Tesco to launch recycled plastic trays for fresh fish products

Tesco to launch recycled plastic trays for fresh fish products

UK-based supermarket chain Tesco has revealed plans to package its fresh fish in trays made using recycled plastic waste, said Packaging-gateway.

From next week, the retailer will introduce trays with at least 30% recycled coastal plastic content for its fresh fish lines, including Salmon, Haddock, Cod and Sea Bass. The plastic waste consists of polypropylene, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and other types of plastic.

It is collected from beaches, coastlines and coastal communities within 10km of the Mediterranean Sea. The move is expected to reduce Tesco‘s use of virgin plastic in its packaging while removing around 500t of plastic from the environment a year.

Tesco quality director Sarah Bradbury said: “Where we can, we are reducing the amount of new plastic we use in our business. “Re-using coastal plastic in our fish packaging is one way we can do that and at the same time keep it out of the oceans.”

Tesco said its collection and processing of plastic waste is certified by non-profit organisation Keep Sea Blue and undertaken with full transparency and traceability. The retailer sorts PET from the plastic recovered by collectors before recycling it into food-grade packaging materials.

To ensure materials can be traced, it uses a customised blockchain platform powered by Oracle Blockchain technology. Keep Sea Blue founder Lefteris Bastakis said: “Mismanaged plastic waste can only be solved by many partners working together.

“We are glad that Tesco is making a meaningful and active contribution to this programme towards protecting the Mediterranean Sea from plastic pollution and building a more sustainable future.” In September last year, Tesco began trialling the sale of cardboard box-free toothpaste at its UK stores.

The trial has involved major toothpaste brands such as Colgate, Oral B, Sensodyne, Aquafresh and Corsadyl. It is expected to eliminate 680t of cardboard from Tesco’s operations a year.

We remind, Tesco has announced it will start collecting flexible plastics packaging at all of its large stores nationwide after a successful trial earlier in the year. The supermarket first trialled in-store collections for soft and flexible plastics at ten stores in 2020, during which customers returned more than ten times the expected amount of plastic.
Then, this March, Tesco began adding the recycling points to 171 stores across Wales and the South West of England.

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New innovations for rigid medical packaging spring from collaboration between Eastman and Exolon Group

New innovations for rigid medical packaging spring from collaboration between Eastman and Exolon Group

Specialty materials provider Eastman and Exolon Group have started a collaboration for the extrusion of solid sheet materials based on Eastman’s healthcare copolyester resins, said Nspackaging.

Made using Eastar 6763, Vivak Med answers the increasing demand for thermoplastic solid sheet products and meets ISO 10993/USP Class VI biocompatibility requirements.

Vivak Med heavy gauge sheet for rigid medical packaging from the Exolon Group is extruded using Eastar 6763. The product is available in thicknesses from 0.6 to 8 millimeters.

“Eastar 6763 has been the standard for decades in rigid medical packaging applications,” says Michael Burkardt, Eastman’s business development manager, specialty plastics. “For Eastman, it is crucial to team up with renowned partners like Exolon Group, who have the industry experience and expertise needed to deliver superior value to their customers."

“With this collaboration and the development of Vivak Med as an expansion of our Vivak portfolio, we’re proving our commitment to innovation and our desire to enter new markets,” says Wim Van Eynde, head of product management at Exolon Group. “The medical packaging industry will now have access to thicker and wider sheet material than ever before. Eastman medical-grade materials offer several advantages such as reduced material usage and freedom from substances of concern compared to other materials like high-impact polystyrene. We’re very excited about the possibilities of Vivak Med."

As per MRC, US-based Eastman aims to light a fire under the ecosystem for collecting hard-to-recycle polyester waste with USD2bn in new investments for plastics recycling projects in the US and France.

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Holiferm and Sasol Chemicals expand collaboration to develop and market sustainable surfactants

Holiferm and Sasol Chemicals expand collaboration to develop and market sustainable surfactants

Holiferm Limited and Sasol Chemicals, a business unit of Sasol Ltd., announced a collaboration to produce and market rhamnolipids and mannosylerythritol lipids (MELs), said the company.

This collaboration expands the partnership announced in March 2022 between the two companies to develop and commercialise another biosurfactant product, sophorolipids. The partnership will use Holiferm’s proprietary technology to develop the fermentation-derived biosurfactants. Sasol and Holiferm will develop and commercialise formulations and applications for the new molecules.

Biosurfactants use natural materials to produce surfactants, which are key ingredients in detergents, cleaning products and personal care products. Sophorolipids, rhamnolipids and MELs are all glycolipids made through fermentation, using yeast or bacteria to convert vegetable oils and/or sugars into final product. The Holiferm process offers an extensive reduction in carbon footprint compared with conventional surfactants.

