Orlando, Fla. — Duncan, S.C.-based Sukano Polymers Corp., a unit of additives maker Sukano AG of Schindellegi, Switzerland, is adding capacity as it develops additives for recycled content.
While the majority of Sukano's sales are still additives for virgin plastics, the company has made "new developments" in additives for recycled content, Mark Fessler, CEO of Sukano Polymers, told Plastics News at NPE2024 in Orlando.
"We have a large portfolio of additives to make [recycled content] look cleaner, to make it perform better in the processes and to allow you to use more it without losing any physical properties compared to virgin polymers," Fessler said.
Demand for those additives, he said, started in bottles. "Now it's continuing into thermoformed tray and sheet."
In recent years, customers have demanded "more uses for PET in packaging and medical field," Fessler said. In response, the company developed CPET-light, an additive to make hot-fillable PET.
"There are lot of sauces like Alfredo sauce [or peanut butter] that are hot-filled," he said. Normally, containers for those products are made of polypropylene, glass or metal. But with more government recycling mandates coming down the pipeline for the global plastics industry supply chain, PET is "perfectly recyclable," Fessler added.
"You have to sterilize things in the medical field, and PET's not suitable for that unless you use [CPET-light]," he said.
Currently "there just aren't enough recycled feedstocks" for the industry to meet previously set recycling goals, Fessler said. "But as the mandates come on and it happens for real, [customers] need help."
All of Sukano's locations in Switzerland, the U.S. and Malaysia have added capacity through "significant investments," he said. The company nearly doubled its capacity in 2023 last year, he added, including adding new employees.
Much of Sukano's growth comes from demand for packaging, he said. With increases in home deliveries and shipping, "everything has some kind of clear plastic wrap on it."