Southern African Polymer Technology by SA POLYMER TECHNOLOGY

S A P LA S TIC S C OMP OS ITE S + R U B B E R

POLYMER technology

www.sapt.co.za

VOL 17 NR 1 FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019

V OL 17 N R 1 FE B R U A RY / MA R C H 2019

PalletPlast’s world-first rPET pallet enters market

REDISA’s vindication

and why it matters to you!

Technology revolution is ALL about people

The RotoVetti award-winning solution for show jumping

SATAS

R O F N O I T A ACCREDIT

MS E T S Y S R LOU O C E C N A PERFORM

Trio Pellets commissions largest Intarema machine yet in SA

Cover.indd 1 Classifieds Feb/Mar'19.indd 92

2019/01/17 11:48

www.saplastics.co.za

The Home of Size Reduction

Jojo Tanks giving old tanks a new life

Fraunhofer position paper on recycling bioplastics

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By the way

Publisher & Managing Editor: Martin Wells (martin@summitpub.co.za) Editor: Tessa O’Hara (tessa@summitpub.co.za) Publisher’s assistant: Heather Peplow (heather@summitpub.co.za) Financial manager: Lisa Mulligan (lisa@summitpub.co.za) Designers: Jeanette Erasmus Graphic Design (jeanette.erasmus@lateraldynamics.co.za) Bronwen Moys Blinc Design (bronwen.clarke@gmail.com) Summit Publishing cc t: +27 (21) 712 1408 f: 086 519 6089 c: +27 (82) 822 8115 e: martin@summitpub.co.za Postnet Suite 42, Private Bag X16, Constantia 7848, Cape Town, South Africa Unit 8, Bergvliet Village Centre, Cnr Hiddingh & Children’s Way Roads, Bergvliet 7945

www.saplastics.co.za GAUTENG Lowrie Sharp t: (011) 793 4691 f: (011) 791 0544 c: 082 344 7870 e: lowrieplasticsmedia@absamail.co.za KZN Lynne Askew c: (082) 904 9433 f: (031) 764 0676 e: lynne@summitpub.co.za Printed by: Tandym Print, Maitland, Cape Town SA Polymer Technology is published six times a year and focuses on these industries in South and southern Africa. We welcome news, articles, technical reports, information in general and photographs about events and developments related to the plastics industry. The views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Plastics Converters Association, Institute of Materials or Association of Rotational Moulders either. Copyright: All rights reserved. ISSN number: 1684-2855 (ISDS Centre, Paris) Summit Publishing: CK 9863581/23 VAT reg: 4600187902

Plastics Institute of Southern Africa

Association of Rotational Moulders of South Africa

Plastics Converters Association

PET Plastic Recycling South Africa

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Institute of Materials

Ótima range expands – Darsim Tool & Die of Wadeville (est 1992) introduced its own range of domestic ware containers under the Ótima brand in 2012, which have proved quite a hit in the market (Ótima means ‘great’ in Portuguese). The Simoes father-and-son team at the helm at Darsim, Jorge and Dario, have steadily expanded the company’s capabilities and capacity. They recently installed a number of high-tech Chen Hsong machines. Darsim introduced 18 new products in 2018 and the tally for 2019 is already growing. – See page 18

Suppliers are still functioning in Zimbabwe – and successfully too

AMAZINGLY and incredibly, material suppliers are still functioning in Zimbabwe – and even expecting a successful year in 2019. That is the case at Acol Chemical in Harare, which is one of the largest chemical suppliers to the agriculture, mining and industrial sectors in Zimbabwe. Acol is run by Rick Kriel, who has vast experience and expertise in the supply market, and is tied up with SA’s Omnia group. The main problem for suppliers and convertors in the country is the availability of foreign currency. Exporters who earn foreign currency are allowed to retain a portion of foreign earnings for use to import inputs or sell to those companies that do not earn forex. The sale of foreign currency takes place at very inﬂated rates. If you are purely an importer, which most suppliers are, the only access to forex is to purchase it from sellers at these high rates. The banks are unable to supply any forex. So you thought we have problems in South Africa?

Global directors enjoyed short sojourn in Africa

THE hosting by Plastics|SA of the Council of International Plastics Association Directors’ (CIPAD) annual assembly in South Africa in November last year appears to have been very popularly received by the visiting delegates. Philip Law, director of the British Plastics Federation, said he thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the opportunity to meet PSA member companies and staff, people from industry and being able to interact with them socially. Directors from far aﬁeld attended the two-day event, visited factories, a waste management business, went on a cruise in Table Bay and even had time to visit a game park, during which they got close to lions – which still seems to be the main attraction for visitors to Africa! Congrats to Anton Hanekom and the PSA team for entertaining the guests.

Safepak staff received zero retrenchment

THE article in our last issue about the closure of Safepak, the Cape ﬁlm and bag manufacturing business, summed up some of the reasons which may have led to its demise and added that ‘the only good news appearing to be that all staff were paid off,’ a statement which has since been shown to be incorrect. In fact, virtually all of the company’s 180 employees left without a cent, and it was quite likely all – with the exception of the MD and the ‘turnaround specialist’ who oversaw the implosion. Two HAVE … IF YOU of those who we have been in contact with, G TO SAY IN H ET SOM de: if you si ht who spent 14 and 30 years with the company e brig Look at th isdom to w of e gem respectively, received no retrenchment package us at have som to te ri ease w impart, pl at all. We apologise for the error. ica.com tics@iafr saplas

2019/02/08 10:13

VOLUME 17 NR 1

Contents FEBRUARY 2019

Find out more at www.saplastics.co.za

INDUSTRY NEWS

PalletPlast’s rPET pallet REDISA’s vindication, and why it matters to you Zerma technology for tyre recycling Cabletech introduce new Haitian Mars IIS series Maritime ﬁnds a ‘perfect ﬁt’ for Ótima PCS granted SATAS accreditation Trio Pellets install largest Intarema machine in SA Technology revolution is actually about people Sasol Solar Challenge the ultimate test of technology ACD RotoFlo’s RotoVetti – an award-winning local solution

ENVIRONMENT

Global alliance to end plastic waste Volvo race data revealed at expert conference Biodegradable polymer market value to grow to $1.7bn

DESIGN

Automotive Innovation Awards Bioplastics awards Design for plastic alternatives PackTheFuture Awards

WORLD

Legalisation leads top global packaging ﬁrms to cannabis Total Corbion PLA starts-up bioplastics plant in Thailand Borealis global commitment to eliminate plastic pollution at source

EVENTS

Africa Rubber Industry Forum 2018 Composites Europe – The lightweight path to success K 2019: New technology as a motor for innovation

SPORTS

CO2 for production of sports ﬂoorings

6 8 10 16 18 22 24 26 30 32

45 52 54 58 64 66 68

72 74 76

82 84 88

ON THE COVER

PalletPlast, a new venture by Cape custom moulder Sandplast, has introduced its lightweight rPET pallet in what is one of the most exciting projects in the local converting industry currently. Read more on pg 6

www.palletplast.co.za

Jenowill31/3p advert.indd 82 2-3.indd

2019/01/14 2019/02/08 11:19 10:10

News Blow up at Plastics|SA – Grant Crosby-Emery, Andrew Murray and Isabelle Brettenny of Plastics|SA are looking happy for a very good reason: Plastics|SA has bought three blow moulding machines for training in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape. Two Mega machines, MD-G series extrusion blow moulding machines built in China, were commissioned in Maitland and Westmead and one Ke Li SZC130/30 injection blow moulder double cavity was commissioned in Midrand. The machines were supplied by Cabletech Marketing. The machines are PLC-controlled, so learners on the PSA courses will now have the opportunity to begin their ‘journey’ into moulding technology and knowhow ﬁrst-hand

www.plasticsinfo.co.za

Rebrand as ‘Polymer’ publication is aimed at improving service

THIS ISSUE

Better search facility for locally made products, materials and services

FEB / MAR 2019

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OU may notice a small and subtle change with the publication this month: we have rebranded as Southern African POLYMER Technology.

The main reason for the change is that we wish to cover the wider polymer industry, from composites to tyres and more. It’s true that the bulk of interest remains with the plastics moulding sector, but there are reasons for the change besides: one being that people were confusing us with Plastics|SA and, while we get along very well with Anton Hanekom and the PSA team around the country, we are completely separate. As the umbrella organisation for the industry in South Africa, the name Plastics|SA identiﬁes them most easily. (They rebranded after we started, several years after actually, but let’s not worry about that now.) We will also be changing our website to www.sapt.co.za – which is easier to remember (we’ll let you know exactly when this will happen). By the way, we receive a lot of inquiries, most of which seem to be directed to our site by Google searchers: many of the inquirers seek locally made products, materials and services and we endeavor to assist each and every one. The process of building up our database to include info about products made or supplied by companies such as yours has taken over two decades and is on-going. Part of our plan thus involves upgrading the search option on our new website, so anyone looking for anything that is made or supplied in the South African polymer sector should be able to ﬁnd what they seek here. The site is scheduled to go live end-February. Okay, besides that, let’s get back to business. Court decision on REDISA Some people will be surprised that the Supreme Court of Appeal found in favour of the tyre recycling venture REDISA

earlier this year. We report about this on page 8. Whatever your opinion is, we believe that industrial sectors should have the responsibility The roto moulded RotoVetti cavaletti structures for show jumping have and hence retain proved to be a revelation for both the right to manage the developer, material compounder the recycling or ACD RotoFlo of Johannesburg, as safe disposal of its well as the show jumping community product. The REDISA in South Africa, and maybe further model is different than afield. Cavalettis are small jumps, that of the industry’s originally made of wood, used for Buyisa-e-Bag, but any basic horse training – see page 32 repeat of that disaster – in which the manufacturers continue to pay the levy but derive nothing for it – must surely be unacceptable to us? Employers to meet union A delegation including some of the industry’s main employers was due to meet the management or office bearers of the National Union of Metal Workers in midFebruary to try to resolve the on-going strife with NUMSA. We hope common sense prevails and believe the NUMSA team may find the employers to be more reasonable than progress they have suggested. We hope will be made, as the stakes are high: we need development and improvement and momentum to succeed and remain competitive.

Martin Wells Publisher

Martin Wells,

Publisher

2019/02/08 12:07

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News

PalletPlast’s rPET pallet offers optimum lightweight transport solution

Use of recycled material gives new pallet added retailer appeal

6 FEB / MARCH 2019

PALLETPLAST, a new venture by Cape custom moulder Sandplast, has introduced its lightweight rPET pallet in a project that has the potential to shake the pallet transport market up quite a bit. Made from as much as 97% recycled PET, the new pallet – which can rack stack 1,2 tons – is being marketed as an ultra-light product transport solution which provides a ‘realistic and costeffective alternative to wooden pallets that is well suited for the single-use export environment’. A further advantage for Palletplast is that it’s design allows for easy airﬂow, an important consideration

for cold storage use and maintenance of the cold chain. The main and obvious advantage of using rPET is that the material comes in at a substantial price advantage, but the technical challenge has proved demanding and it comes as no surprise that such a product introduction has probably not been tried before in South Africa, or anywhere for that matter. To give you an idea of the degree of the challenge, the Palletplast partners could not find a mould maker in China prepared to construct the mould for the job. Given that China possesses several of the world’s top and most efficient toolrooms, who have supplied many of the most difficult and largest

The pallet is strengthened by the use of three PET straps to achieve absolute rigidity; its surfaces are also non-slip, a speciﬁc advantage for goods transport

In one of the more challenging mould construction jobs globally in 2018, the mould was built by a top Portuguese toolroom, Mould-UP. The mould features eight injector points

moulds in South Africa over the past decade or two, genuine difficulties were expected in the mould construction stage – as well as in moulding. The mould was ultimately manufactured by Mould-UP in Portugal. With a shot weight of just over 17kgs, extended flow paths and the complicated geometry of the design, besides running a material which is virtually certain to display variably consistency and MFI, the job is complicated to say the least. But the partners, led by Sandplast’s Steph le Roux and Chris Smith, have forged ahead with the project, which has been two years-plus in the making so far. Le Roux and Smith have been successful with difficult moulding jobs before and fear of a challenge doesn’t appear to be something that scares them off. The fact is that product introductions invariably present difficult moulding issues, with risk-to-reward ratios going up on the moulding difficulty scale. Suffice to say that few convertors in Southern Africa would have gambled on this job, but therein lies the attraction. The Palletplast team has worked steadily over the past year plus (the first production trial took place in Portugal in late 2017) and overcome a series of