“The imminent commercial launch of our second and third products validates Holiferm’s process to develop process technologies to produce chemicals from natural raw materials and enable their broad commercialisation,” said Vicky De Groof, Chief Technical Officer of Holiferm. “It is also a testament to the exceptional work of the laboratory team."

“By expanding our product portfolio from sophorolipids to include rhamnolipids and MELs, we aim to provide our customers a platform of solutions based solely on biosurfactants,” said Silke Hoppe, Vice President of Essential Care Chemicals for Sasol Chemicals. “Their carbon footprint as well as their mildness and high performance places these products in a leading position in today’s biosurfactant market.

Since March 2022, Sasol and Holiferm have collaborated on research and development into accelerating innovation to help meet the growing demand for sustainable solutions in primary surfactants. This has now been expanded to include developing processes to manufacture rhamnolipids and MELs. The companies’ joint aspiration is to prepare for testing at pilot plant scale, before they begin a full manufacturing process at Holiferm’s Wallasey plant.

We remind, Sasol announced that its world-scale U.S. ethane cracker has reached beneficial operation on 27 August 2019. Sasol’s new cracker, the heart of its Lake Charles Chemicals Project (LCCP), is the third and most significant of the seven LCCP facilities to come online and will provide feedstock to six new derivative units at Sasol’s Lake Charles multi-asset site.

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Azelis strengthens its presence in Israel through the acquisition of Lidorr Elements

Azelis strengthens its presence in Israel through the acquisition of Lidorr Elements

Azelis, a leading global innovation service provider in the specialty chemicals and food ingredients industry, announces that it has signed an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Lidorr Elements (‘Lidorr’), one of Israel's leading specialty chemical distributors in crop-protection, industrial materials, and care & nutrition, said the company.

The acquisition expands Azelis’ footprint in Israel, further building on its growing network in the region following the acquisition of Orokia in 2020. Lidorr’s wide portfolio of hundreds of products significantly strengthens Azelis’ lateral value chain in the Agricultural & Environmental Solutions as well as in Advanced Materials & Additives market segments.

Lidorr was founded in 1970 by Zvi Lidorr and is managed to this day by his son and daughter, Ami Lidor and Vered Lidor-Mary. Headquartered in the Ramat Hasharon, a suburb of Tel Aviv, the company also has a logistics and laboratory facility in Beit Shemesh in the south of the country. With this acquisition, Azelis significantly strengthens its presence and expertise with a team of 90 employees, including 35 technical sales experts, serving over 400 customers in Israel, among which are Israel's top manufacturers and retailers.

We remind, Azelis, a leading global innovation service provider in the specialty chemicals and food ingredients industry, announced a new distribution agreement with Sun Chemical, a global leader in inks, coatings, pigments, and advanced materials. Effective from January 1st, 2023, this new mandate allows Azelis to strengthen its portfolio of pigment products in the coatings, adhesives, sealants, elastomers (CASE) and advanced materials & additives (AM&A) markets in France and Benelux. The agreement includes the pigment portfolio that Sun Chemical acquired from BASF in 2021.

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Eni and Sonatrach sign strategic agreements to accelerate emissions reduction and strengthen energy security

Eni and Sonatrach sign strategic agreements to accelerate emissions reduction and strengthen energy security

Eni CEO, Claudio Descalzi, and the CEO of Sonatrach, Toufik Hakkar, signed in Algiers two agreements which outline future joint projects on energy supply, energy transition and decarbonisation, said the company.

The agreements were signed in the presence of the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and the President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Through these agreements, Eni and Sonatrach will identify opportunities for the reduction of greenhouse gas and methane gas emissions and will define energy efficiency initiatives, renewable energy developments, green hydrogen projects and carbon dioxide capture and storage projects, to support energy security and at the same time a sustainable energy transition. In addition, the companies will conduct studies to identify possible measures to improve Algeria's energy export capacity to Europe.

Eni CEO Claudio Descalzi commented: “These agreements bear witness to our commitment to ensuring Italy's security of supply while at the same time pursuing our decarbonisation objectives. The partnership between Italy and Algeria gets stronger today, and Algeria's key role as one of Europe's main energy suppliers is confirmed”.

Eni has been present in Algeria since 1981. With an equity production of 100,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, Eni is the main international company in the country.

We remind, Eni believes it will be able to completely replace Russian gas imports by 2025 as uncertainty over Moscow's energy supplies to Europe forces countries to seek alternative sources. After signing new gas supply agreements with Algeria, Egypt and Congo earlier this year, Eni sees additional opportunities arising in other countries including Libya, Angola, Mozambique, and Indonesia, as well as in its home country.

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