Kickstart: Using toys to explain mass balance

Could one of the world's biggest toymakers be key to explaining sustainable plastics terms?

As part of its financial report for the first half of 2024, Lego A/S provided some specific numbers on its use of mass balance to increase recycled content in its ABS molded bricks. This year, 30 percent of all polymer purchased by Lego was certified mass balance, which translates to an estimated average of 22 percent material from renewable and recycled sources, Karen Laird from our sister paper Sustainable Plastics writes. That's up from 18 percent certified mass balance in 2023.

But Lego has gone beyond just those statistics. On its website, it breaks down what mass balance is, how it's used and what the term means. Or as the company phrases it: "Allow us to pop our technical hard hats on for a moment and explain how it works."

"Our supplier sources both virgin fossil and renewable and recycled raw materials. These are mixed, and then mixed again, to create the material we buy from them. This process is done on a large scale and the material created is supplied to a number of different companies, for many different uses," Lego notes.

The company even provides a brief animated film breaking down the process.

Which may mean that if you're struggling with how to explain mass balance, one good option may be to turn to toys.

Some large resin makers and the city of Houston launched the Houston Recycling Collaboration in 2022, hoping to "significantly increase" the city's plastics recycling rate from its current 15 percent.

But the effort, which kicked off with a lot of fanfare, now faces scrutiny from a joint investigation by CBS News and Inside Climate News.

The media outlets say the effort, which plans to rely on chemical recycling and drop-off collection sites for hard-to-recycle plastic like bags and expanded polystyrene, "hasn't yet found its footing."

They point to over a year's worth of collected plastic — unrecycled — piling up at a storage yard 20 miles outside downtown Houston and say the problems they uncovered raise questions about the viability of chemical recycling to support the program.

That storage yard has failed fire inspections, while one industry partner complained about fire risks from storing plastic in a site that can't pass fire department safety reviews, they reported.

Industry officials said they've been stockpiling plastic ahead of the planned mid-2025 start of a high-tech plastic sorting plant operated by Cyclyx International, which has gotten $135 million in investment capital from ExxonMobil and LyondellBasell.

This isn't the only chemical recycling project for industry giants, of course. Plastics News' Frank Esposito has a story with more details on ExxonMobil's plans here.

Thanks to PN's Steve Toloken for this item.

Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) may be getting closer to buying materials giant Covestro AG.

The two companies first began discussion for a potential acquisition in September 2023, and Germany-based Covestro officially confirmed the talks in June.

"Discussions so far have shown that Covestro and ADNOC can generally reach a common understanding regarding core aspects of a possible transaction," Covestro said in a news release.

Now Bloomberg writes that ADNOC has completed its due diligence and may be able to formally move forward with a $13 billion acquisition offer sometime next month, although it still needs final approval from senior officials.