A Haitian Mars 2100-ton clamp force injection moulding machine is being used at the plant at Blackheath, Cape Town. Here the Hilectro pickand-place robot (also manufactured by Haitian in China) transports a pallet to a conveyor an adjacent jig where cooling is controlled to eliminate warpage

processing problems, including those presented by material drying, material flow, chilling of the mould and others. By end-January the team was on the verge of full production. With market acceptance, the rPET pallet could see huge demand. Annual demand for pallets – for produce manufacturers and the entire logistics chain – in South Africa is estimated to be between 30 and 40 million units a year, although getting accurate stats proves difficult. At present wood still forms the bulk of pallet supply. The Cape has already seen a major plastic pallet project go under, but lessons were learned from the Lomold long fibre-low pressure concept. In that case, proprietary equipment was utilised, and several experienced local injection moulding specialists had warned of the danger of trying to develop new technology. After several design variations and much hype, the Lomold business imploded in 2013. By contrast, the Palletplast project is using standard technology and has steadily eliminated problems encountered along the way, mainly stemming from the use of recycled material. The Palletplast team appear

to have not let expectation get too far ahead of the team, but solving the technical challenges has kept the pressure up throughout. With wood prices going up, and availability of wood reduced, the longserving wood pallet is not what it was, so again there appears to be an opportunity for material substitution here. Besides that, the origin of the rPET pallet was that of developing a ‘non-slip’ pallet, and the Palletplast product offers a vital additional advantage here too. With the introduction, the Palletplast sales team is working with distributors around the country; they have an estimated 40 product trials underway, even up to Limpopo, and initial feedback has been positive. The rPET pallet has been approved by UK supermarket group Tesco.

www.palletplast.co.za

Annabé Pretorius of Plastix 911/ SAPRO visited Chris Smith recently to assess the ‘new kid on the block’ pallet

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019 7

Several challenges emerged with the drying of the material, which were ultimately solved by the introduction of an infrared drying chamber from Kreyenborg of Germany

PHOTOS BY: MARTIN WELLS

Machine setter Eric Adams with three of the partners in the Palletplast venture, Steph le Roux, Andrew Morkel and Chris Smith

News Polytec to build plant in South Africa

JUST BRIEFLY

POLYTEC Group of Germany, a manufacturer of a range of plastic and composite automotive components, including engine and interior parts, is to build a new plant at the East London Industrial Development Zone. According to a statement by the company, the project is to meet a ‘major order for the production of complete vehicle underbody covers and other automotive components for a large volume model of a German manufacturer’. The agreed eight-year delivery period will commence with the start of production in 2021. The planned investment volume of €10-million is foreseen primarily for production machinery and installations. Four different plastics production technologies from the ﬁelds of composite materials and injection moulding will be employed at the new location. www.polytec-group.com

Salary survey in USA could be interesting in SA too THE United States’ Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE), which has 22 500 members in 84 countries, conducts an annual salary survey where members complete an electronic questionnaire. Individual responses are kept conﬁdential and participants receive the results and summary of the survey for free. At least you will know whether the salaries at your organisation are in line with the general industry, although one presumes that individuals who are over-compensated would be less likely to want to be involved. A similar survey should prove illuminating here at the southern tip of Africa, or what?

BEWARE: this could happen to you IT’S happened again: that lovely little accounts girl in your ﬁnance department, one of your favourite employees – if not THE favourite – has got away with a large sum of money. This is something I hear of all too frequently, even if it’s probably the last thing any employer wants to talk about. Some of the bosses we’ve got to know well have, however, advised us of this phenomena. Our analysis: the only way to avoid this is to have a serious lockdown system. So, if you’re not sure, get advice, now.

REDISA’s vindication & why it matters to you Judgment scathing against the misuse and abuse of ex parte provisional liquidation applications

By Dr Chris Crozier by association her Department REDISA was set up in 2012 and DG, Nosipho Ngcaba, ran a to manage the national waste persistent campaign to destroy tyre problem and to carry out a REDISA and take over its assets, programme that by 2017 employed based on misrepresentation, over 3000 people in collection, selective reporting, contradictions transport, depots and processing and lack of comprehension, and plants. It appeared to be working, highly questionable actions deployed yet in June 2017 the then Minister against the companies. The Cape of Environmental Affairs, the late Town High Court also did not escape Edna Molewa, brought ex parte censure for its handling of REDISA applications against REDISA and KT’s applications to dismiss the and Kusaga Taka (the company provisional liquidation orders. Indeed, appointed by REDISA to manage there was even an indication (paras the operational aspects of the 48 and 49 of the judgment) that the programme) for their provisional Court had some concern that those liquidation. Ex parte* applications are responsible for preparing the late carried out without the responding Minister Molewa’s affidavits party (REDISA and Kusaga might not have had Taka in this case) being due regard for the “The SCA given an opportunity onus laid on the to oppose the judgment in this appellants to act application, and case is clearly a ringing fairly towards indeed without vindication for the the respondents them even being directors of the when ex parte notified. companies involved, and applications are An we can be pleased brought. extraordinary The SCA aspect of this that an injustice judgment in this case was that both has been righted.” case is clearly a companies were ringing vindication solvent. for the directors of the The allegations against companies involved, and we the two companies were can be pleased that an injustice has voluminous, amounting to more been righted. There is, however, a than 1000 pages, and consisted of bigger picture. myriad allegations, untested hearsay The actions of the late Minister and suspicions: a veritable litany Molewa and her Department have of supposed wrongdoing. All, as caused the near collapse of a confirmed after 20 months of court national network established to battles culminating in a hearing in the deal with South Africa’s waste tyre Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) on problem. It has wiped out hundreds 1 and 2 November 2018, unfounded. of millions of rand in investment Finally, on 24 January 2019, the SCA in systems and infrastructure, delivered its judgment. The judgment and destroyed the livelihoods of (a 4-1 opinion, with one dissenting thousands of people. It took nearly judgment) was voluminous and two years of litigation, and tens of scathing in its criticism of the conduct million of rand in legal costs, to right of the late Minister Molewa. the wrong. If the directors of the It is clear from the judgment found companies had not had the ability to >> that the late Minister Molewa, and 8 FEB / MARCH 2019

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2019/01/21 09:17

News

Drop in – The Zerma tyre recycling plant at which up to 45 tons of material are processed an hour is a substantial initiative, obviously, beginning with in-feed of tyre casings into a Zerma ZXS-T shredder for passenger car or truck tyres (up to 1500mm diameter) where material is reduced into strips and pieces of approx. 100 mm. The material then moves to a second-stage Zerma ZTTS shredder where it is reduced to approx. 20mm. Steel radial material is removed at this stage. Heavy-duty GSH granulators with a special closed H-rotor are used in the ﬁnal stage, producing pieces down to less than 5mm or as required

Heavy-duty, high-efﬁciency Zerma technology for tyre recycling

10 FEB / MARCH 2019

With processing of scrap tyres, you either go huge or go home WITH the Supreme Court of Appeal’s recent ruling in favour of REDISA, the likelihood that the South African tyre recycling sector may be able to regain momentum has increased, meaning that tyre recycling may become a reality in the country. With that in mind, Jeff Cawcutt of Zerma Africa was an interested participant at Zerma’s global sales meeting in Thailand at which one of the Zerma customers in that country showed delegates its expanded tyre recycling plant. The Thai cement

manufacturer, one of the largest in South-East Asia, has expanded its tyre recycling plant from 25 to 45 tons per hour, which is substantial in anybody’s book. The name of the game for tyre recyclers – as it is for anyone involved in plastic or rubber recycling – is economy of scale: that is to achieve volume throughput where unit cost is as low as possible. With tyre recycling, tonnages are substantial and – in order for plants to operate proﬁtably – high

efficiency technology needs to be utilised. Due to the increasing number of cars and trucks all over the world, used tyres are available in large quantities at relatively low cost, currently. With a bit of clever recycling, you can get a whole lot out of used tyres: granule in various sizes, steel and profit. The sales income naturally depends on the quality of the output material, and the process obviously needs to be as efficient as possible. >>

REDISA’s vindication & why it matters to you continued ... ﬁght the case all the way to the SCA, it would have established a precedent whereby a solvent company can be put into liquidation on the say-so of a Minister with unfounded suspicions, a grudge, or some other arbitrary motive, without even the chance to defend itself. There are few businesses that can survive the process, since the directors immediately get cut off from their information and assets, and must contest the provisional liquidation from

their personal resources. And as we have seen in this case, that can mean ﬁghting for two years without access to their livelihoods or business assets. The judgment was scathing both against the misuse and abuse of ex parte provisional liquidation applications, and the attempt to construe the Companies Act to allow a Minister to bring such applications. If this case had not been so decisively settled, any company in the country

could face the same attack, on equally spurious grounds, as REDISA. That would have been a serious blow to business conﬁdence, at a time when we most desperately need to build, not break it. * Ex parte contact occurs when an attorney communicates with another party outside the presence of that party’s attorney. Ex parte contact also describes a judge who communicates with one party to a lawsuit to the exclusion of the other party or parties.

News

Jeff Cawcutt of Zerma Africa was a very interested participant during the site visit

Zerma ZXS-T and ZTTS shredders used for the down-sizing of passenger or truck tyres from 800mm to 1500mm diameter are major pieces of equipment where careful design improvements have been made to extend blade and machine life

Zerma technology ... Zerma used its experience gained in the development of recycling systems for plastics, wood and e-waste over more than 70 years in the design of its tyre recycling systems, which ultimately produce high quality materials for recycling. Final products could be either shreds for thermal recycling, predominantly in the cement industry, and crumb rubber of about 5mm size used in various applications. Shredding and metal separation The core of the line is the newly

developed Zerma ZXS-T tyre shredder. The lines now running are shredding passenger car and other tyres up to 1500mm diameter into a final particle size of approximately 20mm, as required by this customers down-stream processes. Zerma tyre shredders are heavyduty single-shaft shredders with gravity infeed and hydraulic rams specifically designed for the grinding of tyres. They feature extensive wear protection compared to other shredders. The machine is equipped with a flat rotor

made of highly wear resistant steel with added weld on hard-facing for longer lifetime. The cutters used in these shredders are made “Thai from a newly designed, manufacturer specialised material to increases ensure long life and throughput optimal performance. from 25 to 45 As opposed to tons an hour.” other systems, the Zerma technology does not require the tyres to be de-beaded. >>

MyPlas gains ISO accreditation CAPE multi-material recycler MyPlas has gained ISO standard accreditation, making it the second South African plastics recycler to achieve the international standard qualification. MyPlas received its certificate on 3 January, confirming that it operates a quality management system which complies with the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 for the recycling of postconsumer, post-industrial and factory waste polyolefin materials. The first SA recycler to achieve ISO accreditation was Extrupet, the Johannesburg-based PET recycler. MyPlas, being a processor of a wider

range of materials, including HD, LD and PP, may have faced an even more daunting path en route to accreditation. The standards accreditation process was indeed difﬁcult, conceded MyPlas director, Johann Conradie. “Our focus is to supply custommade high-quality recycled plastic for quality-sensitive applications where historically only virgin has been used,” said Johann. MyPlas, which emerged from Proplas, one of the oldest Cape recyclers (started 1983), has built up its systems and culture over the past three decades-plus.

After Proplas went bankrupt with the rest of the Lomold group in 2013, MyPlas purchased the assets from the liquidator and moved their plant in with that of Proplas at the premises in Bellville South. With John Nield joining the MyPlas team and providing the technical expertise and experience, MyPlas has grown steadily from there. In 2017 the company installed its own lab and set out on the standards qualiﬁcation path in earnest. Much of the impetus required to reach the desired standards has come from the buy-in of the MyPlas staff, ironically several of who are ex-Lomold and Plastamid personnel. That, together with the ﬁnancial support of Polyco and the IDC, has now resulted in MyPlas crossing this next step in the quality journey that can only help garner better respect for SA’s plastic recyclers. Quality standards team – The MyPlas team is chuffed at having succeeded in lifting the standards of the recycling process at their plant in Bellville to an internationally accredited level

12 FEB / MARCH 2019

Polystar Repro-Flex120

ON SHOW

Propak 2019, Hall 5 A11

News Sectorial conferences to lighten up things a bit A NUMBER of trade association conferences are due to take place in South Africa this year and whether you see these as an imbizos, indabas or bosberaads or other, the result is more-or-less the same: the people get together, listen to complicated technical presentations, a few guys ask difﬁcult questions … and then the people socialise and get to know each other a bit better. The latter is arguably the main attraction.

JUST BRIEFLY

IOM³ National Rubber Conference

The Institute of Materials’ bi-annual rubber conference takes place at Cape St Francis from 4-7 April (Thurs-Sun), although the Thursday evening is merely for the early arrivals and the Sunday is reserved for golf or watersports. This will be the 24th edition of the IOM event dating back to the 1970s, making it one of the longest running sector conferences in South Africa. Would-be delegates are urged to note that the IronMan competition is to take place on the same weekend in Port Elizabeth and it’s therefore suggested that you book your ﬂights soonest, like now. For more info, visit www.iom3.co.za

SAPPMA Pipes XII

Next up it’s the SAPPMA Pipes XII conference at the Altron Business Park in Midrand on 27-28 August. As the title suggests, this will be the 12th conference to be presented by the South Africa Plastic Pipe Manufacturers Association. The event is now held every second year, so anyone interested is encouraged to attend now. The focus of the event is, obviously, pipe production but the pipe manufacturers have been joined at the event previously by other interested parties such as suppliers, engineers, speciﬁers and municipal authorities. SAPPMA director Jan Venter and his team need to be complimented for inviting the latter and helping develop use of plastic pipe, which internationally is growing exponentially, the main application being to cater for improved water supply in urban environments. www.sappma.co.za

ARMO Global event

The hosting by ARMSA (Association of Rotational Moulders of Southern Africa) of the global roto moulding event is the big one for the regional roto sector this. Delegates from around the world are expected at the ARMO Global event which ties in with the ARMSA Rotation 2019 conference/exhibition at Sun City from 16-18 September. (MonWed). The ARMO show moves around the world annually and hosting the 2019 event in South Africa is a big step up for the ARMSA team. 14 FEB / MARCH 2019

Black gold – The material is reduced to pieces of about 20mm in the second-stage shredding operation, in the ZTTS unit

Zerma technology ... The shredded material is removed by vibratory discharge and conveyor belt and transferred to the ZTTS second-stage tyre shredder. This shredder is then used to reduce the material into pieces of approximately 20mm. This step helps to separate the tyre rubber from the steel. A combination of cross belt magnetic separators and magnetic drums helps to split the various factions at this stage in the process. During metal separation, about 99% of the total steel content is removed. The steel-free granule can then be packed and used as refuse derived fuel or transferred to the granulating process.

