Bangkok-based Indorama Ventures Public Co. Ltd., a leading petrochemical company, and Montreal-based Loop Industries Inc., which has developed depolymerization technology that produces dimethyl terephthalate (DMT) and mono ethylene glycol (MEG) from end-of-life plastic feedstocks, have announced a joint venture to manufacture and commercialize what they claim is sustainable polyester resin to meet the growing global demand from beverage and consumer packaged goods companies. Both companies have a 50 percent stake in the joint venture.

This partnership combines Indorama Venture’s manufacturing footprint with Loop’s proprietary science and technology to produce recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin and polyester fiber. Through this joint venture, the companies say they will be able to perpetually recycle the growing amounts of PET and polyester fiber. 

The companies say the joint venture will have an exclusive worldwide license to use Loop’s technology to produce PET resin and polyester fiber from end-of-life materials with plans to begin commercial production in the first quarter of 2020.

“At Indorama Ventures, we continue to pursue the right opportunities to fill gaps that are intrinsic to our sustainable and profitable business by deploying resources in order to support the circular economy,” Group CEO of Indorama Ventures Aloke Lohia says. “This joint venture with Loop Industries emphasizes our belief in recycling and is aimed at investing in new technologies that can steer further our aspiration of being a world-class chemical company making great products for society.”

“We are excited to launch this partnership with Indorama Ventures, who provide a global leadership platform in petrochemical manufacturing and a shared commitment to sustainability,” says Daniel Solomita, founder and CEO of Loop Industries. “This joint venture combines each of our companies’ area of expertise so that we may both play a leading role in the global shift by business and consumers to the circular economy.”

Solomita adds, “This is a first strategic step in our global commercialization plan and mission to accelerate the world’s shift toward sustainable plastic and away from the traditional, take, make and dispose economy.”

Steel scrap group TSR Recycling GmbH & Co. KG, Lünen, Germany, acquired parts of the movable fixed assets of scrap metal merchant Lindauer & Co. GmbH, Heilbronn, Germany. According to TSR, Lindauer is currently subject to insolvency proceedings, and TSR will not take over the operative part of the merchant nor merge it with TSR’s Heilbronn site. 

As a result of the acquisition, TSR says operations will not be continuing for Lindauer & Co. GmbH. Parts of movable fixed assets that TSR has purchased will be integrated in the TSR plants. TSR adds that its parent company, Remondis GmbH & Co. KG, has purchased the real estate of Lindauer’s site independently. According to the company, Remondis plans to use the purchased site for establishing its own operations. 

TSR says it is also conducting negotiations with Lindauer’s works council regarding the status of Lindauer employees. Lindauer also handles nonferrous metals in addition to steel scrap.
TSR handles about 6.5 million metric tons per year of steel scrap, serving as one of the largest scrap merchants in Germany. German waste management company Remondis gained full ownership of TSR last year by acquiring 20 percent of shares from Italian steel producer Alfa Acciai.

California Gov. Jerry Brown made history Sept. 20 when he signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1884 into law. The law prohibits dine-in restaurants in the state from automatically providing plastic straws to its patrons, making it the first state to implement such a policy.

The law, which will go into practice Jan. 1, 2019, will “prohibit a full-service restaurant … from providing single-use plastic straws … to consumers unless requested by the consumer,” the bill states.

This law follows policy that has been enacted in several cities throughout the country, including Seattle and San Francisco, which have instituted outright plastic straw bans in recent months to cut down on environmental contamination from these difficult-to-recycle pieces of waste.

“Plastic has helped advance innovation in our society, but our infatuation with single-use convenience has led to disastrous consequences,” Brown wrote in a statement announcing the signing. “Ocean plastic is estimated to kill millions of marine animals every year."

Although California’s policy is less restrictive than some municipal laws, the hope is that it will help curtail some of these plastics from reaching the waste stream.   

Under the new law, “first and second violations of these provisions would result in a notice of violation, and any subsequent violation would be an infraction punishable by a fine of $25 for each day the full-service restaurant is in violation, but not to exceed an annual total of $300.”

Brown also signed SB 1335, which mandates all disposable food packaging provided at food service facilities serving, or located in, a state agency or facility be recyclable or compostable by 2021; and SB 1263, which requires the Ocean Protection Council to provide a strategy for dealing with microplastics to the state by 2021.

Addressing an audience of key stakeholders at the G7 Meeting of Environment, Oceans and Energy Ministers, the American Chemistry Council (ACC), Washington, has shared its latest progress and commitments to help end plastic material in the environment. 

Keith Christman, ACC managing director of plastics markets, says U.S. plastics producers have committed to all plastic packaging being reused, recycled or recovered by 2040 with an interim goal of all plastic packaging being recyclable or recoverable by 2030. Plastics makers in Canada and Europe have set similar goals, helping to provide a consistent framework for a more circular, global plastics economy.

“U.S. plastics makers share a deep commitment to ending plastic waste and are working swiftly with our global partners to drive meaningful change,” Christman says. “Success will require innovations in design, new business models and developing the technology and infrastructure that will capture the full value of the plastics we use today so they provide our resources and raw materials for tomorrow.”

He emphasizes the urgent need for all stakeholders to find new ways to work together to stop the flow of trash into the ocean, citing multiple studies that point to expansion of waste management systems as the fastest and most effective way to solve this problem.

“Leading plastics producers are working together to facilitate investments and accelerate deployment of solutions where gaps in waste management are currently the greatest,” Christman says. “We are committed to driving positive and lasting changes in how we source, capture, use and reuse plastics to help protect our planet, clean up our oceans and enable people to live better.”

Since 2011, ACC has helped lead the implementation of a global declaration on solutions for plastic litter. Today, more than 75 plastics associations in 40 countries have signed on to the declaration and cumulatively they have undertaken 355 projects to help solve this problem.