Nova builds its recycling portfolio

Nova Chemicals has taken two more steps on the road to sustainability.

Calgary, Alberta-based Nova, one of North America's largest polyethylene resin makers, announced Dec. 8 it would sell recycled low density and linear low density PE made by Revolution Plastics of Little Rock, Ark. Nova is Revolution's exclusive partner in the deal.

Revolution makes plastic films for consumer and industrial products and packaging. The company recaptures these films after use to recycle and reuse in new products. The agreement will use some of this closed-loop plastic. Nova will begin to offer these resins in January.

"Working with Revolution, a company that shares our passion for advancing the circular economy, we will further widen our product offerings for recycled plastics," Nova President and CEO Luis Sierra said in a news release. "Together, we will offer a portfolio of PCR [post-consumer resin] that is available immediately to enable our customers and brand owners to meet their sustainability goals."

PCR demand is expected to increase fivefold by 2025, according to a recent industry report, as brand owners work to reach ambitious goals for recycled content in packaging. Recycled grades offered by Nova in the Revolution deal can be used in flexible packaging applications such as heavy-duty sack, shrink and stretch wrap, agricultural film, poly mailers and pouches, as well as a range of molded goods.

"Creating a circular economy for plastics is at the core our company's mission," Revolution CEO Sean Whiteley said. "For more than 20 years, we've been putting high-quality PCR back into new flexible packaging, and we're excited to expand the positive sustainability impact to more applications with Nova Chemicals"

Nova PE Marketing Vice President Greg DeKunder added that the Nova/Revolution relationship "will have a significant impact on the market for recycled plastics."

"Joining forces enables [Nova] to be a one-stop shop for our customers' PCR needs," he said.

The deal adds to a busy year for Revolution, which was purchased in 2019 by private equity group Arsenal Capital Partners. In October 2020, Revolution announced it was investing $20 million to expand production of film from recycled materials in Little Rock.

A few weeks later, Revolution announced it was buying Polar Plastics Corp., a Minnesota-based maker of film, sheeting and bags, from private equity firm Spell Capital Partners.

In another sustainability move, Nova has become the technical sponsor of Toward Circularity, an expansion of a pet food packaging recycling program from the Pet Sustainability Coalition.

The expanded program will increase collection and introduce testing of post-use packaging materials, officials said in a Dec. 7 news release. Nova is providing funding and expertise to expand the Boulder, Colo.-based PSC's leading packaging work. The program is working to advance the circular economy for flexible plastic pet food and treat packaging materials.

Toward Circularity will expand collection to include both post-consumer and post-industrial recycled material and will conduct testing to determine best uses for the recyclate. The programs' two objectives are to decrease the amount of plastic pet food and treat bag packaging that goes into landfills, currently an estimated 99 percent, and provide end-of-life solutions for consumers, retailers and packaging manufacturers.

PSC Sustainability Director Melissa Bauer said that an estimated 300 million pounds of plastic pet food and treats bags are produced in the U.S. each year. Most of those bags are made of multiple types of plastic, making them difficult to recycle.

"Long term, we aim to help the pet food industry move to recyclable, monomaterial packaging, but it is imperative that we help increase recycling for the materials that are being produced today," she said.

In August, the PSC partnered with pet food brand Earth Animal and distributor Pet Food Experts to launch Flex Forward, a pilot program to test a pet food packaging collection system where the packaging is recycled for use in new products.

Already, more than 10,000 used pet food bags have been collected at 120 return-to-retail collection points in independent pet food retail locations in Oregon and Washington. As the Flex Forward program comes to a close, the Toward Circularity expansion will increase testing of the collected materials from consumers, while also collecting and testing scrap that occurs from misprints, manufacturing errors, and the like.

Nova will conduct testing on the collected recyclate at its applications development-focused Centre for Performance Applications in Calgary. Test results will help the PSC better understand the use, applications and performance attributes of the material.

"We are actively working with our customers and throughout the value chain to help them design and develop products and packaging that utilize recyclable film structures and post-consumer recycled materials," Nova Circular Economy Market Manager Monika Kleczek said.

The PSC advances business through profitable environmental and social business practices. The coalition was founded in 2013 and includes more than 150 pet industry brands, suppliers and retailers.