Indevco rolls out recycled-content plastic films

Longview, Texas-based Indevco Plastics says it is offering what it calls heavy-duty films and bags that are made with up to 50-percent-recycled content. The company says its new line of industrial bags and films with postindustrial resin (PIR) or postconsumer resin (PCR) content includes form-fill-seal (FFS) film, heavy-duty open mouth bags and centerfold sheeting.

Last month, Indevco announced a recyclable shrink bundling film for the beverage and processed food industries comprised of 50 percent PCR material.

“We’ve been using PIR in our blends since we opened in 2015,” says Wayne Mashe, divisional general manager of the Indevco North America Plastics Division. “Every film we produce is 100 percent recyclable, and today we’re optimizing how the films with PIR and PCR recycled materials perform, especially for industrial customers.”

The company says its heavy-duty FFS Film, centerfold polyethylene (PE) film and preformed open-mouth polybags are commonly used by industrial manufacturers to pack agricultural minerals, building materials, industrial and pool salt, lawn and garden products, pet food and litter products and petrochemical products.

Jay Bodine, an Indevco plastics plant manager, says he is working closely with resin suppliers on unique blending and extruding techniques for the Longview, Texas, plant and for a greenfield facility opening in Orangeburg, South Carolina, later this year.

“We’re capitalizing on new technologies from machine manufacturers and resin suppliers to do two things,” says Bodine. “First, increase the amount of recycled resin in every film we produce and, second, keep the key properties of these films on par with films made with 100 percent virgin resins.”

The company says replacing virgin resins with recycled content decreases waste to landfill, uses less energy and helps create a circular economy. “Plastic films designed for recyclability allow for regeneration of plastic scrap and packaging [scrap] into new plastic products, encouraging a circular economy of plastics,” states Indevco.

Indevco says it is procuring PIR and PCR resins through local sources in the United States and recycles its own waste stream. The company is an Operation Clean Sweep Partner, a program supported by the Plastics Industry Association and the American Chemistry Council.

Indevco Plastics Longview LLC is a business unit of Virginia-based Indevco North America Inc, which itself is part of the Lebanon-based Indevco Group.