Plastics Industry Association names Mónica Mancilla Cooke senior director, human resources

The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) is pleased to announce that Monica Mancilla Cooke has been named Senior Director, Human Resources, effective immediately, said Polymerupdate.

“We’re building a larger, top-flight team at PLASTICS - it takes someone with Monica’s HR expertise to help us ensure the success of our professional environment,” said Matt Seaholm, President and CEO of PLASTICS. “Monica brings a wealth of compliance, talent recruitment and development experience that will help PLASTICS continue to grow and thrive.”

Cooke’s wide-ranging HR background comprises key roles in a variety of organizations in the Washington Association arena, including her work with the Information Technology Industry Council, American Petroleum Institute and International Republican Institute.

“I am humbled to be part of an organization that supports a workforce of nearly one million, that works to protect and promote the direction of the plastics industry,” said Cooke. “We have an exceptional team, and I am honored to have the opportunity to make a meaningful difference for PLASTICS.”

Since 1937, PLASTICS has been working to make its members and the industry more globally competitive while advancing recycling and sustainability.

We remind, Trinseo, a specialty material solutions provider, today announced it has appointed Bregje (“Bee”) Roseboom-Van Kessel to the newly created role of Senior Vice President, Base Plastics, effective Nov. 1, 2022. Senior Vice President, Base Plastics, Roseboom-Van Kessel will join Trinseo’s executive leadership team and will be based in Pfaffikon, Switzerland. In this role, she will be responsible for all commercial activities in the Base Plastics business and will report to Andre Lanning, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global sustainable chemical company, announced the official opening of its PETValue bottle-to-bottle recycling plant in the Philippines, in partnership with Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines—the bottling arm of Coca-Cola in the country, said the company.

The plant is IVL’s latest recycled PET facility as the global integrated petrochemicals company builds on its position as the world’s largest producer of recycled resin used in plastic beverage bottles.

PETValue Philippines, located in General Trias in Cavite Province south of Manila, is the country’s first food-grade, bottle-to-bottle recycling facility, and the largest in the Philippines. It was built by IVL in partnership with Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines, Inc. in accord with The Coca-Cola Company’s ‘World Without Waste’ program to collect and recycle the equivalent of every bottle it sells by 2030. As a result of the joint venture with Coca-Cola, IVL will recycle about 2 billion additional used PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles in the Philippines every year and create about 200 new local jobs. The plant will wash and shred post-consumer bottles into flakes to produce recycled PET resin that is suitable for use in food-contact applications.

Managed under IVL’s regional business lead for Recycling Vertical Mr. Anivesh Tewari, PETValue brings together an experienced leadership team led by Site Manager Mr. Joel Potian, who has nearly three decades of manufacturing and chemical engineering expertise in the Philippines and Korea. He is supported by Mr. Aris Castillo as Chief Financial Officer, formerly from Coca-Cola Beverages Philippines with more than 10 years in supply chain finance and manufacturing.

IVL has already surpassed the half-way milestone towards meeting its 2025 target of increasing its recycling capacity to 750,000 tons per year. The company is investing US$1.5 billion globally to expand recycling facilities and sustainable production, including a new ambition to reach post-consumer PET bale input of 1,500,000 tons per year by 2030.

PETValue will introduce the most advanced technology and infrastructure in the Philippines, helping to improve collection and recycling rates and prevent leakage into waterways. The new plant will encourage a more robust waste value chain to help address the growing post-consumer waste management problem in the Philippines. The unique PET plastic used in soft drinks and water bottles is 100% recyclable and the most collected plastic packaging in the world. Global brands including Coca-Cola are using more recycled plastic in their bottles to close the loop and deliver a circular economy.

We remind, Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited (IVL), a global sustainable chemical company, announced its commitment to science-based targets by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) to help drive its ambitious sustainability programs. The company will also participate in the SBTi Expert Advisory Group for the chemicals industry.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, listed in Thailand, is one of the world’s leading petrochemicals producers, with a global manufacturing footprint across Europe, Africa, Americas, and Asia Pacific. The company’s portfolio comprises Combined PET, Integrated Oxides and Derivatives, and Fibers. Indorama Ventures products serve major FMCG and automotive sectors, i.e., beverages, hygiene, personal care, tire, and safety segments. Indorama Ventures has more than 26,000 employees worldwide and consolidated revenue of USD14.6 billion in 2021. The Company is listed in the Dow Jones Emerging Markets and World Sustainability Indices (DJSI).
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Gov. John Bel Edwards and the executives of major global energy corporations CF Industries, ExxonMobil and EnLink Midstream announced an “unprecedented” decarbonization collaboration aimed at dramatically reducing industrial CO2 emissions in Louisiana, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The announcement – described as a potential business prototype for industrial-scale carbon capture and sequestration projects – was made Wednesday at the State Capitol.

