This is a tried and true formula: The closer it gets to America Recycles Day, the more companies send out news releases and announcements about their recycling accomplishments.
And this year is no exception as Nov. 15 once again marks America Recycles Day, a national program developed by Keep America Beautiful as a way to keep a focus on, you guessed it, recycling.
Two big names in their respective plastics fields are touting their interest and belief in chemical recycling in advance of the big recycling day.
Berry Global Group Inc. and Saudi Basic Industries Corp., this week, are out promoting their partnership in the creation and use of polyolefin resins made from chemical recycling.
Sabic has produced what is being called "initial volumes of these certified circular polymers" that Berry has used to manufacture a "recyclable, coextruded stand-up pouch containing 30 percent" of this recaptured material.
"Berry has committed to continue to utilize a portion of these materials, which have the potential to be used in polypropylene or polyethyleneapplications in the company's European consumer packaging facilities," the company reports in its announcement.
"We place a high value on innovation surrounding the methods by which we recover valuable plastic materials," Berry CEO Tom Salmon said in a statement. "Sabic's timeline for beginning semi-commercial production is one of the fastest we have seen in the industry and we were eager to join with them in initiatives that support circular economy."
Bob Maughon, executive vice president of sustainability, technology and innovation at Sabic, said in a statement that his firm is "the first petrochemical company to implement a project for the chemical recycling of challenging plastic waste into feedstock for steam crackers."
Berry believes there is room for both chemical recycling and mechanical recycling of plastics.
"We anticipate chemical recycling will play a critical role in the reuse of valuable materials, keeping more plastics in the value chain and out of the waste stream," Salmon said in the announcement.
