Eastman inks deal to supply PepsiCo with chemically recycled PET

MOSCOW (MRC) -- Eastman Chemical Co. has signed a deal to supply beverage giant PepsiCo Inc. from its proposed third chemical recycling plant, said Sustainableplastics.

"We are excited to have reached a definitive agreement with PepsiCo for our third planned molecular recycling facility, demonstrating our leadership position to create significant value in the circular economy," Eastman Chairman and CEO Mark Costa said in an Oct. 27 earnings release.

Eastman's first chemical recycling plant is set to open early next year in Kingsport, Tenn., where the firm is based. A second plant will open in Normandy, France, in 2025. Interzero Plastics Recycling of Germany will supply the French plant with PET household packaging waste as feedstock.

Eastman has not announced the location of the third chemical recycling plant, although the company has approached school district officials in Texas City, Texas, regarding the potential of tax breaks. In the third quarter, Eastman's sales roughly were flat at USD2.7 billion vs. the year-ago period. Net earnings fell almost 18 percent to USD301 million in the same comparison.

Sales for the quarter in Eastman's Advanced Materials unit — including Tritan-brand copolyester — were up 15 percent to USD888 million, with earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) up almost 5 percent to USD131 million.

On Wall Street, Eastman's per-share price began the year around USD122 but closed near USD77 on Oct. 31 for a decline of almost 40 percent so far in 2022. Eastman employs 14,000 worldwide and posted sales of USD10.5 billion in 2021.

As per MRC, Eastman announced a planned increase of its Therminol 66 heat transfer fluid manufacturing capacity in Anniston, USA. The plant expansion is expected to be complete in 2024. With the expansion of its capacity for Therminol 66, Eastman increases its production volume for this heat transfer fluid in the US by 50?%. The expansion of the company’s plant in Annistion, USA, is expected to be completed in 2024.

Founded in 1920, Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Last year in December, Dutch recycling company Umincorp announced plans to build a new recycling plant in Rotterdam, specifically aimed at the production of high-quality rPET, said Sustainableplastics.

Now, not quite a year later, the company has officially opened its new facility in an existing warehouse in the Merwe-Vierhavens in Rotterdam. Here, the entire process, from sortation, washing and shredding into flakes through granulation can take place.

Umincorp already operates a facility in Amsterdam, PRA, that processes industrial and household plastic waste into high-grade recyclate, achieving high levels of purity thanks to, among others, its proprietary and patented Magnetic Density Separation (MDS) process. MDS involves separating plastics in the waste stream using a magnetic fluid, and approach that the company says doubles the recovery rate compared to traditional sorting and recycling technologies, at lower cost and with higher accuracy.

The two facilities will collaborate, said Jaap Vandehoek, CEO and co-founder of Umincorp. “Being able to handle a number of process steps in our own factory, also makes us more flexible. For instance, we accept both material produced by our Amsterdam plant and material produced by other recyclers. We have the capability in house to transform the collected and mixed plastic waste into sorted recyclate that we can supply directly to packaging producers or brand owners. In this way, we strongly reduce the impact of plastic packaging on the environment. Compared to chemical recycling, the emissions are about 80 percent lower, while the difference with the production of new, virgin plastic is even greater,” he said.

The choice of location was determined by various factors, including energy supply. Vandehoek shared that the new facility runs entirely on wind energy. “This fits perfectly with our philosophy of choosing to reuse an existing building instead of opting for new construction.”

The company has ambitious plans for the future. “We are looking at the possibility of building another plant like the one we operate in Amsterdam here in the Rotterdam area,” said Vandehoek. However, he envisions a plant that is twice the size of the Amsterdam facility and able to process a wider range of plastics. “This would enable us to process an even larger volume of plastic waste into new consumer products - in an environmentally friendly way,” he concluded.

We remind, packaging maker Amcor plc is tripling the company's recycled content target, said Sustainableplastics.
The company, in conjunction with the release of a new sustainability report, revealed Nov. 17 the new goal is 30 percent — up from the previous 10 percent — by 2030.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- ExxonMobil, PT Indomobil Prima Energi (IPE), and chemical recycling pioneer Plastic Energy, signed a memorandum of understanding to assess the potential for large-scale implementation of chemical recycling technology in Indonesia, said Sustainableplastics.

Some 100,000 metric tons capacity per year are envisioned, according to the partners. The first phase is projected to be completed in 2025. The companies will also look at improving the plastic waste collection and sorting systems in the country.

PT Indomobil Prima Energi is an Indonesian-based Indomobil Group subsidiary. It operates numerous distributorships, plant facilities, as well as thousands of retail fuel stations. By leveraging IPE’s network and access to local communities, IPE aims to make a difference through the implementation of chemical plastic recycling technology in Indonesia.

“Indomobil Prima Energi is committed in realising a circular economy to create a better sustainable future,” said Gerry Kertowidjojo, president director of IPE. “This initiative is a collective notion that calls for action and synergy from all stakeholders to play a role as part of a responsible society.”

“Plastics help to raise living standards around the world, including in Indonesia, given their critical use in agriculture, food packaging, medical equipment and more,” said Dave Andrew, vice president of new market development at ExxonMobil.

