Ineos Olefins & Polymers has partnered with Italy-based polymer recycler Forever Plast SpA on the development of a range of new polyethylene grades made with a blend of post-consumer recyclate derived from used bottle caps, and virgin materials.
The new Recycl-IN products can then be used to create high-quality non-food caps based on recycled content.
According to a statement released by the company, some 6.5 billion bottle caps are projected to be diverted from the waste stream to be recycled.
Ineos Olefins & Polymers introduced its Recycl-IN polymers range into its portfolio in October 2019. The grades then available covered rigid and flexible products for use in non-food contact applications.
With the launch of these new grades Ineos is expanding the family into the polyethylene non-food caps market, creating, according to Iain Hogan, CEO Ineos Olefins and Polymers a “truly circular approach to ensure used bottle caps are recycled and returned to the market as new highly engineered high-quality caps."
In this way, Ineos are providing real commercial solutions to support the move towards a lower carbon circular economy.
In a further statement to Sustainable Plastics, the company said that “through our polymer science, our manufacturing technology, and contacts to brand owners, we are best placed to create value from waste plastic by re-directing end-of-life plastics into new performance products to be reused time and time again."
“At the same time, our bio-attributed polymers deliver significant greenhouse gas savings by incorporating raw materials from renewable sources into our polymers. The attribution process is the starting point which the industry needs in order to track and measure the extent to which fossil fuel-derived feedstocks have been substituted by renewable, bio- or recycled waste plastic feedstocks.
The ability to offer high-performance products that contain recycled plastics, or which are made from renewable feedstocks, helps our customers to start meeting their sustainability commitments today.”
