduled to commence in Q3 2020, and Clariant expects to be at full production capacity by 2022.
Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).
According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
Clariant AG is a Swiss chemical company and a world leader in the production of specialty chemicals for the textile, printing, mining and metallurgical industries. It is engaged in processing crude oil products in pigments, plastics and paints.
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