Steel recovery – The shredding technology developed speciﬁcally for tyre processing by Zerma, as opposed to clean-cutting, allows for efﬁcient removal of up to 99% of steel radial material, which is a noteworthy advance. The last metal contamination is eliminated by magnetic drums

Granulating and sifting After shredding and steel separation the tyre shreds are transferred to the granulation process. For granulating of the rubber shreds, Zerma recommends use of its heavy-duty GSH granulators with a special closed H-rotor to reduce the rubber down to a size of <5mm in two steps. Throughout this process the material is classiﬁed on Zerma CS screening machines and the last metal contamination is eliminated by additional magnetic drums.

Zerma Africa: www.zerma.co.za • info@zerma.co.za • +27 (0)11 234 0895 Conveyors, fork-trucks or cranes can be used to move incoming material into the shredders and from there to the next stages of the process; cranes were preferred for this installation as one operator can efﬁciently feed three lines simultaneously, as commissioning work was still underway at the recently upgraded Thai plant

INTUITIVE AND SMART

FAST AND PRECISE

ERGONOMIC AND FUNCTIONAL

LARGE AND EFFICIENT APPEALING AND EMOTIVE VISIONARY AND BOLD

POWERFUL AND DYNAMIC

2019 12-15 , M a rc h 4 and A 2 st , 5 ll Ha ec, tr e N a sr n e C o Exp u rg sb e n n Jo h a

www.hestico.co.za

Large and efficient? It‘s possible with us! Our ALLROUNDER 1120 H combines electric speed and precision with hydraulic power and dynamics. And with our innovative GESTICA control system, operation is even more intuitive and smarter – this is high-end technology that‘s fun to work with! www.arburg.com

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16.01.2019 17:02:23

News Successful delivery and happy customer! Duane van Zyl (Cabletech Marketing’s technical sales representative) with Richard Brady, owner of ISA Components with the FIRST of the new Mars IIS series injection moulding machines to be delivered in SA

New Mars IIS series latest addition to Haitian family Cabletech Marketing installs nine Mars IIS series injection moulding machines in 6 months

generation, optimised core technology CABLETECH Marketing had a very which incorporates a high-efficiency successful year; even with the currency injection unit, high-precision control, instability. Their payment terms and high-standard drive system and the partnerships with financial service a durable clamping system; all providers made investing in injection guaranteed to give even greater moulding and extrusion equipment quality and efficiency of production. an easy choice and a much smoother Changes from Mars II include the screws process for their customers, according and cylinders with an upgraded to Pierre Jurgens, MD of Cabletech design (shorter screws, longer Marketing. screw tips). There are also “We ended 2018 on a “We ended important upgrades in Haitian high!” he says. 2018 on a the system pressure Haitian International Haitian high!” says and injection unit. In is one of the largest manufacturers of injection Pierre Jurgens, moulding machinery. Its MD of Cabletech Mars series has been on the Marketing. market for more than 10 years and has created a legendary record in the industry with over 230 000 Mars units delivered worldwide. The new Mars IIS series was introduced at Chinaplas 2018 and only released for the export market in July 2018. Cabletech Marketing has installed over 60 Mars II series in the past two years and since its launch in July, has installed nine Mars IIS series injection moulding machines. The new IIS series provides next

addition, the oil tanks on the MA IIS have been downsized to lower the consumption costs and increase eco-friendliness. The plug & play version for 70% of all standard applications is available in clamping forces from 600 up to 10 000 kN. Cabletech offers a full turnkey solution, specialising in extrusion, recycling, injection moulding, blow moulding, robots, and ancillaries. With various largescale extrusion and injection moulding projects on the horizon, Cabletech Marketing will start 2019 with a bang.

16 FEB / MAR 2019 Top view of one of ISA’s warehouses where some of the Haitian machines are grouped

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commissioning was all done within a week and since then the machine has been running perfectly. We still need to learn and understand all the new added features of this machine, but so far we are very impressed with the improvements, especially the easy maintenance and the cost of operating,” comments Brady. ISA Components was established in 2002 to supply quality components to the ofﬁce chair and desk manufacturing industry and have gained respect in the ofﬁce furniture industry. Initially, the majority of our products were imported from selected and approved manufacturers in the Far East, as well as sourcing certain stock items from local SA manufactures, Brady explains. “We also invested in a number of our own moulds that we placed with local plastic injection moulding companies.

However, over the past 18 months we have taken the decision to set up our own in-house plastic manufacturing plant. “This has obviously been a big decision for us as we had to invest a large amount of capital into the business to import the necessary machines, as well as all the accessories needed to run the plant efﬁciently,” says Brady. “However, despite the cost and all the time that has been spent on setting up the plant, the effort has been worthwhile and we are very proud of the what we have been able to achieve,” he adds. Brady comments that the investment has also provided ISA Components with an excellent ROI on capital and that the company is now able to use its warehouse space more effectively and are receiving more productivity from its staff, vehicles and distribution channels. The company is now also able to purchase its raw materials (both nylon and polyprop) in bulk and at better prices.

2019/01/17

11:19

www.cabletech.co.za

PPK023-17.pdf

FEB / MAR 2019

Cabletech Marketing grows from strength to strength! 2018 brought exciting changes at Cabletech Marketing, starting with the move to a new home! It was clear that Cabletech’s rented premises were bursting at the seams and becoming much too small to accommodate Cabletech’s growth as it performed better than ever, In May 2018, Cabletech bought their new home in the Lanseria Corporate Estate. The move was met with great enthusiasm and it was a smooth transition. The location of Cabletech’s new home is ideal and the wonderful branding on the outside of the building, as well as the ﬂeet of branded vehicles, cannot be missed. The building boasts large spacious ofﬁces and a huge warehouse, housing all Cabletech’s stock, which includes Shini and Haitian machinery, as well as various spare parts

News

Haitian Mars IIS series commissioned at ISA Components Cabletech Marketing recently commissioned one of the new 320-ton Haitian Mars IIS series injection moulding machines at ISA Components in Midrand, near Johannesburg. “After spending a great deal of time researching all the different brands available on the market as well as considering new versus second-hand machines, we eventually decided to buy and import new equipment. We settled on the Haitian and Shini range of products and have been very happy with our decision. Plus the after sales service we receive from the agents, Cabletech Marketing, has been excellent so far,” says Richard Brady of ISA Components. “The rigging, installation and

www.isagroup.co.za

CMY

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Equipment A ﬁrst in SA! In front of the Chen Hsong Supermaster SM700 two platen injection moulding machine are Marc Gerasimo (sales director for Maritime Marketing), Dario Simoes MD of ÓTIMA) and Jorge Simoes (director at ÓTIMA)

ÓTIMA launched 15 new products in 2018 with more currently in design for 2019

Robotic automation delivers buckets to the conveyor

Chen Hsong machines

a ‘perfect fit’ for Ótima

FEB / MAR 2019

A ﬁrst of its kind in South Africa

MARITIME Marketing recently installed the ﬁrst Chen Hsong Supermaster SM700 two platen injection moulding machine in South Africa. Accompanied by a JM258 and JM468 with robotic automation from the Chen Hsong MK6 range, the trio of machines was the perfect ﬁt for the newly built ÓTIMA factory to support their growing product range. With a large opening stroke, The two platen Supermaster was the ideal choice for ÓTIMA’s larger range of quality houseware products including laundry baskets and dustbins. “The machine also features an advanced Beckhoff controller and an energy-saving servo system. Coupled with a small factory footprint, it ticks all the boxes as a complete, and arguably the best premium Chinese injection moulder on the market in SA,” says Marc Gerasimo, sales director at Maritime Marketing which holds the agency for Chen Hsong

and Asian Plastics in South Africa. ÓTIMA has grown substantially over the last few years with 13 new Chen Hsong injection moulding machines added to their TMC range of injection moulding machines, all supplied by Maritime Marketing. ÓTIMA launched 15 new products in 2018 with more currently in design for 2019. “Exciting times are ahead for ÓTIMA - we are currently in the planning phase of a new 8 000m2 factory and warehouse to support our growing business. Having Maritime to provide quality machines and fast support gives us the peace of mind to carry on with our core business of manufacturing,” adds Dario Simoes, MD of ÓTIMA. Maritime Marketing will be exhibiting at Propak Africa 2019, stand no. C28, Hall 5, from 12-15 March. The highly-rated Chen Hsong MK6 servo machine will be on display. www.maritimemarketing.co.za

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www.otima.co.za

2019/02/07 17:52

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2019/01/14 11:22

Equipment

The CVe Electronic Mould Monitor unit installed in a mould at the parting line

Wireless ‘in-the cloud’ real-time information can be accessed by you wherever you are, even across the world

Latest mould monitoring advancements from Progressive

FEB / MAR 2019

… make it far easier for you to check on the performance of your moulds SINCE its release in 2011, the CVe mould monitoring system from Progressive Components of the USA has been installed on thousands of moulds worldwide. Many companies have been confidently relying on information obtained in real time, enabling plant managers and mould owners to monitor and make decisions regarding their mould assets – whether they be in the factory next door or across the world. The CVe Monitor, an electronic mould monitoring device that is mounted to an injection mould, interfaces with CVe Live wireless devices relaying data to the cloud based CVe Live website, providing unprecedented visibility of a tooling fleet and ultimately ensuring production goals are being met from across the plant or around the world. Recent advancements of CVe Live v3 now feature: • Text alerts to designated recipients when a tool isn’t performing as expected; • ‘Mould Downtime’ and ‘Reject’ tracking give visibility to common issues and trends; • Work Order Tracking added to the existing Preventive Maintenance capability enables users to track and identify recurring issues in order to prevent future unscheduled maintenance; • Performance Tracking & History aggregates data by both the mould and the moulding machine, allowing users to schedule tools for machines they perform best in, thereby optimising production output; and • An expanded, on-board digital ‘filing cabinet’ provides

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the ability to store mould drawings, bills of material, and other non-CVe assets to the database so that relevant information is always available. “The CVe Monitor and CVe Live together provide an intuitive platform that has advanced the way the industry monitors and maintains its tools,” states Sujit Sheth, general manager at Progressive Components in Illinois, USA. “The latest features enable users to access more meaningful KPI and exception reports to use in the decisionmaking process, and provides OEM’s and multi-plant organizations the ability to view data for all or select plants in a single, comprehensive view.” • Progressive Components is represented in South Africa by Mould & Die Solutions. www.m-d-s.co.za Varied reporting functionality means that mould data is readily accessible, and hence eaiser to gauge mould performance

2019/02/08 10:20

It’s time to get real. MONITOR MOULDS IN REAL TIME Progressive’s CVe Monitors are on moulds worldwide. Now this mould monitoring platform continues to advance to enable real time visibility of critical mould productivity: n n n n n

Text alerts when a mould stops performing as expected Reject and downtime tracking for calculating overall equipment eﬀectiveness Work order and mould machine optimisation tracking Status can be viewed on mobile devices and PCs. An unbelievably aﬀordable solution

CVe live displays data in an easy to understand format that allows users to identify mould issues today, that could impact the supply chain tomorrow. Contact us to discuss real visibility for your moulds. Watch the video: www.m-d-s.co.za/cve-live.html

Mould & Die Solutions www.m-d-s.co.za

Call Email

CPT: 021 555 2701 JHB: 010 410 5350 info@m-d-s.co.za

News

SATAS accreditation for Performance Colour Systems

22 FEB / MARCH 2019

First raw material supplier in SA certified to produce products from recycled and post-consumer waste polymer PERFORMANCE Colour Systems (PCS) has been the masterbatch industry leader in Africa for over 35 years. Their dedication to progress and excellence has once again been highlighted by their recent SATAS Certification, making them the first raw material supplier in the country certified to produce products from recycled and post-consumer waste polymer. SATAS or South African Technical Auditing Services, is the certification body that has been entrusted by the country’s major retailers with the responsibility to ensure that all retail bags marked with either a recycled polymer content or post-consumer waste content do in fact meet the specifications being claimed. “We at PCS are cognisant of our responsibility to lower our environmental impact and promote recycling. This coupled with our constant drive to make our customers experience with us as effortless as possible made the SATAS certification essential for our business,” said Jared Khoury, national commercial manager for PCS. “PCS having SATAS certification means that not only will our customers have peace of mind that we are doing things the right way, but they will also not have to have us audited to achieve their own certification,” said Johan Helberg, CEO of Performance Colour Systems.

