Skip to main content
Sister Publication Links
  • Sustainable Plastics
  • Plastics News China
  • Rubber & Plastics News
logo-pn-color
Subscribe
  • Login
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Processor News
    • Suppliers
    • More News
    • End Markets
    • FYI Charts
    • LSR World
    • Multimedia
    • NPE2021
    • K Show
    • ENGEL Sponsored Content
    • Special Reports
    • Top materials of injection molders
      Recycled PET use by product category
      US PET, flexible packaging desintations
      Global fluropolymers additives market: CAGR
    • Exhibitors back NPE cancellation: ‘We couldn't take that risk'
      NPE2021 canceled as in-person event
      NPE reviews its options as pandemic prompts exhibitor to exit
      Machine builders meet pressing needs for plastic in 2020
    • Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Tailored maintenance for injection molding machines and robots
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Improve maintenance efficiency with e-connect.monitor
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Maximum precision for lowest shot weights
      Sponsored By ENGEL Machinery
      Even more cost effectiveness for small precision parts
    • Injection Molding
    • Blow Molding
    • Film & Sheet
    • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
    • Rotomolding
    • Thermoforming
    • Recycling
    • Machinery
    • Materials
    • Molds/Tooling
    • Product news
    • Design
    • What Keeps You Up At Night
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Sustainability
    • Public Policy
    • Material Insights Videos
    • Numbers that Matter
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Automotive
    • Packaging
    • Medical
    • Consumer Products
    • Construction
    • Videos
    • Galleries
    • Podcasts
    • CEO Issue
    • Best Places to Work
    • Processor of the Year
    • Rising Stars
    • Women Breaking the Mold
  • Opinion
    • The Plastics Blog
    • Kickstart
    • Heavy Metal
    • One Good Resin
    • BRICS and Plastics
    • All Things Data
    • Viewpoint
    • Perspective
    • Mailbag
    • Watching, and hoping, for progress in 2021
      COVID-19 stories dominate 2020 headlines
      Plastic Globes ask: Was there a lighter side in 2020?
      Compounders write a business survival story in 2020
    • Kickstart: Another push to reduce plastic packaging
      Kickstart: People bought a lot of refrigerators in 2020
      Kickstart: RVs gain ground as 'tailor-made' social distance vacation option
      Kickstart: Building a foam platform
    • Heavy Metal: Coronavirus edition, plus the work of working from home
      Don't put off succession planning
      What's a good gift for your cobot? Batteries?
      Here's some big ideas to mull over the holidays
    • Chase expands giving campaign in 2020
      McDivitt will showcase Ascend's COVID-19 work on CNBC's Mad Money
      Move over, Plastic Man: Here comes Plastic Woman
      Star in spotlight with West Virginia philanthropy award
    • The business case for producer responsibility
      Think divided government stalls plastics legislation? Think again
      ACC, NAM eye economic priorities in Biden presidency
      As scrap exports drop, will plastics recycling rate fall?
    • Just how big is thermoforming in North America?
      Changing names for compounders embracing corporate branding
      Diversity the key to outperforming the market
      A timeline of the industry's COVID response
    • Watching, and hoping, for progress in 2021
      The business case for producer responsibility
      Compounders write a business survival story in 2020
      Think divided government stalls plastics legislation? Think again
    • Plastics industry business owners: Listen to your future workforce
      Perspective: ‘Fake news' of a different sort?
      Perspective: Making products in the USA is good for the planet
      Perspective: Reflections on a decade of global industry collaboration on marine litter
    • Modernizing recycling infrastructure will benefit businesses as well as the environment
      Mailbag: Oil-plastics connection is overstated
      Mailbag: Plastics recycling not cost-effective
