North American recycler, Rumpke Waste & Recycling (Rumpke) and Eastman, announced a partnership to help address the global plastic waste crisis. Later this year, Rumpke will begin collecting and sorting hard-to-recycle and colored PET packaging waste. Into Virgin Quality Polyesters with Molecular Recycling Technology These materials are largely unaddressed in today’s recycling ecosystem. Rumpke will provide […]

A team of scientists from NTU Singapore has developed an artificial ‘worm gut’ to break down plastics. This offers hope for a nature-inspired method to tackle the global plastic pollution problem. Overcame the Slow Feeding Rate and Worm Maintenance By feeding worms with plastics and cultivating microbes found in their guts, researchers have demonstrated a

Photocentric launches a new photopolymer HighTemp DL401. It is developed in collaboration with renowned beta users. It is company’s first genuine alternative to metal tooling. Simulates Strength and Stiffness of Glass-filled Nylon 6 HighTemp DL401 has extremely high temperature resistance. It exhibits very high accuracy even in large parts, gives optimal strength and elongation under compression and

At A.J. Plast, Southeast Asia’s film manufacturer successfully commissions a 10.5m BOPET line at their new factory in Pin Thong, Thailand. This comes shortly after the start-up of a 10.4m BOPP line. Lowest Energy Consumption with an Output of 6,000kg/h This new BOPET line includes the latest features for lowest energy consumption. Its state-of-the-art technology

New research reveals that nominally identical microplastic model particles from different manufacturers differ in their properties. These particles interact differently with cells. This finding adds new insight to microplastic research since many studies rely on these model particles. This research was carried out by team at the Collaborative Research Centre 1357 – Microplastics at the

Researchers at the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering have developed a “pluripotent plastic.” Like pluripotent stem cells which can give rise to any type of adult cell in the human body, their plastic can take on many final forms. It was described in the journal Science. Temperature Adjustment can Change the Properties

A team led by researchers at the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (WPI-ICReDD), Hokkaido University has developed a method that uses common plastic materials instead of potentially explosive compounds to initiate radical chain reactions. This approach significantly increases the safety of the process while also providing a way to reuse common plastics such

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed a strain of bacteria that can turn plastic waste into a biodegradable spider silk with multiple uses. Their new study marks the first time scientists have used bacteria to transform polyethylene plastic — the kind used in many single-use items — into a high-value protein product. That product,

Toray Industries, Inc., announced that it has created a plastic film almost as strong as stainless steel, with a maximum tensile strength of 1,200 megapascals. The material also offers the lightness, insulation, flexibility, and other benefits of polymers. Overcame Processing Challenges by Creating Nanostructure Ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) is an engineering plastic. Its molecular

In the project ULTRADREAM (funded by TKI-AF), Wageningen Food & Biobased Research (WFBR) is supporting the development of the circular economy by using agricultural side streams and residues for developing novel modified bio-based, renewable polymers, with inherent biodegradation capabilities at their end-of-life. Increasing Biodegradability Using UV-light The WFBR approach is to test the possibilities of

kp (Klöckner Pentaplast) partners with the Keep Sea Blue organization to close the loop on plastic waste through the use of Recycled Coastal Plastics®, a certified post-consumer recycled raw material recovered from within 10 km of the coastline in the Mediterranean basin. Preventing Plastic Waste from Ending up in Marine Environments In 2023, kp used

Chemical recycling of widely used vinyl polymers (VPs) is one of the key technologies required for realizing a sustainable society. In this regard, a team of researchers from Shinshu University have recently reported a new chemical process that facilitates the depolymerization of cyclic styrene-based VPs, resulting in the recovery of a monomer precursor. This highly