Performance Colour Systems were recently awarded SATAS certification to produce products from recycled and postconsumer waste polymer. Celebrating the milestone are PCS’s Exco, back from left, Irene Harmse (financial manager), Eben Lindeque (production manager) and Johan Helberg (PCS CEO). Front from left, Jared Khoury (national commercial manager), Chad Francis (Speedbird Investment Holdings, CEO) and Riccardo Diblasio (chief technical officer).

www.coloursystems.co.za

Jojo Tanks giving old tanks a new life A credit of R2/kg of polymer will be provided on all roto-moulded polymer products returned JOJO Tanks has joined forces with The Hinterland Group in a recycling drive, giving old septic tanks a new life. Sebasti Badenhorst, national sales & marketing manager of JoJo explains: “Bring any JoJo Tank at the end of its life to a Hinterland store and we’ll reuse its polymer for use in septic tanks. Plus, you’ll get a discount on a brand new tank.

It’s a win-win situation, and part of JoJo’s commitment to reusing, recycling and creating sustainable products.” As JoJo celebrates their 40th anniversary this year, with over two million JoJo tanks dotted around South Africa’s landscape, they have formalised their sustainability commitment. All JoJo water tanks are manufactured with virgin polymer and a food grade inner liner, with all the polymer being recyclable. In fact, JoJo ensures all its own waste is recycled. Recycled polymer is used in the manufacture of suitable products such as septic and conservancy tanks. “If tanks are damaged through say a forklift accident then they can often

be repaired via plastic welding, which clients can chat to us about,” says Sebasti, “and we encourage them to recycle polymer products that are perceived to be damaged beyond repair or at the end of their life. We can use the material again.” A credit of R2/kg of polymer will be provided on all roto-moulded polymer products returned to partner stores as a trade in on a replacement JoJo product. JoJo will then collect these products and ensure the polymer is recycled and reused. The Hinterland Group have agreed to facilitate these transactions and partner with JoJo in the handling of these products.

Bring any JoJo Tank at the end of its life to a Hinterland store and its polymer will be recycled for use in septic tanks. Plus, you’ll get a discount on a brand new tank

www.jojotanks.co.za

News

The INTAREMA 1714 TVEplus technology with laser ﬁlter at Trio Pellets is the largest Intarema machine in South Africa, with a maximum output of 1 400kg/h of material, able to deal with 100% print/heavy print with a moisture content of up to 8%

Trio Pellets commission

largest Intarema machine in SA

Top quality equipment producing top quality material

24 FEB / MARCH 2019

TRIO Pellets recently invested in purchasing the latest INTAREMA 1714 TVEplus technology with laser ﬁlter from Relloy SA, agents for Erema. The machine was installed and commissioned in November 2018 and is now the largest Intarema machine in South Africa, with a maximum output of 1 400kg/h of material, able to deal with 100% print/heavy print with a moisture content of up to 8%. The new machine, together with the other two machines, will increase Trio Pellets’ capacity to 2.2 tons per hour. Trio Pellets bought its ﬁrst EREMA 90 TVE machine in 2006 then the second EREMA 1108 TVE in 2013; both machines produce around 820 per hour of clean, high quality recycled LDPE.

The new machine, together with two other machines, will increase Trio Pellets’ capacity to 2.2 tons per hour. Trio pellets have also invested in a Tecnofer wash plant with its own water treatment facility and a throughput of 2.6 tons per hour of clean LDPE. “The INTAREMA 1714 TVE PLUS gives the best ﬁltration and produces a high quality product. It’s also equipped with the latest MVR monitoring system which indicates the MFI on a batch basis - which in effect measures the quality inline during the production process,” says Trio Pellets’ Jakes Jacobs. The patented extruder system INTAREMA TVEplus sets new standards in the recycling of materials

that are difficult to process such as heavily printed films and/or very moist materials. This is made possible through ultrafine filtration, thorough melt homogenisation and high-performance degassing in a single step. The proven basic principle of TVEplus technology that melt filtration takes place upstream of extruder degassing, means you can realise end products which have outstanding high quality and which can contain a considerably higher share of recycled pellets. Counter Current – a groundbreaking innovation In the past the material inside the cutter/compactor turned in the same direction as the extruder: forwards.

INTAREMA 1714 TVEplus, average output capacity in kg/h*

PE-LD, PE-LLD

PE-HD

min.

max.

min.

max.

min.

max.

min.

max.

1000

1400

900

1200

1400

1000

1400

* Depending on material properties such as residual moisture, print, degree of contamination, etc.

The Erema-patented Counter Current technology now changes the direction of rotation inside the cutter/compactor: the plastic material thus moves in the opposite direction to that of the extruder screw. A simple effect with a major impact. Because the relative speed of the material in the intake zone, i.e. when passing from the cutter/compactor to the extruder, increases to such an extent that the extruder acts in the same way as a sharp edge which literally “cuts up” the plastic. The result: the extruder handles more material in a shorter time. Thanks to the enhanced material intake plastic can additionally be processed even at lower temperatures at a high throughput. Fully in keeping with higher productivity, flexibility and reliability.

Dean Toi (MD of Relloy SA) with Darius and Jovan Jacobs (Directors of Trio Pellets) and Relloy technicians Pierre le Grange and Taner Toi who assisted in commissioning the INTAREMA 1714 TVEplus at Trio Plastics

• Call Trio Pellets at Tel: 016 986 2158/9 or 072 995 5007, or email jovan@trioplastics.co.za www.relloysa.co.za, Tel: 011 452 3724

WE DRIVE THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY.

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019 25

From humble beginning to a significant player in recycling industry The family-run Trio Pellets business was established by Jakes Jacobs in 2006, initially as a humble buy-back centre in Vanderbijlpark. Nowadays, the dynamic team of father Jakes, sons Jovan and Darius and Louw Beeslaar have expanded the business significantly. Regular upgrading of ancillary equipment at Trio Pellets and maintenance is carried out with great success by Relloy SA during the year.

An output of 1 400kg/h! Relloy technicians Pierre le Grange and Taner Toi look justifiably proud of the Intarema 1714TVE Plus with laser filter and high performance degassing

YOUR LOCAL EREMA CONTACT RELLOY S.A. (Pty) Ltd P.O.Box 8190, ZA-1613 Edenglen www.relloy.co.za

Whether it is inhouse, postconsumer or bottle recycling: you can only close loops in a precise and profitable way if machines are perfectly tuned for the respective application. Count on the number 1 technology from EREMA when doing so: over 5000 of our machines and systems produce around 14 million tonnes of high-quality pellets like this every year – in a highly efficient and energy-saving way. That’s Careformance!

CAREFORMANCE We care about your performance.

News

Technology revolution is Prepare employees to make the transition to a radically different way of working

26 FEB / MARCH 2019

By Ryan Crawford, IT Manager, Bridgestone South Africa PEOPLE working in the manufacturing industry tend to see the Fourth Industrial Revolution as yet another nail in the coffin of an already weakened industry. But without downplaying the challenges, there is another view. Global figures show that manufacturing is caught in a particularly vicious bind. Productivity is continually rising, which means that fewer people are needed to produce more goods more cheaply. At the same time, demand for these goods is relatively inelastic beyond a given point: for each 1% the price declines, demand increases by only 0.7%. This is all very relevant to a country like South Africa with a large and growing population and high unemployment. But even though the proportion of the work force employed in manufacturing is reducing, these jobs are still worth having. No other jobs have a higher multiplier effect: because manufacturing has so many linkages into the economy, every rand invested in manufacturing promotes growth in businesses servicing manufacturers. An additional fly in the ointment is that the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR),

which is expected to see robotics, artiﬁcial intelligence and the Internet of Things become mainstream, will inevitably further reduce manufacturing’s potential to provide large numbers of jobs. Prepare existing employees to make the transition It’s at this point that we need to re-examine the issue. Like much received wisdom, it is true but only partly so. Granted, if 4IR unfolds as we expect, we will see increasing numbers of existing jobs in part or in whole taken over by machines. But it would probably be accurate rather to say that

we will see increasing numbers of tasks taken over by machines because we are a long way off any machine being able to counterfeit the human ability to reason and, crucially, to interact on a personal level. The analyst ﬁrm, Gartner, predicts that while artiﬁcial intelligence will automate 1.8 million people out of work by 2020, but will create 2.3 million new ones - a gain of 500 000. However, these new jobs will only be available to those with the right set of skills. To put it bluntly, unskilled jobs are most at risk and that is the rub, particularly for us here in South Africa. Generally speaking,

Africa Tech Week to give insights on Industry 4.0 THE city of Cape Town, in partnership with the department of science and technology (DST), will host the inaugural Africa Tech Week in Cape Town from 4-5 March, introducing African small businesses to digital solutions and future business strategies and development. The conference offers deep actionable insight and actual solutions

for tangible business strategy in response to the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0). The objective of Africa Tech Week is to accelerate inclusive regional growth that beneﬁts all: a fundamental element of any modern strategy to develop democracy and social cohesion. “Take a deep breath and join Africa Tech Week as we guide you with a roadmap to the future informed by state-of-theart, evidencebased knowledge and best practice implemented by global authorities.

Learn how to make more money, how to save more money, how to build harmonious urban environments, how to uplift communities, and how to transform Africa,” says Africa Tech Week and Topco Media CEO Ralf Fletcher. “What worked before is facing ultimate challenges and will not work in the future – organisations can either struggle and fail or adapt and thrive. Digital disruption does not have to be a phenomenon that happens to us, where Africa is simply an observer. This signiﬁcant moment in human history is an opportunity for African organisations to embrace, harness and utilise digital disruption in a considered, strategic manner, and take advantage of technology to innovate and create solutions that drive positive and inclusive change.” www.africatechweek.co.za

NGR Inse

actually about people knowledge which, when perfected, will our work force is relatively unskilled and is play a vital role in preparing our people to thus vulnerable. transition to a new type of job, likely one that For companies with existing work forces, will involve the higher value, relationshipthe ﬁrst challenge is thus to prepare building service end of the existing employees to make business. the transition to a radically “It would A key competency to different way of working probably be accurate master will be that of in a radically different rather to say that we will being able to unlearn work environment. see increasing numbers of old and learn new, The second will be to tasks taken over by machines enabling one to be far play a role alongside because we are a long way more agile in adapting government in off any machine being able to to constantly changing somehow ensuring counterfeit the human ability roles and skills that our deeply ﬂawed to reason and, crucially, required. It is no longer educational system is to interact on a only about what you retooled to start producing personal level.” know at any given point in a new generation of workers time, but rather how quickly with skills suitable for the new you can adapt and learn. workplace. It will take planning and innovative When it comes to existing workers, thinking to overcome the challenges of speaking from my own experience at helping the existing workforce to transition, Bridgestone, it is clear that traditional skills’ and to ensure the educational system training is not going to be effective. We are produces the right skills. currently piloting new ways of transmitting

In conclusion, a word of caution. Anything to do with technology, and 4IR is supremely technology-driven, is susceptible to hype. This means that the expected changes can seem as though they are just around the corner. In fact, it will be a long time before all the existing manufacturing facilities and processes are fundamentally changed. This kind of change requires massive investment, and if our experience of previous technology changes is anything to go by, it will not be smooth either. We still have time, but the time to start planning how you will prepare your manufacturing facility - and especially its people - for the world of 4IR is now. www.bridgestone.co.za

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019 27

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Working for a better future www.ngr-world.com

Tel: +27 11 803 0333 mervynm@safrique.com MEMBER OF NEXT GENERATION GROUP

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2019/01/30 10:31 28.01.19 17:03

News

Technology tie-up – Alexander Crone-Rawe of Günter of Germany, manufacturer of bag-making machines, was hosted at an in-house show in October last year by Gerhart Mischinger of Technimac at the SA bagmaking machine manufacturer’s premises in Kew, Johannesburg. Technimac and Günter have been cooperating for over three decades. Likewise, Günter and its European partner Contec of Turkey, have stepped up their tie-up with the result being the high-efﬁciency Contec Wicketer bagmaker which was displayed at the Technimac show; a similar machine will be exhibited at Technimac’s premises during Propak Expo in March

Cooperation with Günter, Contec boosts Technimac

28 FEB / MARCH 2019

SA bag machine maker to show further advances at Propak Africa TECHNIMAC is yet again planning to show some significant advances in bag-making technology during Propak Africa in March at their premises, specifically in the areas of production speed, efficiency with reduced maintenance and added options. With the evolution of production machinery and the critical need to achieve high efficiency with minimal if not zero downtime, developers need to access multiple talents and specialities during the machine development phase. These types of varied skills are not simply ‘on tap’. With that in mind, Technimac of Johannesburg has, through its vision of creating a network of like-minded bag-making machine development fundis, almost surprisingly joined other global leaders in this area. Through its partnership with Günter of Germany, Technimac has been able to access and share technology for well over three decades. Günter has a technology agreement with Contec of Turkey which has seen further real progress being made in the field of R &

D. The Contec machines’ performanceto-price ratio has not only proved popular in Africa, but all over the Globe. According to Gerhart Mischinger of Technimac, the ‘alliance’ with Günter allowed for cooperation with other European machine makers over the years, some of whom are not that wellknown in South Africa, but are established leaders in their specific fields. The most relevant of these tie-ups, in the African context, has been with Contec, based at Izmir on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast. The strong partnership between Günter, Contec and Technimac has gathered momentum through significant commitment and investment by all parties. The partners invested over a million Euros in 2017 in a production facility for components. “The advantages are obvious: the production of our own machine components is not only better suited to our requirements, it also makes us independent of external supplies and delivery schedules,” said Alexander Crone-Rawe, managing director of

Günter, during his visit to South Africa last year. Other investments followed said Crone-Rawe, who is also involved in the management team at Contec in Izmir. Günter also extended its production hall at Zwickau in Germany last year. Game changer As far as Africa is concerned though pooling their capabilities and resources between Günter, Contec and Technimac has proven to be a bit of a gamechanger in this high specialisation ﬁeld. “Through this alliance, Technimac has advanced from a local manufacturer of a limited range of machinery to a supplier with access to an international supply chain in terms of manufacturing and knowhow transfer. The partners have agreed to an exchange of know-how and a co-ordinated use of all their and our manufacturing facilities,” said Mischinger. “This alliance also signals and reafﬁrms Technimac’s commitment to the South African Plastics Industry going forward,” he added.

