Green Practices

Update: The California state senate sent the proposed bag ban to defeat last night by a vote of 20-14, according to the Sacramento Bee.

The deal has Cereplast starting next month to begin the first shipments for what it says is a "multi-million dollar contract" which will offer European plastics processors access to the supplier's Compostable 3000 film grade through it new European partner, RI.ME. Masterbatch.

Two plastics processors with plenty of "green cred" filed a joint petition to stop construction of an offshore wind energy facility. The clash in Rhode Island has made allies of the two processors, Toray Plastics and PolyTop, as well as a local environmental group, the Rhode Island chapter of the Conservation Law Foundation, which also has filed an appeal to halt building of the new site.

Recycled plastics resin manufacturer MVR (Boca Raton, FL) cut the ribbon on its new $9.2 million investment production plant in Frankfort, KY, with an assist from Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and Frankfort Mayor Gippy Graham. The plant, which will collect and process scrap plastics, converting it into new, saleable pellets, will create 360 jobs and have an annual capacity of around 90 million lb.

Compounder and distributor PolyOne (Cleveland, OH) can now further help processors looking to source certified compostable materials for products, announcing that its OnColor and OnCap BIO masterbatches have been granted OK Compost certification by AIB Vinçotte (Brussels), reportedly marking the first time this has been awarded to a full range of colorants and additives.

Dow Chemical Co. (Midland, MI) is launching a line of polyolefin-based encapsulant films for photovoltaic (PV) modules, after adding a new production line at its Findlay, OH manufacturing plant for the new product in response to growing demand for PV specialty films.

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) now offers a corn-derived chemical that it says is a potential alternative to the petroleum-based bisphenol A (BPA) in plastics and other applications. Isosorbide, which will be sold under ADM's line of Evolution Chemicals, can be marketed as "safe and renewable," according to ADM. BPA has come under consumer attack, retail bans, and regulatory examination for its alleged health impacts and "estrogen-mimicking" activity.

Products associated with three of the world's most recognizable brand names soon will be packaged into high-density polyethylene based on ethylene derived from sugarcane. Procter & Gamble will introduce the new packaging starting in 2011.

Located down in a valley so low, but reaching great heights with an aggressive marketing and operational plan, alesco is an old-school film processor and converter highly attuned to a new eco-conscious age.

Processors from around the world are starting to take an interest in keratin resin, derived from poultry feathers. Less dense than polyolefins, with a modulus of about 3-5 GPa and stress-to-break of 200-500 MPa, the material, a thermoplastic and biodegradable, can be molded neat or blended with standard thermoplastics to create "green" compounds.