The three companies have entered into the largest-of-its-kind commercial agreement to capture emissions from CF Industries’ Ascension Parish manufacturing complex, transport the CO2 through EnLink’s transportation network and permanently store it underground on property owned by ExxonMobil in Vermilion Parish.

“Today’s announcement of this unprecedented, large-scale, low-carbon partnership is a key milepost on Louisiana’s path toward a brighter future for our climate, our economy and our people,” Gov. Edwards said. “The collaboration and innovation to bring carbon capture and storage technology forward at this scale reaffirms our state’s ability to grow our economy without sacrificing our long-term emission-reduction goals to net zero by 2050."

A leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products, CF Industries recently announced a $198.5 million plan to build a CO2 dehydration and compression unit at its ammonia production plant in Donaldsonville. ExxonMobil has signed an agreement with EnLink Midstream to transport the CO2 through EnLink’s pipeline network to a 125,000-acre secure geologic storage location in Vermilion Parish approximately 100 miles south and west of CF’s facility.

The companies expect start-up for the project to be scheduled for early 2025. They estimate the project will allow them to capture and sequester up to 2 million metric tons of CO2 annually, equivalent to replacing approximately 700,000 gasoline-powered cars with electric vehicles.

CF Industries expects to market up to 1.7 million metric tons of blue ammonia annually. A chemical process is considered “blue” when CO2 emissions are captured before their release into the air, making the process more carbon-neutral. Demand for blue ammonia is expected to grow significantly as a decarbonized energy source for hard-to-abate industries, both for its hydrogen content and as a fuel itself, because ammonia’s components – nitrogen and hydrogen – do not emit carbon when combusted.

We remind, ExxonMobil is gradually shutting down its 235,000 barrel per day (bpd) Fos-Sur-Mer refinery in France as a result of ongoing strike action. Walkouts caused the gradual shut down of Exxon's 240,000 bpd Port Jerome-Gravenchon oil refinery and Notre Dame de Gravenchon (NDG) petrochemical site in France on Sept. 20 before spreading to Fos-Sur-Mer 24 hours later.
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A strike at TotalEnergies' French refineries has been reconducted across all sites after the government warned it would requisition staff at some petrol depots to secure supplies following weeks-long strikes, French media report on Wednesday, citing the hardline CGT union, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Strikers also reconducted the movement at Exxon Mobil's Port Jerome refinery despite the government threat to requisition staff at depots run by Exxon's Esso France unit, France Info and BFM TV said, also citing the CGT union.

We remind, the Flemish government recently awarded TotalEnergies the contract to install 1,500 electric vehicle charging points in Antwerp. In the heart of Europe and in Belgium's most populous city, the company is reinforcing its commitment to offering and developing sustainable mobility, with the aim of becoming Belgium's leading company in the public charging market by 2024.

TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity. Our more than 100,000 employees are committed to energy that is ever more affordable, cleaner, more reliable and accessible to as many people as possible.
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Specialty chemicals company LANXESS has selected Emerso, a global software and technology leader, as a Global Alliance Partner for automation technology, enhancing its existing long-standing relationship, said the company.

By upgrading its control and safety systems, and digitally transforming its production facilities, LANXESS aims to optimize operational performance and support sustainability targets. The companies have signed an initial five-year global agreement. Emerson will help drive the adoption of advanced automation technologies and enable more efficient project implementation that will allow LANXESS to achieve shorter time-to-market for new products.

We are pleased to expand our collaboration with Emerson and work more closely to develop digital automation solutions that help improve operational performance. Emerson’s automation solutions will support us on our growth path and further drive the digital transformation of production at LANXESS," said Marcel Beermann, head of global procurement and logistics at LANXESS.

The agreement will be supplemented by joint projects to develop and implement applications and analytics software to identify opportunities for increased efficiency and performance, while also delivering on sustainability goals.

We remind, on 31st May 2022, Advent and LANXESS announced the joint, Advent controlled, acquisition of DSM Engineering Materials, alongside its combination with LANXESS High-Performance Materials (subject to competition clearance), to establish a leading global engineering materials company with sales of around EUR 3 bn.

LANXESS is a leading specialty chemicals company with sales of EUR 6.1 billion in 2021. The company currently has about 13,200 employees in 33 countries. The core business of LANXESS is the development, manufacturing and marketing of chemical intermediates, additives and consumer protection products.
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