Plasti-Tech supplies HDPE pipes to Warmbaths PLASTI-TECH has won a large order to supply various sizes of high density polyethylene pipes (HDPE) and fittings for the upgrade of Warmbaths Forever Resort’s pump stations. “The client made contact with us in March for the supply of HDPE pipes and fittings. The order was a bit urgent but we managed to meet the client’s deadline accordingly,” explains PlastiTech managing member Brad Chamont. Plasti-Tech has since supplied product worth in excess of R300 000 to date and Chamont estimates that the total project supply value will reach over R1-million. The project, which is still ongoing, will soon move onto Phase 2, which will include some large bore HDPE piping. Chamont notes that HDPE pipes and fittings are quickly becoming the material of choice for a wide variety of industry applications for the several benefits they offer.

www.plastitech.co.za

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2019/01/21 19:57

News

The ultimate test in technology

The nine teams in the South African Sasol Solar Challenge drove a collective 16 249km, stopping in 18 towns, starting in Pretoria and ﬁnishing in Cape Town. One of the teams taking part in the race was South Africa’s entry from Tshwane University of Technology with its car – SunChaser 3

30 FEB / MARCH 2019

South African Sasol Solar Challenge 2018 THE South African Sasol Solar Challenge takes place every two years and sees local and international teams from across the world compete against each other over eight-days. The teams and their solar-powered cars rack up as much distance as they can on loops between Pretoria and Cape Town. All competing teams have to design and build a solar-powered vehicle that is entered into one of four categories: Challenger Class, Adventure Class, Cruiser Class, and Sustainability Fleet – with each category having different rules and objectives. The Sasol Solar Challenge is not only the ultimate test of technology but it also promotes science, engineering, math and technology in the form of a mobile classroom that stops at every school who participates, showing the different ways in which these subjects are applied correctly in real life. To up the ante even further, the teams are run like a professional racing team; they need to work together to

raise money to compete, they are expected to create and handle their own marketing and logistics, analyse the route’s weather, be familiar with the road conditions as well as demonstrate their design, manufacturing and strategy skills. Defending champions of 2016, the Dutch Nuon Solar team once again took the winning title for 2018 with their updated version, the Nuna9S solar vehicle, which completed a distance of just over 4 030km. Japan’s Tokai University Solar Team took second place and the Swiss Solar Energy Racers came in third. The winning Nuna9S is the most intelligent version of the Nuna ever made. With the help of an innovative radar system, Nuna9S can adjust the driving characteristics to its surroundings so that it can drive as sustainably as possible. For instance, Nuna9S can recognise trafﬁc and inclinations of the road and is able to adapt its velocity as a response. With

the use of this technique, Nuna9s can drive more efﬁciently with the power of the sun. Together the nine teams drove 16 249km, stopping in 18 towns, starting in Pretoria and ﬁnishing in Cape Town.

Defending champions of 2016, the Dutch Nuon Solar team took the winning title for 2018 with their updated version, the Nuna9S solar vehicle



FAN

Japan’s Tokai University Solar Team took second place

South Africa’s entry One of the teams taking part in the race is the Tshwane University of Technology with its car – SunChaser 3. Building a car that uses solar panels is impressive but the TUT team has decided that it will be building most of the required components itself. Team leader Johannes de Vries says that the team has a great understanding of the requirements of the race and that experiences and experiences from past races have equipped it with the necessary skills. “This year is deﬁnitely different,

because of the more demanding regulations in terms of the solar panel size reduction. There is more focus on reducing the weight of the car since there is less energy available to move the car. It will be smaller in size and more aerodynamic compared to the previous car. We also experienced that the more we work on the design we gain better clarity and understanding of how to improve the design. I am conﬁdent that we are well resourced for this year’s race, and believe that we can best challenge the other teams,” de Vries said.

www.solarchallenge.org.za FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019 31

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2019/01/11 11:01

News

The RotoVetti – an award-winning local solution

32 FEB / MARCH 2019

Design following purpose and Tool,” he says. “The idea was to AN award-winning design by Clive be able to interlock the units together, Robertson, CEO of RotoFlo Holdings, allowing walls and various shapes to has taken South Africa’s horse-riding be built.” circuit by storm – with around 5 000 The Lego Block concept was units sold to date. considered but was not suitable for The success story began when windy conditions. Nico came up with Robertson tried to source cavalettis the ‘dovetail’ interlocking concept for his grandchildren’s horse-riding which worked very well. Simple design lessons. The commonly available, local features were applied, like big radii, and imported units were expensive, a well-polished mould for good gloss poorly designed and also poorly finish; excellent mould split lines and a finished. discreet venting hole. Cavalettis are small jumps, originally The mould was CNCmade of wood, used for basic machined out of solid horse training. Most aluminium. Once the consist of rails that are It’s rounded CNC programme about 10cm wide and corners, positive was loaded, it 3m long. The rails interlocking pins and took only a few are inserted into colourful options ensure days to complete fixed standards, an affordable, simple, the mould. The usually made in safe and lightweight RotoVetti is an “X” shape, that product that can be rotomoulded from commonly are quickly assembled & LLDPE rotomoulding designed to be placed taken down. powder in several at one of three preset bright colours. heights ranging from “A show jumping a few centimetres off the arena will always have brightly ground to a maximum of about coloured jump poles and colourful 46 to 61cm. wings advertising sponsors, often So Robertson decided to rise to the plants and small shrubs are also challenge and design his own. added. All these are designed to “I wanted something a bit different, challenge the horse and rider,” with more than one single purpose. Robertson explains. So I set about getting design ideas The RotoVetti was entered in the from Nico Hickley of Hickley Mould

Association of Rotomoulders of SA (ARMSA), Annual Design Competition and achieved 2nd place, thanks to the simple application of design techniques and its practical approach to manufacture. It more than adequately serves its purpose, looks good and is lightweight, weighing in at just 1.4kg. It’s rounded corners, positive interlocking pins and colourful options ensure an affordable, simple, safe and lightweight product that can be quickly and easily assembled and taken down. “To freshen up or improve an existing product it sometimes only takes simple design features to make it look very different and more pleasing!” comments Robertson. The RotoVetti’s components ensure safe riding conditions for horse and rider as they can be used to build

The RotoVetti’s rounded corners, positive interlocking pins and colourful options ensure an affordable, simple, safe and lightweight product that can be quickly and easily assembled and taken down

www.rofoﬂo.co.za The RotoVetti’s components can be used to build the cavaletti’s walls and wings easily, obstacles can be colour co-ordinated and even branded, if necessary

PHOTOS: CLIVE & BRIAN ROBERTSON

the cavaletti walls and wings easily, obstacles can be colour co-ordinated and even branded, if necessary. “Our RotoVetti does far more than the common cavaletti; its allows units to be interlinked to become almost a ‘brick’ for building walls and pillars, or just locking them together on the ground. RotoVetti allows interlinking on all surfaces, creating different heights and levels,” he explains. Since October 2017 the approximately 5 000 units sold to date are serving to establish the RotoVetti as a market leader.

A show jumping arena will always have brightly coloured jump poles and colourful wings advertising sponsors FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019 33

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News

SA drowning in its own waste

- are our regulators taking this crisis seriously?

State of Waste Report paints a grim picture

By the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA) SOUTH Africans dispose of enough municipal solid waste to fill an entire football field 10 metres deep, every day. Every single person of our total population of 57 million generates up to 2,5kg of waste per day, on average, depending on his or her level of income. The disposal of such waste at properly licensed and regulatory compliant sanitary landfills is generally accepted as being a safe and economical option throughout the world. South Africans generate roughly 54,2 million tons of general (municipal, commercial, and industrial) waste per year. Of this 54,2 million of tons of waste, a maximum of only 10% is recycled or recovered for other uses, whilst at least 90% is landfilled or dumped. These statistics (2017) are among some of the more concerning insights reported in the latest and second draft of the State of Waste Report (SoWR) 1, issued by the Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA). The report further highlights that approximately 94% of the 48 million tons of hazardous waste generated in 2017 was also directed to landfill sites. Metropolitan municipalities in Gauteng have not licenced a single new 34 FEB / MARCH 2019

CONSULTING (Pty) Ltd.

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landfill facility for 24 years, and during this time we have lived under an illusion that we need to (and can feasibly) recover 70% of our municipal waste streams generated. As the Institute of Waste Management of Southern Africa (IWMSA), we have also witnessed a serious decline in the standard of landfill operation and management throughout South Africa, particularly at municipal level, which in turn creates a domino effect and contributes to the dwindling capacity and eventual closure of these facilities. The reality is that South Africa is in a waste crisis that requires immediate attention and action. Apart from the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and the City of Ekurhuleni, most (if not all) other major cities and local municipalities across South Africa have no legal airspace left, are in serious trouble and are generally operating in ‘crisis mode’. Not only do the majority of South African municipalities not comply with their regulatory obligations in terms of the operation of their landfills, but also with the gazetted norms and standards for the development of such facilities. Generally, it will take any municipality at least five years to obtain a waste licence, and an additional 12 months for the construction of a new landfill facility, without any public opposition to such a facility, which the City of Cape Town and various other municipalities have learned over the past 20 years and are still learning. In an ideal world, various waste streams should be seen as a ‘resource’, however, there needs to be a viable commercial need for the resource or commodity. Various municipal and hazardous waste streams have significant calorific value and could be used in the generation of renewable energy, alleviating pressure on conventional power generation facilities, while at the same time providing part of a solution to the landfill crisis in South Africa. In reality, however, it will take any private or public entity at least 10 years to licence and construct a large scale waste-to-energy facility in South Africa. Should Government act decisively on the waste crisis now, we will most likely only have a workable, sustainable solution in place within the next 10 years. From a waste perspective, South Africa is in self-destruct mode, and if recent history is to be extrapolated, we will be leaving nothing behind but significant air and water pollution for generations to come. www.iwmsa.co.za

Pick n Pay trials

recycling vending machines in V&A Waterfront PICK n Pay has introduced two reverse vending machines near its V&A Waterfront store into which people can throw their discarded waste for recycling. The trial project will run from 1 November 2018 to 28 February 2019. To use the reverse recycling machines, consumers simply need to follow the prompts displayed on the machine. The machines have been programmed to accept commonly used products that can be recycled in South Africa and recognise these products by their barcodes. Should the machine not recognise a

Suzanne Ackerman-Berman and Andre Nel from Pick n Pay demonstrate how the reverse vending machine works

barcode, it will be returned. Consumers are asked to then discard the product in the waste bin positioned next to each machine. Every day, the barcodes of products in the waste bin are sent to Imagined Earth where they are researched. Should the packaging be found to be recyclable, the machines will be programmed to accept the new barcode in the future. The consumer who tried to recycle the product will be notified of this fact via SMS. Depending on the size of the packaging waste deposited, each machine has a

capacity to carry between 650 and 750 units. That equates to roughly 1000 200ml soft drinks cans or 350 to 400 2-litre bottles. The packaging waste is then sorted offsite for the different recycling processes. At the end of the three-month trial period, the barcoded data collected by the machines will be used to analyse the volume and type of waste that is being discarded. Incentives have been offered to consumers who use the recycling vending machines.

