By Bruce Geiselman
The circular economy is expected to be one of the hot topics at this year’s K Show in Dusseldorf, Germany, and Ineos Styrolution, of Frankfurt, Germany, is among companies unveiling or highlighting recent additions to its product lines that offer sustainability benefits.
Ineos recently introduced a lineup of sustainable PS products. The company’s new Eco products offer the performance of similar, respective virgin products but are made from either mechanically recycled materials or biomaterials. They also are manufactured with a significantly lower carbon dioxide footprint, according to the company.
Ineos Styrolution’s PS portfolio includes general-purpose PS (GPPS) resins and high-impact PS resins. GPPS resins are transparent and suitable for injection molding or extrusion applications, and they frequently are used in food-service, food packaging, refrigerator components, building and construction materials, and health-care applications. HIPS resins also are suitable for injection molding or extrusion and typically are used for yogurt cups, food packaging, electric devices and durable refrigerator liners.
The resins made with mechanically recycled PS offer properties that make downcycling unnecessary, according to the company. They can be used as drop-in solutions to customers’ existing production processes, which means no additional investment in equipment is necessary. In addition, processes don’t need to be modified and no downtime is needed.
All mechanically recycled PS products for food contact contain 100 percent post-consumer recycled content, and the Styrolution PS Eco 440FC grade produced from household food packaging waste is available with a food contact statement supplied by Ineos Styrolution.
“This is a major step forward,” Louie Mackee, commercial product manager for sustainable products with Ineos Styrolution, said in a press release. “Food contact applications can be recycled back to the same application through mechanical recycling.”
Ineos Styrolution’s new bio-attributed PS products are made from styrene sourced from renewable ISCC-certified (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) feedstock. That results in substantial greenhouse gas savings as compared to conventional PS from fossil-based feedstock, according to the company. Ineos Styrolution is exhibiting in Hall 6, Booth D28 at the K Show.
Contact:
Ineos Styrolution America LLC, Aurora, Ill., 630-820-9500, https://styrolution-eco.com/
Bruce Geiselman, senior staff reporter
About the Author
Bruce Geiselman
Senior Staff Reporter Bruce Geiselman covers extrusion, blow molding, additive manufacturing, automation and end markets including automotive and packaging. He also writes features, including In Other Words and Problem Solved, for Plastics Machinery & Manufacturing, Plastics Recycling and The Journal of Blow Molding. He has extensive experience in daily and magazine journalism.