      Mailbag: Price increases hurting North American PE buyers
  • Shop Floor
    • Blending
    • Compounding
    • Drying
    • Injection Molding
    • Purging
    • Robotics
    • Size Reduction
    • Structural Foam
    • Tooling
    • Training
    • Maintenance can ensure efficient blender operation
      Dosing: Perfect for adding color
      Blending vs dosing: What you need to know
      Going low or high: Comparing volume
    • Colors and custom compounds
      In the laboratory: Compounding solutions
      Recycling content: Resins going ‘green’
      Compounding: Glass and other fillers
    • Dryer maintenance: Don’t err with air
      Dryers: Options for a shop’s process
      Dryer installation: Going central?
      Resins: Hygroscopic or non-hygroscopic
    • Electric injection molding presses: Efficiency is key
      Hydraulic injection molding machines
      Proper maintenance can prevent downtime
      Hybrid injection molding machines
    • Purging Hot runners: Open or closed methods
      Purging extrusion machinery
      Purging extrusion blow molding machines
      Purging: Chemical, abrasive and non-abrasive
    • Controls, special applications boost production, profitability
      Robot maintenance key for smooth operation
      High-speed robots: A rapid way to increase efficiency
      Robots: Every shape and size
    • Maintenance: Key for efficiency
      Shredders: Plastic in pieces
      Safety first for size reduction
      Granulators: The right fit
    • Structural foam molding: Flexibility for processors
      Video: Structural foam molding
    • Mold inventory: How many molds does a shop have?
      Molds: Innovation
      Mold changeover: Saving time and money
      How molds work
    • Labor: Apprenticeships may provide answer
      Internships: Solving the skills gap in-house
      College training, programs
      Lean Six Sigma: Transforming business operation
  • Events
    • Plastics News Events
    • Industry Events
    • Livestreams/Webinars
    • Ask the Expert
    • Polymer Points Live
    • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
    • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
    • Plastics in Healthcare Library
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Polymer Points Live - August 2020
      Polymer Points Live - December 2020
      Polymer Points Live - September 2020
      Polymer Points Live - January 2021
    • Plastics in Healthcare 2020
    • Plastics News Executive Forum
    • Plastics in Automotive
    • Plastics News Caps & Closures
    • Plastics in Healthcare
    • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
  • Resin Prices
    • All Resins
    • Commodity TPs
    • High Temp TPs
    • ETPs
    • Thermosets
    • Recycled Plastics
    • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
    • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
    • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
    • Historic Thermosets
    • Historic Recycled Plastics
  • Rankings
    • Injection Molders
    • Blow Molders
    • Film Sheet
    • Thermoformers
    • Pipe Profile Tubing
    • Rotomolders
    • Mold/Toolmakers
    • LSR Processors
    • Recyclers
    • Compounders - List
    • Association - List
    • Plastic Lumber - List
    • All
  • Data Store
  • Directory
  • More+
    • Classifieds
    • Digital Edition
    • Newsletters
    • Sponsored Content
    • Processor of the Year submissions
    • White Papers
    • Sponsored By Mitsubishi
      Innovative new technology from Mitsubishi Engineering-Plastics Corporation helps reduce emission footprints
      Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Sponsored Content By Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Canon Virginia Inc. brings collaboration to the table
      Sponsored By CDS MACHINES
      Facing medical equipment shortages during COVID-19 outbreak?
      Sponsored Content By Canon Virginia, Inc.
      Transform your molding capabilities with the Canon Shuttle Mold System
    • Sponsored By Conexiom
      Use Sales Order Automation to free up time for CSRs to focus on customers, not manual entry
    • Place an Ad
    • Sign up for Early Classified
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. News
September 22, 1997 02:00 AM