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019 35

MBT South Africa Distributors of Plastic Raw Materials Paul Gripper Carlotta Stafford Helga Ferreira Steven Coates Tiago dos Ramos Head office Cape Town

Trading Manager (Cape Regional Sales) (Zambia, Malawi and Lesotho Sales) (Gauteng, Zim, Moz, & Angola Sales ) (Gauteng, Botswana, Namibia & Swaziland Sales ) (KZN & Free State Sales) Johannesburg Office

www.mbtsa.co.za

082 456 6659 082 600 7403 072 573 4221 063 699 5105 082 775 5344 +27 (11) 455 2889 +27 (21) 556 7787

News

Wittmann Battenfeld at Propak Africa with new EcoPower Xpress New, highly dynamic all-electric series with high injection dynamism, up to 1,500mm/s² acceleration

36 FEB / MARCH 2019

WITTMANN Battenfeld will present its new EcoPower Xpress 400/3300+ all-electric high-speed machine at Propak Africa 2019 from 12-15 March at the Expo Centre Nasrec, Johannesburg. The new EcoPower Xpress

400/3300 is designed primarily for the packaging industry and thin-walled applications. It has clamping force sizes of 400 and 500 tons with injection units in three sizes for injection speeds of up to 600mm per second

EcoPower Xpress 400 – the new, highly dynamic all-electric series

and injection pressures of up to 2 500 bar. It replaces the TM Xpress, the high-speed hydraulic toggle lever machine model from Wittmann Battenfeld. A special feature is its high injection dynamism with up to 1,500mm/s² acceleration. At Propak Africa, Wittmann Battenfeld will demonstrate the functionality of this highly dynamic machine model by manufacturing HDPE closing caps within a cycle time of 2.7 seconds in a 96-cavity mould. The caps will be cooled with the cap cooler and then deposited in boxes. The EcoPower Xpress is a

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2018/09/14 11:41

IPEX

RIGHT: Toggle lever bolts

LEFT: Highly dynamic ejector for quickest demoulding (PHOTO: PLASTISUD) INSET: At Propak Africa, Wittmann Battenfeld will manufacture HDPE closing caps within a cycle time of 2.7 seconds in a 96-cavity mould

fully electric high-speed machine with its highly dynamic drive axes for injection, closing and opening laid out for fast movement as well as extreme control accuracy. The injection process is handled by a rack-and-pinion gear unit driven via a dual motor system. Thanks to the minimal rotatory masses involved in this drive solution, extreme acceleration and speed values can be achieved which exceed those of conventional hydraulic solutions and their electric screw drives. In combination with the high-precision control of its servo-electric drive, the high-speed injection aggregate of the EcoPower Xpress reaches ultimate precision, repeatability, acceleration and speed. All of this comes with an extremely low energy consumption, even further reduced by KERS, the kinetic energy recovery system patented by Wittmann Battenfeld which transforms deceleration energy into electrical energy and uses it within the machine.

A typical feature of the EcoPower Xpress is its modular concept. The machine’s clamping and injection units are self-contained modules and can be freely combined with each other as parts of a modular system. Various technical details have been adjusted to the specific requirements of thin-wall and packaging technology. For example, the distance between tie-bars and the opening stroke of the EcoPower Xpress have been significantly increased compared to the TM Xpress. This provides ideal conditions for the production of relatively flat parts in multi-cavity moulds as well as bulky hollow vessels such as buckets with IML applications. • Wittmann Battenfeld is represented in South Africa by Ipex.

www.ipex.co.za www.wittmann-group.com FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019 37

11:41

IPEX ad '019 02 (half pg).indd 78

2019/02/04 12:46

News Close to 400 ‘lolly bins’ (made from PVC pipe off-cuts donated by DPI Plastics) are being installed at selected Blue Flag beaches as well as other coastal areas throughout South Africa

Lolly stick bins help reduce major pollutant on SA beaches

Installed at selected Blue Flag beaches and other coastal areas A JOINT collaboration between Seadog Sport, Plastics|SA and DPI Plastics has led to the creation of a new retrieval project aimed at reducing the amount of plastics sticks and straws found on the beaches of South Africa. According to John Kieser, sustainability manager at Plastics|SA, plastic sticks such as those typically used for earbuds, sucker/ lollypops and straws, continue to be one of the biggest pollutants on our country’s urban beaches. “We’ve had great success with removing discarded ﬁshing line from beaches with our Fishing Line Bins which are made from PVC pipes donated by DPI Plastics. These bins were installed at beaches along South Africa’s coastline and encourage anglers to properly discard their ﬁshing line instead of leaving it on the beach where it could entangle birds and sea life. Building on the success of this project, close to 400 38

‘lolly bins’ (made from PVC pipe off-cuts that were again donated by DPI Plastics) are being installed at selected Blue Flag beaches as well as other coastal areas throughout South Africa,” Kieser says. The white lolly bins are easily visible and the black and brightly coloured labels highlight their usage. According to Kieser, members of the public are urged to help pick up any of these sticks they see lying on the beaches and throw them into the bins. “These sticks are made from HDPE and PP which are both recycled in South Africa. If enough of these sticks are collected, they can be used to create a wide range of different products, such as non-food grade packaging, rope, toys, piping, recycling bins and other household items,” he explains. www.plasticsinfo.co.za

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

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Agents for Rapid Granulator FdB Consulting (Pty) Ltd. based in Johannesburg has been appointed the sole distributors for the South Africa and Sub-Sahara Market for Rapid Granulator AB, the Swedish-based world leader in plastics granulation technology.

Vishva Exim at

Propak in March

Latest technology in flying knife bottom seal and side seal machines LEADING manufacturer and exporter of plastic processing machinery, Vishva Exim, will be showcasing the latest technology in flying knife bottom seal machines and high-speed side seal machines at Propak 2019 in March. Established in 2006 by Uday Shah, an entrepreneur with 25 years’ experience in the plastics industry, Vishva Exim’s range of machinery includes extruders, bag makers, slitters and recycling lines. The company’s Veloss brand is popular in South Africa. Vishva Exim recently opened a subsidiary in Cape Town – Vishva Africa – headed up by Iain Mackintosh. Iain can be contacted at email: vishvaafrica@gmail.com or mobile: 083 324 7293. “We are going to showcase our latest technology in the flying knife bottom seal machine with dual servo. This machine helps to increase speed and accuracy and

lowers the maintenance costs of the machine. We are also showcasing our high speed side seal machine which operates at 300 strokes per minute,” said Uday Shah, managing director of Vishva Exim. “These two machines are top of the line machines when it comes to quality, production and workmanship,” he added. Vishva Exim has also developed a new model in recycling lines which is ideal for small players who can recycle their factory waste. “The line has an output range of 50 to 60kg/hr which is perfect for players who are processing waste of 10 to 20 tons per month,” Shah said.

Vishva Exim recently opened a subsidiary in Cape Town – Vishva Africa – headed up by Iain Mackintosh. Iain can be contacted on 083 324 7293.

www.vishvaafrica.co.za FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019 39

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Association News

PHOTOS: LOWRIE SHARP

Brian Sole of Sasol with Loutjie de Jongh of Mpact share a hilarious moment (it appears)

Solomon David in conversation with Ivan Horowitz of MBT

David Rule of PlastiColors, George Diliyannis of Safripol, Willi Meier of Bantex and Mayuri Naidoo of Mpact Polymers

Time for the plastics industry Imperative that plastics industry engage government, resume position as a critical role player in society

THE global plastics industry is having to contend with ongoing negative messages and mounting pressure to minimise the environmental impact of plastics packaging, according to outgoing Plastics/SA chairman, Bernhard Mahl, at the association’s AGM in November “There is a huge gap between industry telling the positive plastics story and the visible evidence of plastics ending their valuable life in the ocean. Plastics industry leaders believe that plastics play a role in helping save the environment, but it has little to zero impact on the growing sentiment to refuse or even ban single-use plastics,” said Bernhard. “It is time for the plastics industry to be more pro-active, to determine the public agenda, take part in public debates and form public opinion on plastics - as the material of the future,” he added. “For a long time plastics have been the scapegoat. It is imperative that we engage government and to resume 40 FEB / MAR 2019

our position as a critical role player in society and in the government space. I am not saying that it will be easy, but it will deﬁnitely be worth it!” Bernhard concluded. Every cloud has a silver lining Anton Hanekom, Plastics|SA’s executive director, acknowledged that some good has also come from the pressures and challenges the industry was forced to contend with this past year. “With the world’s negative focus on single use plastics and marine litter, Industry has been forced to be proactive and look at things differently, with Design for Recycling becoming an integral part of manufacturing. It has also resulted in more successful collaboration across the value chain as brand owners, retailers and governments seek new technologies to solve industry challenges and change behaviour as we collectively address the global marine litter,” Anton said.

SAPPMA expands its reach into Africa and the world Imperative that plastic pipes manufactured in SA for

OVER the past few years, the Southern African Plastic Pipe Manufacturers Association (SAPPMA) has slowly but surely been expanding its inﬂuence beyond South Africa’s borders as this voluntary, selfregulatory body continues to attract members who are also operating in neighbouring, subSaharan countries. According to Jan Venter, CEO of SAPPMA, both the association’s name and logo are being recognised as a guarantee of top quality HDPE and PVC pipes that are sold in Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The SAPPMA brand and mission are also being communicated into the rest of Africa and the Middle East thanks to Abu Dhabibased NSF International, who Classifieds Oct/Nov'18.indd 92

Assocation News.indd 40

provides independent, thirdparty testing and certiﬁcation of plastic ingredients, materials, ﬁttings and piping. Operating in a global village The world has truly become a global village. Borders and distances between countries are no longer a barrier to entry or to conducting business. For this reason, it is imperative for the plastic pipes that are being manufactured in South Africa (and are being exported to the rest of the continent, and perhaps even the world) to meet international standards of quality,” says Venter. Christian Kurdy, MD of NSF says: “More and more consumers are looking for safe and quality products. This has become the norm in the US and Western Europe and is

2018/09/19 10:31

2019/02/07 17:54

Mark Berry (Safripol) and Rudi Verwey (Brenntag) enjoying a social time after the AGM

Douw Steyn, Mike Myers of Expanded Polystyrene Association of SA and Oscar Baruffa of PETCO Charlotte Kemp being thanked for her presentation by Kirtida Bhana

to be more pro-active 2019 Board of Directors The new Board of Directors who will be responsible for leading Plastics|SA in 2019 is: Wayne Wiid (ARMSA), Mike Meyers (EPSASA), Jeremy Mackintosh (PCA), Mxolisi Khutama (PCA), Bob Bond (PISA), Bernhard Mahl (Safripol), Jan Venter (SAPPMA), Johann Conradie (SAPRO), Gerome Marrian (Sasol), Geoff Barends and Cicelia van Rooi (representing importers) and Anton Hanekom (Plastics/SA executive director).

Plastics/SA Board members for 2019 – Bob Bond, Bernard Mahl, Anton Hanekom, Geoff Barends, Gerome Marrian, Jeremy Mackintosh, Mxolisi Khutama (newly appointed Dr Vincent Khumalo Board Chairperson), Johann Conradie, Mike Myers, Wayne Wiid of the CSIR

www.plasticsinfo.co.za

FEB / MAR 2019

export to meet international standards of quality most certainly a differentiating factor in countries like South Africa. It is important to consistently produce high quality plastic piping products and being a member of SAPPMA sets these products apart from the inferior ones.” Although they are primarily focused on the Middle East, NSF decided to join SAPPMA as part of their efforts to promote the protection and improvement of human health and the environment, which happens to be NSF International’s recognized mission statement. “We are actively engaged in promoting quality, safety and sustainability of plastic pipes and strive to join forces with other organization which share the same vision,” NSF’s

Kurdy explains. He adds that belonging to SAPPMA unlocks beneﬁts for both parties. “On one side we are able to interact with local stakeholders, share experiences, access market intelligence and join forces in promoting safe and quality products whilst, on the other side SAPPMA and its members can beneﬁt from our global, 50 years +, expertise in the plastic industry”. Christian Kurdy, Managing Director of NSF

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unfilled and filled compounds

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Assocation News.indd 41

2019/02/07 17:54

Association News

A beach cleanup in progress at Robben Island as part of the 2018 International Coastal Clean-Up Day

Results of 2018 International

Coastal Clean-Up released Increase in the amount of disposable diapers found illegally dumped

www.plasticsinfo.co.za

THE results of the 2018 International Coastal Clean-up have just been released. During the 2018 event, 19 563 volunteers collected 241 425 items nationally in audited clean-ups that took place along the country’s 2 500km coastline. Although this is the ofﬁcial ﬁgure, many more volunteers and kilograms of litter were removed at unaudited clean-ups that took place throughout South Africa and throughout the month of September.

www.coastalcleanupdata.org

Top pollutants on South Africa’s beaches According to John Kieser, sustainability manager of Plastics|SA and Western Cape ICC coordinator of this annual event, the most recent results showed that broken down plastic pieces, foam pieces, cigarette butts, bottle caps, food wrappers (such as chip packets and sweet wrappers), glass pieces, beverage bottles, straws and lolly sticks continue to be the biggest pollutants on our country’s beaches. Asthma pumps were the most prolific medical items found in the three Cape provinces, whilst in Kwazulu-Natal (especially in urban clean-ups), it was disposable syringes. Kieser added that the increase in the amount of disposable diapers found illegally dumped (especially around informal settlements) was another area of concern, whilst nationally, approximately 2,5km of rope/string and 2,8km of monofilament line (fishing line) were also removed from our beaches. The plastics and packaging industry taking action Several weeks are spent on pre-event logistics (such as distributing bags, gloves and other support material) to ensure that the material reaches the 400 coordinators nationwide and that South Africa’s involvement in the International Coastal Clean-up takes place without a hitch. “Without the commitment and involvement of our partners, last year’s event would not have been possible.

