SPI touts international plastics recycling efforts

SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association, Washington, has outlined ways it supports “sustainability programs that promote recycling and recovery of plastics materials, while conserving resources in manufacturing through established best practices and educational campaigns.”

 

During a press event at NPE2015: The International Plastics Showcase, held in Orlando, Florida, in late March, William R. Carteaux, SPI presidnet and CEO, said, “Appropriate recovery and reuse of plastics materials translates into worldwide business opportunities, underscored by a heathy environment that protects our future generations."

 

SPI hosts the NPE event every three years. The organization announced at this year's NPE that it intends to host an annual recycling conference, the Re|Focus Recycling Summit & Expo, in the years between NPE exhibitions. The inaugural recycling summit will be April 25-27, 2016, in Orlando.

 

Working in tandem with its Recycling Committee, SPI says it and other stakeholders will develop sessions focused on the challenges in manufacturing and design, addressing the supply chain, manufacturing, regulatory and labeling issues and corporate culture around sustainability trends.

 

“Re|Focus is truly an industry-supported conference that’s already generated a broad range of interest across the supply chain, encompassing recyclers, brand owners, processors and equipment manufacturers,” said Carteaux at a separate press event at NPE. He said the summit also will include an exhibit hall.

 

Regarding its current international efforts, SPI said it is striving to harmonize plastics machinery safety standards with support from the VDMA, a German engineering federation. The two groups have commissioned a risk assessment study of injection molding machines designed to evaluate the need for a mechanical device or jam bar, a requirement not included in some other national standards. 

 

“Our collaborative effort with VDMA, supported by the results of the risk assessment, will enable greater harmonization of plastics machinery standards between the U.S. and Europe, and will help create superior interoperability, efficiency and productivity for our industries in the global marketplace,” Carteaux said at an NPE press conference. 

 

SPI also noted it launched Operation Clean Sweep (OCS ), a product stewardship program currently administered in conjunction with the American Chemistry Council (ACC) back in 1992. OCS is designed to promote manufacturing industry housekeeping practices that prevent plastic pellets from entering the world’s waterways.