RECYCLING NEWS

  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Print

    Reproccesor recovers from $10 million fire

    FLINT, MICH. — American Commodities Inc. is back in business after a severe fire Aug. 27 that caused $10 million in damage.

    The Flint-based reprocessor of automotive thermoplastics started up extrusion equipment at a normal production pace Sept. 8, said Mark Lieberman, chief executive officer.

    By the end of September, the company hopes to be 80 percent operational, and fully operational by the end of the year.

    The fire was contained for the most part to a 65,000-square-foot warehouse area.

    The primary production area with twin-screw extruders, laboratory facilities and maintenance facilities was affected only minimally.

    The company now has temporary, off-site warehouse space.

    In addition to rebuilding the damaged area, the firm plans to add 20,000 square feet of space and a twin-screw extruder, Lieberman said. The firm also is looking at sites for an additional facility.

    American Commodities has annual sales of about $10 million, Lieberman said.

    Guaranteed Plastics relocates, expands

    GLOUCESTER CITY, N.J. — Guaranteed Plastics Inc., a recycled plastics brokerage firm, moved to a new facility earlier this year in Gloucester City.

    ``We used to outsource our warehousing, distribution, trucking and secretarial services,'' owner Theresa Beltley-Fitzgerald said in a news release. But the company wanted more control over those services, she added.

    With an investment of about $30,000, the firm moved from Cherry Hill, N.J., into 80,000 square feet of a 350,000-square-foot, leased building in January. Guaranteed Plastics also has warehouses in 12 states.

    The scrap clearinghouse buys and sells all types and forms of post-industrial plastic, then sells it to injection molders, extruders, compounders and recyclers.

    The company recently hired Linda Sager as vice president of sales. She and Beltley-Fitzgerald worked together at two plastic trading firms. Sager has seven years of experience in the post-industrial plastic trading industry. She will oversee export market development and the purchasing department.

    Guaranteed this year plans to begin grinding and densifying plastic, which may involve purchasing another building, the company said.

    Star Plastics opens plant in W. Virginia

    MILLWOOD, W.VA. — Star Plastics Inc. has opened a 54,000-square-foot plastics recycling plant that will provide value-added services such as size reduction and separation for engineering thermoplastics.

    The plant opened in the first quarter of 1997 and has about 20 employees, but is using only a small part of its capacity, said President Doug Ritchie.

    The Millwood plant is the company's first. He would not say how much the facility cost or detail the firm's ownership.

    The company is hired by other firms to take scrap from resin producers and processors and to perform services such as metal separation and size reduction, Ritchie said.

    Carpet recycling commercially viable

    RICHMOND, VA. — AlliedSignal Polymers, in partnership with DSM Chemicals Ltd., said it is expecting to receive a European patent for nylon carpet recycling.

    With the introduction of depolymerization technology, large-scale recycling of post-consumer carpet is becoming a reality. The European patent will complement a U.S. patent that has been approved and is to be issued this year, according to AlliedSignal. The U.S. patent is for technology for depolymerizing post-consumer nylon 6 carpets, as well as post-consumer nylon 6 automotive parts.

    ``While AlliedSignal has been depolymerizing its internal nylon 6 waste for more than 35 years, post-consumer carpets and automotive parts offer a challenge, due to the presence of other materials used to construct a carpet, as well as dirt deposited during the useful life of the carpet,'' AlliedSignal Polymers President Mark Bulriss said in a news release.

    Carpet recycling begins with material collection. Waste carpet is identifed by resin type using near-infrared technology. Nylon 6 components are depolymerized in the presence of steam. After purification, the recovered materials can be polymerized, producing engineering resins and fibers.

    ``This technology means that recycling post-consumer and post-industrial nylon 6 carpet now has the potential to become commercially viable,'' Bulriss added.

    Nearly 6.3 billion pounds of carpet were made in the United States in 1995, according to AlliedSignal Polymers, a Richmond-based division of AlliedSignal Inc.

    The carpet used about 3 billion pounds of face fiber. The company said 4 billion pounds of carpet were discarded in 1995.

    AlliedSignal is working with several companies to collect nylon 6 carpets.

    Publications outline recycling in Mass.

    CHELSEA, MASS. — The Chelsea Center for Recycling and Economic Development has released two new publications to promote and support scrap-based manufacturing in Massachusetts.

    The 1997 Massachusetts Directory of Recycled Products Manufacturers updates the document published last year. The directory profiles 107 companies that use more than 20 different types of recyclable feedstock. Products include ties made from from old inner tubes and kayaks made from old milk jugs.

    Manufacturers of recycled products in Massachusetts employ about 12,000 and use 4 million tons per year of scrap materials. The directory overviews manufacturing with recyclables in Massachusetts.

    The Massachusetts Guide to Services for the Recycling Industry informs technical, financial and economic development service providers, as well as businesses seeking assistance from them, of the resources available. The guide profiles 44 quasi-public and not-for-profit agencies, and includes information about business incentives in Massachusetts as well as sources of recycling and business information.

    The Chelsea Center creates jobs, supports recycling efforts and helps to increase manufacturers' use of recyclables. It is affiliated with the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

    To order publications contact the Chelsea Center at (617) 887-2300 or fax (617) 887-0399. Publications are free to Massachusetts businesses and residents and $10 for out-of-state requests.

