Perstorp representing Swedish industry in meeting with EU environment ministers

Europe's environment ministers, the EU Commission and important industry representatives from across Europe gather in Sweden to discuss how to deal with climate change, said the company.

Perstorp, an industry leader with the ambition to become Finite Material Neutral, represents Swedish industry at the meeting.

The chemical industry is a transformational engine that enables sustainable solutions for the society as a whole, and Perstorp is a driving force in the industry to move away from fossil dependence and enable sustainable transformation throughout value chains.

Perstorp’s message at the EU ministers’ meeting today is clear: Europe is an important but limited market and for European industry to thrive and transform, the EU must unleash the innovation potential of its industry sector, through an efficient policy framework. Perstorp’s presence at the meeting is an opportunity to identify bottlenecks and sharpen EU policy for a better and faster transition to a fossil free economy with increased competitiveness.

We remind, more than 120 European packaging industry associations issued a joint letter urging co-legislators to preserve the internal market legal basis of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation in its entirety, as the best way to achieve the environmental and economic objectives of the proposal. The internal market legal basis addresses the differences among the various national rules on the management of packaging and packaging waste and resulting internal market barriers, while providing a high level of environmental protection.

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UK-based protective packaging distributor Macfarlane Packaging has inaugurated its second packaging Innovation Lab at its flagship Northwest Regional Distribution Centre in Heywood, near Manchester in England, said Nspackaging.

Built with an investment of GDP1.3m (USD1.61m), the 5,000ft? customer facility will create solutions that overcome the demanding packaging challenges. The Innovation Lab will also enable the company to test its new packaging solutions to overcome the challenges of supply chain handling.

Macfarlane Packaging’s design head Richard Garratt said: “Ongoing investment in our Innovation Labs allows us to push forward with the latest tools and technology to deliver creative solutions that reduce cost, improve sustainability and enhance customer experience.

“The new centre offers market-leading testing capability, including technical offerings with ISTA testing, load containment and climatic conditioning, all accessible remotely through an advanced video conferencing system that connects our UK and European operations together."

According to the protective packaging distributor, the Manchester site has a Packaging Optimiser software to lower the total cost and measure the CO2 equivalent impact of packaging. The lab has a network handling simulator that evaluates packaging solutions as per the International Safe Transport Association standards.

It also includes an atmospheric conditioning chamber that offers precise temperature and humidity testing for various uses. Additionally, the Innovation Lab supports full design, digital print and Computer Assisted Design (CAD) prototyping for making same-day packaging samples.

Other features include stretch wrapping and pallet load containment testing, a packaging automation showroom for new packaging machinery and a HoloLens mixed reality headset and augmented reality design tools.

Macfarlane Packaging national account director Rachel Fellows said: “Our Northwest Innovation Lab is uniquely equipped to help us do that and I am confident that it will be an asset for our customers – existing and new – as we work together to ensure their products are effectively and efficiently protected on their route to market."

The company’s Innovation Lab in Heywood builds on the success of its first facility located in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire. The first facility was opened in 2016.

We remind, more than 120 European packaging industry associations issued a joint letter urging co-legislators to preserve the internal market legal basis of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation in its entirety, as the best way to achieve the environmental and economic objectives of the proposal. The internal market legal basis addresses the differences among the various national rules on the management of packaging and packaging waste and resulting internal market barriers, while providing a high level of environmental protection.

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Puracy, the leading plant-based household cleaning and personal care brand, announces the launch of its Clean Can and Clean Can Starter Kit, the brand’s new sustainably-focused product that completely eliminates single-use plastic, said Nspackaging.

Puracy’s Clean Can utilizes the simplicity of a standard beverage can in a patent-pending cleaning system. Filled with the same natural, plant-based formula, this mindful innovation is part of Puracy’s larger mission – to create eco-friendly and safe, yet convenient and efficient, products for conscious consumers.

Just in time for Earth Day, Puracy’s product ingenuity addresses common concerns about how the consumer can be more responsible with the products we use. Puracy designed the Clean Can and Starter Kit to provide an affordable, planet-friendly option for shoppers, while also making it even easier to use and store. Unlike anything on the market, Clean Cans are 100% aluminum and infinitely recyclable, making it one of the most convenient refill formats ever designed and setting a new standard for the rest of the industry. Beginning this month, Puracy’s Clean Can and Starter Kit will launch its award-winning Everyday Surface Cleaner formula in refreshing scents like Green Tea and Lime and Organic Lemongrass, priced at USD9.99 for a Starter Kit, including one can cartridge of Surface Cleaner, and $3.99 for additional can cartridges.

