Polymer Resources announces resin grades containing recycled content

Polymer Resources Ltd., a compounder of engineering resins based in Farmington, Connecticut, has launched its new and growing sustainable materials portfolio. Currently comprising four general-purpose resin grades, the company says that by midyear this portfolio will expand to include several flame-retardant products listed by global independent safety sciences company Underwriters Laboratories (UL).

All grades in the portfolio contain at least 50 percent-recycled content, which the company says helps reduce their carbon footprint and meet customer demands for products containing recycled materials. This initiative is one aspect of the company’s sustainability strategy, which it says also includes reducing fossil-based energy consumption, emissions and landfill scrap and promoting safety and wellness internally and in the community.

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“Sustainability is an integral part of our business, and we are passionate about supporting sustainable practices and principles within the plastics compounding industry,” Polymer Resources President and Chief Operating Officer Scott Anderson says. “Developing new products containing a significant percentage of recycled content is one important way we can help the industry and our customers reduce carbon emissions and increase circularity without compromising on performance or quality. We look forward to expanding our sustainable portfolio with new materials in the near future.”

Polymer Resources says its four new products are opaque and available in natural, black or custom colors, and consist of a low-flow polycarbonate (PC) resin (PC-GP1S), a medium-flow PC resin (PC-GP2S), a high-flow PC resin (PC-GP3S) and a PC/acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene blend (PC/ABS-GP1S). The company says the properties and processing parameters of these grades are very similar to those of their virgin counterparts, making it possible to use them as drop-in replacements for existing fossil-based resins.

To assure quality and consistency, the company says it inspects and tests all recycled content according to the ISO 9001-2015 standard for quality management. Additionally, Polymer Resources says it has established long-term agreements with producers of postconsumer and postindustrial recycled plastics to optimize control over these feedstocks and ensure reliable supply.

While the recycled content used in the new products is sourced from outside producers, Polymer Resources says it recycles its own scrap plastic for reuse in compounding operations. Its recently expanded facility in Rochester, New York, features a separate, soundproofed, 3,250-square-foot room for grinding and shredding scrap plastic from the company’s processes and from customers and vendors.

Polymer Resources says it performs its own quality control checks on the incoming material it processes, providing tight control and enabling classification of material properties and particle sizes of ground products. Also, in-house shredding and grinding equipment gives the company more control over the quality of the recycled feed streams it utilizes.

The company says it currently is pursuing a UL94 V0 listing for flame-retardant grades of PC and PPO-modified polyethylene ether (PPX) that will enhance the sustainable material portfolio. These grades also will contain at least 50 percent-recycled content. Target applications include electrical/electronic components, industrial parts and consumer products.

Polymer Resources says it supports sustainable materials with comprehensive customer services, including custom formulating, color matching, flexible quantities and technical assistance with material selection, process optimization, tool design and regulatory compliance.

The new portfolio will be featured at Polymer Resources’ booth (S27075) at NPE2024: The Plastics Show in Orlando, Florida, May 6-10.