“Leveraging new technologies and the expertise of our combined organisations, we can accelerate a circular economy for plastics in the region, so that more plastics can be turned into new products instead of ending up in the environment.”

ExxonMobil plans to build approximately 500,000 metric tons of chemical recycling capacity at its integrated manufacturing facilities around the world by year-end 2026, including in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia Pacific. At its facility in Baytown, Texas, ExxonMobil has processed more than 6,700 metric tons of plastic waste since startup up in 2021 and is on track to complete large-scale expansion of the facility by the end of this year. ExxonMobil has also signed a memorandum of understanding for chemical recycling in Malaysia and is collaborating with Plastic Energy on an advanced recycling plant in France.

Plastic Energy already has two commercial recycling plants in Spain, which use its patented TAC process to convert plastics into a feedstock called Tacoil, which can then be used to create virgin-quality plastics. Plastic Energy has several plants under construction in Europe, including a 25,000 metric ton capacity plant in France and an offtake collaboration agreement with ExxonMobil, and an MoU for a new advanced recycling project in Malaysia.

“Indonesia and the Asia Pacific region is an area of the world that is greatly impacted by plastic waste,” said Carlos Monreal, founder and CEO of Plastic Energy. “With this MoU with ExxonMobil and Indomobil Prima Energi, we aim to utilize our unique and patented advanced recycling technology to provide a solution for recycling plastic waste in Indonesia, helping to curb plastic waste and promote a more circular economy for plastics.”

We remind, ExxonMobil and Pertamina, the state-owned energy company for Indonesia, have signed a Heads of Agreement at the G20 Summit in Bali to further progress their previously announced regional carbon capture and storage hub for domestic and international CO2.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Japan’s Asahi Kasei is set to start the sale of sustainable synthetic rubber materials after the company’s Synthetic Rubber Division earned the internationally recognised ISCC Plus certification in October, said Sustainableplastics.

The company announced it would be marketing its ISCC Plus-certified Tufdene-branded solution-polymerised styrene-butadiene rubber (SSBR) and Asadene butadiene rubber starting in November. Both products are made using the mass-balance approach at Asahi Kasei Synthetic Rubber Singapore Pte. Ltd. and the Synthetic Rubber Plant of Asahi Kasei's Kawasaki Works.

Produced from feedstock derived from biomass and plastic waste along with other raw material, these materials offer opportunities for manufacturers to reduce CO2 emissions without compromising on quality: Asahi Kasei has already gained a strong reputation for its high-performance grades of S-SBR that are optimal for eco-friendly tires with excellent fuel efficiency and wear resistance characteristics.

In response to market demand for sustainable solutions, the company also plans to manufacture and sell mass-balanced butadiene rubber for applications other than tires, it said.

The mass balance procedure is an accepted and certified protocol that documents and tracks recycled content through complex manufacturing systems. It's used when sustainable inputs like biomass or recycled plastic are mixed with traditional inputs like fossil-fuel-based feedstock. It allocates the proportion of sustainable raw materials to certain products using a chain- of-custody protocol. The ISCC Plus certification ensures that biomass, recycled materials and sustainable feedstock are appropriately managed under the mass-balance method throughout the supply chain including manufacturing processes.

We remind, Asahi Kasei Plastics Singapore Pte Ltd (APS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Asahi Kasei, acquired the widely recognized international certification ISCC PLUS for its polyphenylene ether (PPE) as a sustainable product on September 19, 2022. Production of PPE using biomass-derived raw material is scheduled to begin in January 2023.

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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Packaging maker Amcor plc is tripling the company's recycled content target, said Sustainableplastics.

The company, in conjunction with the release of a new sustainability report, revealed Nov. 17 the new goal is 30 percent — up from the previous 10 percent — by 2030.

"In ramping up our targets for recycled content, we're helping radically scale the amount of recycled content coming into the market to create a circular economy for packaging," said David Clark, vice president of sustainability at Melbourne-based Amcor, in a statement.

"We do this by not only making sure that the packaging produced is designed to be recycled, but also by boosting infrastructure and consumer awareness to ensure content gets recycled and stays in the economy," he said.

Amcor also reported more than doubling the amount of post-consumer material purchased in recent years. The company purchased 171,000 tons during fiscal year 2022, up from 61,000 tons in fiscal year 2019.

Amcor purchased a total of 3.56 million tons of raw materials in fiscal year 2022. Of that total, 76 percent consisted of polymers, 13 percent fibers, 7 percent liquids and 6 percent metals, according to the sustainability report. The company's sales mix, meanwhile, was 76 percent polymers, 14 percent metals and 10 percent fibers.

Along with using more recycled content, the company has pledged to make all products recyclable, reusable or compostable by 2025. A total of 74 percent of Amcor's production by weight already is designed to be recycled, the company said.

Amcor's network of operations include 220 locations in 43 countries. The firm, with $15 billion in annual sales, employs 44,000 around the world.

CEO Ron Delia, in the sustainability report, called recycled content move "a significant increase beyond our previous target of 10 percent by 2025 and will play a critical role in our responsible packaging strategy."

We remind, Amcor, a global leader in developing and producing responsible packaging solutions, released its first Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosure (TCFD) report, which includes the results Amcor’s climate scenario analysis exercise, along with information about the company’s climate governance structure, risk management approach and performance metrics.

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