In a time of harsh economic conditions, when companies ﬁnd themselves having to rethink supporting projects such as these, it is encouraging to see the continued commitment from large corporates such as Plastics|SA, Dow, Sasol, Coca-Cola, Kelpak, Pick n Pay, Toyota Algoa Bay, UNITRANS, PETCO (PET Recycling Company), POLYCO (Polyoleﬁn Recycling Company), SAVA (SA Vinyls Association), the Polystyrene Association of SA, Tuffy Manufacturing, Woolworths, the National Recycling Forum, the Glass Recycling Company, the Paper Recycling Association of SA, Metpac-SA, Tetrapak, ROSE Foundation, Department of Environmental Affairs, Ocean Conservancy and the African Marine Waste Network,” Kieser said. Interesting statistics from the 2018 International Coastal Clean-up • 4 300km were covered to distribute material and arrange logistics over a four-week period. • 50 000 refuse bags were distributed during September 2018. • 10 800 pairs of gloves provided • 80 plastic buckets and 85 garden rakes provided by Addis. Top pollutants on South Africa’s beaches

Other plastic/foam packaging Beverage bottles (glass) Glass pieces Straws/plastic sticks Beverage bottles (plastic) Food wrappers (candy, chips, etc) Bottle caps (plastic) Cigarette filters Foam pieces Plastic pieces

6 034 7 873 9 023 9 071 10 738 13 744 17 327

20 000

31 643 33 794 40 000

50 257 60 000

Garnering support for ARMO 2019 The ARMSA team drummed up support for the South African roto moulding event during the global ARMO event in Hamburg in September, with Wayne Wiid, Michael Boltau, Nick Agett, Brian Robertson and Ro-anne Wiid in attendance. The aim was to encourage roto moulding practioners to visit South Africa for the ARMO 2019 conference/exhibition in Sun City from 16-18 September. Amarula and biltong were supplied

www.iom3.co.za 42 FEB / MAR 2019

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Association News

Warning about substandard HDPE Pipes not in compliance could jeopardize safety of employees, public, environment

SAPPMA has added its voice to a recent warning about substandard HDPE pipes that do not comply with relevant product standards, issued by the Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI) – the major North American plastic pipe trade association with many of its member companies producing resins, pipe, ﬁttings and components. According to Tony Radoszewski, President of PPI, sub-standard pipes have been found in the oil and gas gathering operations of the Permian and Delaware basins in Texas and New Mexico. SAPPMA CEO, Jan Venter, conﬁrms that similar examples exist in South Africa and that this notice extends to other areas where HDPE pipe is widely used, such as potable water,

forced main sewers, industrial and mining applications “These pipelines are not marked with relevant product standard requirements, and may therefore not comply with product standards. Locally, pipes that do not bear the SAPPMA mark carry no assurance of product quality and may not perform as intended for the application,” Venter warns. “Pipes that are not in compliance could jeopardize the safety of employees, the public and the environment,” Radoszewski warned. He urged that piping products should be inspected upon delivery to ensure they meet the appropriate standards and the operator’s speciﬁcations. This

Not all HDPE pipe is created equally! Both SAPPMA and PPI recommend that purchasers review the pipe manufacturer’s certiﬁcation reports along with physical plant inspections or independent third-party validation and testing FEB / MAR 2019 43

www.sappma.co.za

is especially critical for projects in demanding oil and gas field operations, and is also important for pipe used in other pressure applications such as water, sewer, industrial, and mining applications. Both SAPPMA and PPI recommend that purchasers review the pipe manufacturer’s certification reports along with physical plant inspections or independent thirdparty validation and testing. “Not all HDPE pipe is created equally. Know what resin is being used in the manufacture of the pipe. Know what company is making the pipe. Know what company is selling the pipe. There is a considerable investment for the resin manufacturer and the pipe manufacturer to produce high-performance products. There is a cost for quality because of the steps required from the manufacturing of the plastic resin to the extrusion of the pipe in order to produce a product that meets industry standards and regulations. But the benefits definitely outweigh the extra cost. No one wants a catastrophic pipeline failure caused by substandard pipe,” Radoszewski concluded.

Suppliers of: Natural & Synthetic Rubber Virgin HDPE • LDPE • LLDPE Performance Polymers Vistamaxx Polypropylene Polystyrene BOPP Fillers & Powders Rubber Chemicals Desiccants Dunnage Bags

Call us on: +27 31 202 3900 or email: info@westafricangroup.co.za or visit our website at www.westafricangroup.co.za

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Association News Cleaning up – Masupatsela Cooperative chairperson Salphy Nkoana is one of the women creating employment and contributing to poverty alleviation through PET plastic recycling in the Tembisa community

First PET

thermoform plastic converter

signs with PETCO www.petco.co.za

Signals changing sentiment among producers

RPC Astrapak Thermopac has become the ﬁrst in the PET thermoform plastics sector – responsible for products such as lightweight sandwich and fruit trays, which account for just under 20% of PET products nationwide – to sign on with PETCO, which until now has been supported primarily by the PET bottle sector. The move signals a changing sentiment among producers amid a tidal wave of pressure from government and civil society for retailers and brand owners – as well as their suppliers – to account for the end-use of products and packaging by ensuring they can be recycled either into their original form or used in alternative markets. 44

Assocation News.indd 44

“PETCO has been engaging the PET thermoform sector since our incorporation in 2004,” said PETCO CEO Cheri Scholtz. “This is a welcome move, so that together we can ﬁnd sustainable solutions for these [thermoform] products going forward.” Although thermoform products are not currently recycled in South Africa – a trend mirrored globally due to their complex make-up – the move by RPC Astrapak Thermopac indicates a shift in producer sentiment towards proactively seeking solutions to ensure the sustainability of their products and minimising any environmental impact. Scholtz said PETCO had initiated a trial earlier this year in Cape Town

to investigate clear PET thermoform recycling using existing PET bottle recycling infrastructure. She said the results had proved “encouraging” and that a solution was now within reach. Thanks to the trial, PETCO member – together with one of the country’s largest recyclers, Extrupet – has come up with a likely end-use solution for thermoform recyclate, according to Extrupet joint MD, Chandru Wadhwani. PETCO, meanwhile, is now working on a plan to incentivise collectors to collect the lightweight thermoform products that conform to “Design for Recycling” guidelines and are compatible with the current PET bottle recycling infrastructure.

FEB / MAR 2019

2019/02/07 17:55

People

Mxolisi Khutama has been appointed Plastics|SA’s new chairman for 2019

Eddie van Os has recently joined POLYCO as the group’s strategic project manager

Prishen Chetty has been appointed external account manager at Brenntag SA

Lisa Parkes is the new stakeholder relations manager at SAPRO

People on the move Mxolisi Khutama has been appointed Plastics|SA’s new Chairman for 2019. Khutama (BSc Eng, PGDMM, PGDBM) will be replacing Bernhard Mahl as Chairman of the Board, although Bernhard will remain on as Deputy Chair. Khutama brings to the table a wealth of knowledge and expertise in operations, business development and administration gained in both the polymer, healthcare and business environments and currently is the Group Executive: Rigids at Nampak Packaging. Eddie van Os has recently joined POLYCO as the group’s Strategic Project Manager. He is responsible for the end-use development platform, which includes implementing a ﬂexible packaging strategy, plus driving the R&D and skills development programmes. These are critical components of POLYCO’s ﬁve-year IWMP. He joins POLYCO after an illustrious 24-year career at Unilever where his last position was as global R&D Packaging Director responsible for Materials & Innovation. Although a global role, Eddie was also responsible for driving the packaging sustainability programme in Africa, the achievements of which he is very proud of. As ViceChairman of POLYCO he was very familiar with the challenges facing the plastics industry in South Africa, which is the reason he joined POLYCO after taking early retirement from Unilever. Prishen Chetty has been appointed External Account Manager at Brenntag SA. Prishen has worked at several organisations in his career, gaining invaluable experience over a wide range of products and industries, 46

PEOPLE.indd 46

including pharmaceuticals, semifinished engineered plastics and automotive. Prishen has certificates in Project Management, Supply Chain and Procurement Management, as well as a Post-Graduate Diploma in Business Management. Lisa Parkes has been appointed on a part-time basis as Marketing & Stakeholder Relations Manager at SAPRO (the SA Plastic Recyclers Organisation). Lisa has a Master’s degree in Town & Regional Planning and a Bachelor’s Degree in Building Arts (architecture). She started working over 19 years ago in the town planning sector. Since then she’s worked in a multi-disciplinary engineering firm doing environmental management and planning work, a facilities and property management firm, the Green Building Council, a sustainability consultancy and various NGO’s including PETCO, Cape Craft and the Design Institute. She is a keen advocate of sustainability and circular economy principles, as well as the use of design processes and tools to stimulate increased competitiveness and efficiencies in our economy, and to drive socio-economic development. Bearings International (BI) has appointed Conrad Muller as Sales & Marketing Director, effective from November 2018. Muller is a qualified electrical and control software engineer, from where he progressed into sales and business development. His sales career commenced in the industrial automation space, across multiple market segments, from industrial to manufacturing, automotive, water, mining, and power generation. He

holds various qualifications in sales and project management, and has many years of sales leadership experience. The company has also appointed Victor Strobel as Customer Offer Marketing Manager. Appointed officially from 1 October, Strobel brings with him 33 years’ experience in industry, comprising of three years on plant, 15 years in sales management and 15 years in marketing and product management. Victor has a degree in marketing, and also completed a leadership development course through BIT. Global engineering and Infrastructure advisory company Aurecon has appointed Kompi Nthejane as the new Office Manager for the company’s Lesotho office. Nthejane has been a professional quantity surveyor in Aurecon’s Bloemfontein office and has 10 years’ extensive experience in areas such as planning and programming of contract works, resource determination, litigation and arbitration, planned preventative maintenance, and the maintenance of buildings. Nthejane obtained a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Quantity Surveying in 2008 and a Bachelor of Science in Construction Studies in 2005, both from the University of Cape Town (UCT). He also completed a Diploma in Construction Studies at the Lerotholi Polytechnic, Lesotho, in 2000, and is a professional member of both the South African Council for the Quantity Surveying Profession (SACQSP) and Association of South African Quantity Surveyors (ASAQS). Before joining Aurecon in 2016, he worked at the Lesotho Ministry of Public Works, Lethola Cost Associates and Chris Lebona Architects.

FEB / MAR 2019

2019/02/07 17:56

Victor Strobel has been appointed as Bearings International’s customer offer marketing manager

Javier Constante of Dow Europe has been named Acting President of PlasticsEurope. He took the helm in November and set out his plans to face what he described as “challenging times for the plastics sector”. Constante joined Dow in 1989 in Buenos Aires and has worked in various leadership positions across sales and marketing operations in Latin America and Europe. He took over his current position at Dow in 2011. In 2015 he was elected Vice-President of PlasticsEurope; he also serves as a member of the World Plastics Council.

School London and at Harvard Business School in Boston. Prior to joining ALPLA, his career led him to the ﬁnance and consulting industry, including positions at McKinsey (Hamburg) and HIG European Capital Partners LLP (London). As project manager, plant manager and regional manager in North America, he has gained a deep understanding of the world of ALPLA over the last ﬁve years. ALPLA had 29 plants and around 3 000 employees in 1995, while at the end of 2018, this had risen to 178 sites and 20 800 employees worldwide.

Philipp Lehner is the new chief ﬁnancial ofﬁcer (CFO) of the international packaging specialist ALPLA

FEB / MAR 2019

Philipp Lehner is the new Chief Financial Ofﬁcer (CFO) of the international packaging specialist ALPLA. Philipp has been active in the family company since June 2014 and has worked in several areas of the company. The 34-year-old son of CEO Günther Lehner most recently served as regional manager for North America. He takes the place of Georg Früh as CFO and will be responsible for Finance, IT, Digitisation and Human Resources. Philipp studied at Nanjing University in China, at the European Business

Aurecon has appointed Kompi Nthejane as the new ofﬁce manager for the company’s Lesotho ofﬁce

People

Bearings International has appointed Conrad Muller as sales and marketing director

Dave Moore: 083 675 8325 E-mail: dave@mouldbasesa.co.za Annette: 083 788 1565 E-mail: annette@mouldbasesa.co.za

YIZUMI LAUNCHES THE NEW A5-S MODEL FEATURING THE FOLLOWING UPGRADES

• Linear guides on injection unit • Centralised grease for injection unit • Euromap 67 robot interface • New high-speed Mirle MK570 controller • New screw designs across the range allows for better mixing and faster plasticising

MOULD BASE SA

PEOPLE.indd 47

PLEASE COME & VISIT US AT OUR PROPAK STAND, HALL 5 STAND A18

www.injectionmachine.co.za Injection Moulding and Ancillaries Supplier

2019/02/07 17:56

Enviro

Global alliance to end plastic waste Nearly 30 plastics companies commit over $1.0-billion to help end plastic waste in the environment AROUND 30 companies who have co-founded a global alliance to advance solutions that reduce and eliminate plastic waste in the environment, especially in the ocean. The Alliance to End Plastic Waste (AEPW) has committed over $1.0 billion with the goal of investing $1.5 billion over the next five years to help end plastic waste in the environment. New solutions will be developed and brought to scale that will minimise and manage plastic waste. This also includes the promotion of solutions for used plastics by helping to enable a circular economy. Chairman of the initiative is Daniel Taylor, President and CEO of Procter&Gamble. The projects to be financed aim at the significant and measurable reduction of marine litter by focusing on the most polluted rivers. Understanding where the plastic waste originates from is key. Research by the Ocean Conservancy shows that plastics in the ocean predominantly originate from litter on land. Most of the plastic waste is spread through rivers and can be traced back to 10 major rivers around the world, mainly in Asia and Africa. Many of these rivers flow through densely populated areas which have a lack of adequate waste collection and recycling infrastructure, leading to significant waste leakage. The AEPW will initiate actions where they are most needed. This will include projects that contribute to solutions in four key areas: 1. Infrastructure development to collect and manage waste and increase recycling; 2. Innovation to advance and scale up new technologies that make recycling and recovering plastics easier and create value from post-use plastics; 3. Education and engagement of governments, businesses, and communities to mobilize action; and 4. Clean-up of concentrated areas of plastic waste in the environment, particularly the major conduits of waste, such as rivers, that carry land-based waste to the ocean. The alliance is a not-for-profit organisation that includes companies from across the global plastics and consumer