    Some Horizon items use recycled content

    COBOURG, ONTARIO — Horizon Plastics Co. Ltd. is incorporating recycled content into some structural foam molded products.

    One example of this type of work is a compost bin incorporating 5 percent recycled rubber crumb mixed with polyethylene. The bin won the Environmental Award at the SPI Structural Plastics Division's annual design contest in April.

    The Cobourg firm claims to be one of the few structural foam molders in North America that use multinozzle, low-pressure foam injection molding, according to Vice President Brian Read.

    Horizon celebrated its 25th anniversary during a June 12 open house at its Cobourg plant.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Plastics News would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor at [email protected]

    Get our newsletters

    Staying current is easy with Plastics News delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge.

    Subscribe today

    Subscribe to Plastics News

    Subscribe now
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram

    Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

    logo-pn-color
    Contact Us

    1155 Gratiot Avenue
    Detroit MI 48207-2997

    Customer Service:
    877-320-1723

    Resources
    • About
    • Staff
    • Editorial Calendar
    • Media Kit
    • Data Store
    • Digital Edition
    • Custom Content
    • People
    • Contact
    • Careers
    • Sitemap
    Related Crain Publications
    • Sustainable Plastics
    • Rubber & Plastics News
    • Urethanes Technology
    • Plastics News China
    • European Rubber Journal
    • Tire Business
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Copyright © 1996-2021. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Processor News
        • Injection Molding
        • Blow Molding
        • Film & Sheet
        • Pipe/Profile/Tubing
        • Rotomolding
        • Thermoforming
        • Recycling
      • Suppliers
        • Machinery
        • Materials
        • Molds/Tooling
        • Product news
        • Design
      • More News
        • What Keeps You Up At Night
        • Mergers & Acquisitions
        • Sustainability
        • Public Policy
        • Material Insights Videos
        • Numbers that Matter
        • Polymer Points Live
      • End Markets
        • Automotive
        • Packaging
        • Medical
        • Consumer Products
        • Construction
      • FYI Charts
        • Current FYI
      • LSR World
      • Multimedia
        • Videos
        • Galleries
        • Podcasts
      • NPE2021
      • K Show
      • ENGEL Sponsored Content
      • Special Reports
        • CEO Issue
        • Best Places to Work
        • Processor of the Year
        • Rising Stars
        • Women Breaking the Mold
    • Opinion
      • The Plastics Blog
      • Kickstart
      • Heavy Metal
      • One Good Resin
      • BRICS and Plastics
      • All Things Data
      • Viewpoint
      • Perspective
      • Mailbag
    • Shop Floor
      • Blending
      • Compounding
      • Drying
      • Injection Molding
      • Purging
      • Robotics
      • Size Reduction
      • Structural Foam
      • Tooling
      • Training
    • Events
      • Plastics News Events
        • Plastics News Executive Forum
        • Plastics in Automotive
        • Plastics News Caps & Closures
        • Plastics in Healthcare
        • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum
      • Industry Events
      • Livestreams/Webinars
      • Ask the Expert
      • Polymer Points Live
      • Reifenhäuser Technologies Livestreams
      • 2020 Caps & Closures Library
      • Plastics in Healthcare Library
      • Women Breaking the Mold Networking Forum Library
    • Resin Prices
      • All Resins
      • Commodity TPs
        • Historic Commodity Thermoplastics
      • High Temp TPs
        • Historic High Temp Thermoplastics
      • ETPs
        • Historic Engineering Thermoplastics
      • Thermosets
        • Historic Thermosets
      • Recycled Plastics
        • Historic Recycled Plastics
    • Rankings
      • Injection Molders
      • Blow Molders
      • Film Sheet
      • Thermoformers
      • Pipe Profile Tubing
      • Rotomolders
      • Mold/Toolmakers
      • LSR Processors
      • Recyclers
      • Compounders - List
      • Association - List
      • Plastic Lumber - List
      • All
    • Data Store
    • Directory
    • More+
      • Classifieds
        • Place an Ad
        • Sign up for Early Classified
      • Digital Edition
      • Newsletters
      • Sponsored Content
      • Processor of the Year submissions
      • White Papers