Cleveland — AdvanSix Inc. is seeing good early results from its recycled-content nylon compounds.
"The initial uses were in food and medical packaging, but now they're going into other applications," global segment director Vikram Abraham said Nov. 4 at Compounding World Expo in Cleveland.
"We're helping companies meet their sustainability goals for 2025 and 2030," he added. "That's the drumbeat in the industry."
Parsippany, N.J.-based AdvanSix recently added 100 percent post-industrial recycled grades to its portfolio of Aegis-brand nylon 6 resins and Capran-brand biaxially oriented nylon films. Officials said the new products allow customers to address sustainability goals by incorporating materials from recycled monomers reclaimed from waste streams into their end products, without compromises or trade-offs on performance.
"It's the same material as before," Abraham said. "You can drop-in with no changes in quality."
The post-industrial products from AdvanSix have the same processability as their standard-grade counterparts and are food-contact-compliant. Applications include food and medical packaging, bag-in-box beverage packaging and other food-contact-compliant applications. They're also being used in light-colored carpets and other products with stringent specifications for color or odor contamination.
Abraham said that recycled-content materials "are being pulled all through the value chain."
Earlier this year, AdvanSix was awarded a Platinum rating for corporate social responsibility from EcoVadis, which tracks more than 200 purchasing categories in 190 countries.
In the first nine months of 2021, AdvanSix posted sales of $1.26 billion, up 54 percent vs. the same period in 2020. The firm employs 1,400 and operates a nylon production site in Chesterfield, Va.