The Society of Plastics Engineers' Environmental Division recognized nine companies and organizations at its recent Global Plastics Environmental Conference, held Feb. 24-25 in Atlanta. Here are the awards and winners:
Environmental Stewardship: Cascade Engineering Inc. won for its activities in reducing waste and its environmental performance. The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based injection molder is a founding member of the Green Power Partnership between industry and the Environmental Protection Agency, and two of its units have received Clean Corporate Citizen Awards from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
New Technologies: Pigment manufacturer Engelhard Corp. in Iselin, N.J., won for replacing compounds made with lead, chromium and cadmium with more environmentally friendly pigments that are heat stable and resist migration.
Design for Sustainability: BASF Corp. developed a software package, called the Eco-Efficiency Analysis Tool, to model the life-cycle impact of plastics and other materials.
Enabling Technologies and Processes: The American Plastics Council in Arlington, Va., was recognized for advocating plastics and promoting its role in sustainable development.
Emerging Technologies: Two winners shared the category. C&A Floorcoverings Inc. in Dalton, Ga., won for developing a process to recycle automotive windshields, taking the polyvinyl butyral film used between layers of glass and making it into carpet backing. The other winner, Intel LTME/ICM Package Engineering in Chandler, Ariz., replaced nonrecyclable packaging for shipping computers with completely recyclable thermoformed packaging.
New Technologies in Renewable Materials: DuPont Bio-based Materials in Wilmington, Del., was recognized for developing Sorona, a 1,3-propanediol-based polymer that it intends to manufacture from cornstarch starting in 2006. The manufacturing will be done in a joint venture with agricultural products firm Tate & Lyle PLC.
Chairman's Award: The Materials Recycling Center of Excellence at Wroclaw University of Technology in Wroclaw, Poland, won for its role in promoting recycling in Central Europe and integrating new European Union members like Poland into EU research work.
Special Recycling Award: A PET manufacturer and recycler in Chennai, India - Futura Polyesters Ltd. - won for its role in developing a PET bottle recycling system in India that the company said collects 60 percent of PET bottles, and for its work in developing food-grade recycled PET.
