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Karen Laird

Editor, Sustainable Plastics

[email protected]

Karen was named editor of Plastics News Europe in May 2017. Based in the Netherlands, she has worked as a translator, journalist and editor in the plastics industry for the past thirty years, writing for both Dutch and English language online and print publications. Between 2001 and 2007, she served as chief editor of Kunststof en Rubber, the Dutch-language trade magazine for the plastics industry, after which, preferring to write in English, she moved to PlasticsToday, where she was the European and sustainability editor until 2016.

See All Staff Page
Recent Stories
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LanzaTech, Plastipak produce PET resin made from GHG emissions


For the first time, a PET resin made from carbon captured from emissions has been successfully produced and used in packaging applications.

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Neste inventors shortlisted for the European Inventor Award 2023

Neste, the Finnish petrochemical company that over the past decade has reinvented itself as a front runner in renewable solutions, has reached this point through a combination of research and development and a can-do attitude towards innovation, backed by a strong and steady stream of investment.

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Winners of inaugural Circular Plastics Case competition announced

The winners of the Circular Plastics Case Competition, a new competition launched this year, have been announced.

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Partners demo chemical recycling of plastic waste

A collaboration between Sealed Air, ExxonMobil, Cyclyx International and grocery retail group Ahold Delhaize USA, launched last year has been a success, the companies have announced.

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Re|focus sustainability winners named

The Plastics Industry Association has announced the winners of its 2023 Re|focus Sustainability Innovation Awards.

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Recycling is still in the limelight

Much has changed in the world of plastics recycling over the past decade. Once a sector with little prestige and even less claim to notice, plastics recycling is now considered one of the main pillars, if not the backbone, of the transition to a circular economy.

Don and Karen April 2023
Sustainable Plastics Live April 2023: Industry needs a ‘paradigm shift’ to bio-based plastics

Karen Laird says the plastics industry is facing a “paradigm shift” to change from conventional fossil fuel feedstocks to bio-based alternatives.

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Italian machine industry record second-best year for sales

Amaplast, the Italian association representing the manufacturers of plastics and rubber processing machinery and molds, said 2022 was one for the books, closing with sales of 4.67 billion euros ($5 billion) its second-highest ever.

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VTT investing $1.6M in cellulose films

Finland-based VTT Technical Research Centre is investing €1.5 million ($1.6 million) into its CelluloseFilms pilot facility, where it produces renewable cellulose films designed to replace conventional plastic ones in packaging.

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Arburg anniversary showcases resilience, innovation

At the Anniversary Days held last week at its headquarters in Lossburg, plastics machinery manufacturer Arburg demonstrated to the world just how far the industry and the company have come in the course of a century.

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Piovan to buy selected Protec assets

Auxiliary equipment maker Piovan SpA says it will acquire a number of selected assets from Germany-based Protec Polymer Processing GmbH.

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Bio-on gets a second chance through acquisition

Having languished in limbo since 2019, the assets of the bankrupt Italian PHA manufacturer Bio-on are now in the process of being acquired by the Turin, Italy headquartered Maip Group.

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EU plastics recycling capacity grew 17% in 2021

European installed plastics recycling capacity grew a robust 17 percent in 2021, reports Plastic Recyclers Europe, the pan-European organization for plastics recyclers.

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Wittmann maintains steady sales in 2022, expects return to growth in 2023

As years go, fiscal 2022 was not at all bad for the Wittmann Group. The company saw a high order intake — well above average, in fact, especially during the first half of the year.

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Nova’s first mechanically recycled food-contact resin hits the market

PE supplier Nova Chemicals Corporation has launched a new mechanically recycled HDPE grade sourced from natural HDPE milk jugs that, says the company, is highly suitable for flexible and rigid food packaging applications.

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Plastics News covers the business of the global plastics industry. We report news, gather data and deliver timely information that provides our readers with a competitive advantage.

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