“Since the beginning, we’ve been committed to making natural, effective products to clean your world and everything the world throws at it,” said Sean Busch, Co-founder of Puracy. “The Clean Can system is an extension of our dedication to delivering products to customers that don’t create extra effort and also give them the opportunity to make a positive change for our planet.”

Refills and concentrates for household products have surged in popularity, to help reduce single-use plastic; however, many of these options require extra steps, are bothersome to store, and often produce additional messes. Based on consumer insights, Puracy specifically designed the ready-to-use Clean Cans to be a frictionless solution that allows you to get back to cleaning in 10 seconds or less. Simply crack open the can, snap into the system, and you’re ready to go! The simple, yet clever design allows consumers to eliminate single-use products, making a greater impact on our planet as a whole. This is just the beginning, follow along as Puracy begins to roll out Clean Cans for its full suite of offerings.

We remind, more than 120 European packaging industry associations issued a joint letter urging co-legislators to preserve the internal market legal basis of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation in its entirety, as the best way to achieve the environmental and economic objectives of the proposal. The internal market legal basis addresses the differences among the various national rules on the management of packaging and packaging waste and resulting internal market barriers, while providing a high level of environmental protection.

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North American chemical railcar traffic rose 0.6% year on year to 46,491 loadings for the week ended 15 April, marking a first increase after six straight weekly declines, according to the latest freight rail data from Association of American Railroads.

For the first 15 weeks of 2023 ended 15 April, North American chemical rail traffic was down 3.6% year on year to 681,324, with US traffic down 6.6%, to 483,907 loadings.

In the US, chemical railcar loadings represent about 20% of chemical transportation by tonnage, with trucks, barges and pipelines carrying the rest. In Canada, chemical producers rely on rail to ship more than 70% of their products, with some exclusively using rail.

We remind, North American chemical railcar traffic fell for a sixth straight week, with loadings for the week ended 8 April down 9.3% year on year to 44,298, driven by a 10.3% decline in the US. For the first 14 weeks of 2023 ended 8 April, North American chemical rail traffic was down 3.9% year on year to 634,833 railcar loadings, with US traffic down 7.0%, to 450,701 loadings.

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This week, it’s worth taking the time to highlight the progress that’s been made in recent years to create a more sustainable world, and to reflect on the challenges that still lie ahead, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

The reality is that climate change poses a very real threat to life as we know it, and we must all work together if we hope to address it. For asset-intensive industries, one of the most powerful steps in addressing that threat is the energy transition – shifting the energy system away from fossil fuels and toward renewable power sources.

While it’s far from an overnight process, the good news is that progress is clearly being made. Nearly one third of all electricity today comes from renewable sources, billions are being invested in new renewable projects around the globe and a growing number of companies are turning to electrification with renewable power to help reduce their carbon footprint, to cite just a few examples. Though challenges still exist, it’s increasingly clear going forward that technology and innovation will play a key role in helping to overcome them.

Simply by implementing technologies that already exist, many asset-intensive industries are seeing significant reduction in their greenhouse gas emissions. One example comes in the form of easy-to-implement sustainability models. When combined with industrial optimization software, those models can help companies jumpstart their progress across a host of sustainability targets, from emissions management to the use of renewable energy and more. Those models, however, are just the start.

To help drive sustainability efforts across specific focus areas, AspenTech has also laid out a series of sustainability pathways, ranging from well-understood approaches like energy efficiency and emissions reduction to emerging technologies like carbon capture and renewable energy to future pathways, including the use of CO2 as feedstock and advanced plastics recycling.

Those pathways, however, also represent targets for innovation. Using advanced modeling and simulation, companies can identify the best, most economic and most scalable processes for the production of green hydrogen or carbon capture utilization and storage before making expensive capital investments.

And once those innovative assets are up and running, digitalization solutions exist that can help companies make faster, better-informed operational decisions as the work to curb emissions.

Real-time decision-support software, built using operational insights technology, can make it easy for companies across asset-intensive industries to bring together data from across the enterprise, visualize and analyze it and take action on items that have the most impact on emissions and waste reduction.

Those innovations, however, don’t exist in a vacuum. For “the energy transition to happen fast enough to truly have an impact at the scale and timeline that’s required sustainability technology to truly have an impact on the global scale that’s required, collaboration and co-innovation between industry and digital technology innovators will be critical.

While the notion of collaboration between digital solution providers and customers has long been an established part of business, increasingly companies are building partner ecosystems to accelerate projects around the world or co-innovate with start-ups as they develop new sustainability technology. Already, some companies are using technology to overcome significant challenges in their industries.

We remind, Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) recently launched a project to process 10 percent of all used cooking oil in India as part of an effort to produce greener fuels. The problem, however, was that different oils had different chemical properties, some of which created challenges to the way refineries operate.

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