“Understanding where the plastic waste originates from is key.”

goods value chain: chemical and plastic manufacturers, consumer goods companies, retailers, converters, and waste management companies. The alliance will work with governments, intergovernmental organisations, academia, nongovernment organisations and civil society to invest in joint projects to eliminate plastic waste from the environment. The following companies are the founding members of the Alliance to End Plastic Waste: BASF, Berry Global, Braskem, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company LLC, Clariant, Covestro, CP Group, Dow, DSM, ExxonMobil, Formosa Plastics Corporation USA, Henkel, LyondellBasell, Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, Mitsui Chemicals, NOVA Chemicals, OxyChem, PolyOne, Procter & Gamble, Reliance Industries, SABIC, Sasol, Shell, Suez, SCG Chemicals, Sumitomo Chemical, Total, Veolia, and Versalis (Eni). www.endplasticwaste.org

48 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

Green groups question big industry’s plastic clean-up plan ENVIRONMENTAL groups have poured cold water over the much-trumpeted Alliance to End Plastic Waste. Green experts were sceptical as to the intentions of ﬁrms such as Procter & Gamble, Chevron and ExxonMobil and voiced doubt over the effectiveness of the alliance’s clean-up plan. “This is a desperate attempt from corporate polluters to maintain the status quo on plastics,” said Graham

Forbes, global plastics project leader at Greenpeace. “In 2018, people all over the world spoke up and rejected the single-use plastics that companies like Procter & Gamble churn out on a daily basis. “Instead of answering that call, P&G preferred to double down on a failed approach with fossil fuel giants like Exxon, Shell, Dow and Total that fuel destructive climate change,” Forbes added.

A Greenpeace report last year named Procter & Gamble as one of the biggest plastic polluters. While some green groups welcomed the emphasis on better education, others were critical of the plan’s reliance on recycling. Gigi Kellett, deputy director of the campaign group Corporate Accountability, accused companies in the alliance of ‘greenwashing’ their long history of polluting.

Dow reveals new actions to support global efforts on

plastic waste

DOW will invest further and develop new global initiatives and solutions that work to prevent and remediate plastic waste in the environment. The initiatives include Dow’s commitment to join several other major global brands to become a founding investor in Circulate Capital’s $100 million effort to incubate and ﬁnance companies and infrastructure that prevent waste in oceans. Dow will also donate an additional $1 million to Ocean Conservancy over the next two years to support waste collection and recycling solutions in South-East Asian countries. This money will be used for projects that build the capacity of local

non-governmental organisations and partnerships with city leaders to develop, scale and replicate implementable solutions. Circulate Capital’s mission is to demonstrate the viability of investment in the waste management and recycling sectors to attract the institutional investment capital needed to scale integrated recycling and waste management companies and infrastructure across South and Southeast Asia. These regions have been identiﬁed as contributing disproportionately to ocean plastic pollution primarily because they lack the critical waste infrastructure to manage

Waste to energy: As of July 2018, Dow’s Hefty EnergyBag programme has collected more than 176 500 bags and diverted more than 115 tons of plastics from landﬁll

the problem. Ocean Conservancy is working to protect the ocean from today’s greatest global challenges. Together with its partners, the organization creates sciencebased solutions for a healthy ocean and the wildlife and communities that depend on it. As a major sponsor of the organisation’s annual International Coastal Cleanup, Dow and Ocean Conservancy founded the Trash Free Seas Alliance® (TFSA) in 2012, a coalition of businesses, academics and NGOs, to analyse and address upstream causes of ocean plastic pollution. www.dow.com FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019 49

Enviro

Ocean Cleanup system returns to port for repair

THE Ocean Cleanup Workers on The Ocean Cleanup project deployed the high density polyethylene pipe and plastic skirt system in the Pacific Ocean late last year. The plastic pipe-and-skirt system placed in the Pacific Ocean to corral marine litter needs repair for “structural malfunctioning” about two-and-a-half months after being deployed to the garbage patch halfway between California and Hawaii. The Norwegian nonprofit Ocean Cleanup said in early January that its sea debris cleaner dubbed System 001 is being towed back to San Francisco. A 26-foot section detached from the U-shaped contraption, which consists of a 2,000-foot-long high density polyethylene boom and a tapered polyester skirt attached below. The system was designed to gather plastic pollution from the ocean’s surface to a depth of 10 feet. The off-shore crew of Ocean Cleanup discovered the damage to an end section on Dec. 29, then had to wait for an appropriate weather window to connect the system to a tug boat and begin the trek back. The return to port comes 116 days after the celebrated launch of System 001 for a couple weeks of testing followed by setup in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Heralded as the world’s first large-scale ocean cleanup system, the group plans to collect the debris for eventual recycling if it can work out the bugs. “Although it is too early to confirm the cause of the malfunction, we hypothesize that material fatigue ... combined with a local stress concentration caused a fracture in the HDPE floater,” according to a Dec. 31 online update from Ocean Cleanup founder and CEO Boyan Slat. Considered the backbone of the system, the floater, or boom, is made of buoyant and flexible high grade PE 100RC resin. The two sections are stable and intact thanks to stabilisers that prevent rollover, Slat said, but some sensors and the satellite communication system were compromised so the decision was made to return to port. In addition to addressing structural problems, the repair crew will “upgrade” the system to retain more plastic.

Some debris had been eluding capture because the system apparently was not consistently traveling faster than the plastic, the Ocean Cleanup announced about a month ago. The crew is looking at ways to speed the system and studying the effect of currents and waves on plastics’ ability to enter the mouth for collection. The cleanup system has collected some litter since being deployed Oct. 16, and is returning to port with about 2.2 tons of plastic, including fishing nets, Slat said. When fully operational, the system is expected to harvest about a ton of debris per week. “Although we would have liked to end the year on a more positive note, we believe these teething troubles are solvable, and the cleanup of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch will be operational in 2019,” Slat said. “The fact that the cleanup system orients itself in the wind, is able to follow the waves well and is able to catch and concentrate plastic gives us confidence in the technology.” System 001 was developed with experts at Agru Kunststofftechnik GmbH and its Georgetown, S.C.-based Agru America Inc. The system’s deployment followed years of Ocean Cleanup research and fundraising that generated about $35 million in donations and sponsors, including PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel.

50 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

Biodegradable algae water bottles provide a green alternative to plastic ICELANDIC product designer, Ari Jónsson, has fashioned a biodegradable water bottle from algae. To create a bottle out of algae, Jónsson mixed powdered agar with water. The resulting mixture had a wobbly, jelly-like consistency and he heated it before pouring it into a cold mould. The mould was swirled inside a container of ice water until the agar formed a bottle. Just a few more minutes of refrigeration and the bottle was ready for use. The algae bottle retains its unique shape until it is empty and then it begins to break down. It’s an all-natural alternative to plastic and Jónsson says drinkers can even chew on the bottle if they enjoy the taste. Agar is often used as a vegetarian or vegan substitute for gelatin in desserts and is both safe for the environment and humans. Jónsson premiered his project at DesignMarch, a design festival held recently in Reykjavik. He is currently a student at the Iceland Academy of the Arts.

Avery Dennison rPET label liners THE recent launch by Avery Dennison of a portfolio using recycled PET (rPET) liners has received another important boost, with four labelling constructions now available across Europe. Marketing manager Georg Müller-Hof said using post-consumer waste (PCW) to manufacture label liners represents a step change in sustainability: “Avery Dennison is focused on real-world sustainability improvements, which ultimately means ‘closing the loop’ and using post-consumer waste to create new products. These four new labelling materials not only use a liner with more than 30% recycled PET bottle content, but they are also part of our CleanFlake™ and ClearCut™ portfolios – which offer important additional sustainability gains in their own right.” Three CleanFlake materials are now available on a thin rPET23 liner. The ‘switchable’ CleanFlake adhesive is designed to separate cleanly from PET bottles during the recycling process so that contamination of PET ﬂakes is avoided – an important factor in ensuring that recycled PET can be recycled rather than downcycled. A fourth material – a high clarity ClearCut PP50 TopClear S7000-rPET23 construction – is considerably thinner than today’s market reference (PP60 with PET30) and offers highspeed conversion and dispensing using the same thin rPET23 liner. The rPET liner has been designed to convert in the same way as a conventional PET liner, with no noticeable differences in performance. www.averydennison.com

The liners also make use of a ‘switchable’ CleanFlake adhesive which is designed to separate cleanly from PET bottles during the recycling process FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019 51

Enviro

Volvo race data

revealed at expert conference

Scientists find 93% of samples analysed contained levels of microplastics UNIQUE information on the global concentration of microplastics pollution in our oceans has been presented at an international science conference in Lanzarote. The information was collected from seawater samples taken during the Volvo Ocean Race, which, for the first time, combined a global sporting event with cutting-edge scientific research. The science initiative, part of the race’s Sustainability Programme, was presented at the MICRO2018 conference, which heard about leading research related to microplastic pollution. The high-level audience heard how 86 samples were taken by boats

Turn the Tide on Plastic and Team AkzoNobel. Scientists found that 93% of those analysed contained levels of microplastics. The results of the programme will contribute to increased understanding of the global marine presence of microplastics and help provide a template for future data collection. Currently there is very little information on microplastic distribution in our seas. The presentation, Distribution of microplastics in the mixed layer: results from the Volvo Ocean Race, was given by race scientist Dr. Sören Gutekunst of GEOMAR Institute for Ocean Research Kiel, Germany, funded by the Cluster of Excellence Future Ocean.

During the Volvo Ocean Race earlier last year, 86 samples were taken by yachts Turn the Tide on Plastic and Team AkzoNobel. Scientists found that 93% of those analysed contained levels of microplastics

The samples, collected in small mesh ﬁlters when the crews used the on-board water maker, were analysed at a laboratory in Kiel, Germany, using a powerful Raman spectrophotometer. Microplastic concentrations did tend to be elevated within major ocean currents bringing in plastic pollution from a larger area. The highest levels, 349 particles per cubic metre, were found in a sample taken in the South China Sea that feeds into the North Paciﬁc Gyre. The second highest, 307 particles per cubic metre, were recorded northwest of the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean meet. Even close to Point Nemo, the furthest place from land on Earth, where the nearest humans are on the International Space Station, between nine and 26 particles of microplastic per cubic metre were recorded. Scientists will be able to access the data open-source from a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) database where accompanying meteorological and oceanographic data have also been uploaded. Volvo Cars has made a number of pledges during the Race, including removing single use plastic by the end of 2019 and ensuring that at least 25% of the plastic in new Volvos is made from recycled material by 2025.

www.volvooceanrace.com/sustainability

52 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

Ocean race science programme scoops award THE Volvo Ocean Race’s sustainability efforts to increase understanding of ocean health have been recognised by the prestigious Ocean Tribute Awards. The award was presented during a ceremony held at the Düsseldorf International Boat Show. Panel judge Frank Schweikert, Chairman of the German Marine Foundation, said: “The programme was groundbreaking and set new standards in global awareness of the dramatic levels of pollution in the oceans. “This was a perfect symbiosis

between water sports and science.” Anne-Cécile Turner, sustainability programme leader, accepted the award at the ceremony, attended by Prince Albert II of Monaco who was representing his foundation. “The science programme was an innovative and collaborative effort involving sailors, scientists, partners and a whole host of others concerned about the ocean and keen to advance our understanding of the problems it faces,” said Turner. “By working together we

were able to achieve the objectives of educating, innovating and leaving a lasting legacy and are proud that this has been recognised by the Ocean Tribute judges.” This is the third win for the programme after it already proved successful in the ‘Sports CSR Campaign of the Year’ category at the International Sports Awards and in the ‘Best Corporate Campaign or Initiative in Sport for Good’ category at the Beyond Sport Awards.

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Enviro

Biodegradable polymer market value to grow to $1.7bn by 2023

54 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

Compost bags are the second-most important end-use for biodegradable polymers AS PLASTIC regulations and bans on plastic bags and other single-use plastic items such as drinking straws increase globally, the demand and market value of biodegradable polymers exceeds $1-billion (about R15-billion) and will rise sharply to $1.7-billion (about R20-billion) by 2023, says global information provider IHS Markit. The food packaging, disposable tableware (cups, plates, and cutlery) and bags sector is the largest end-use segment, as well as the major growth driver for biodegradable polymer consumption. This segment will benefit from local restrictions on plastic shopping bags and will achieve double-digit growth. Compost bags are the second-most important end-use for biodegradable polymers. This market segment will experience strong growth owing to the gradual expansion of composting infrastructure and growing interest in diverting organic waste, such as leaves, grass clippings and food waste from landfill, according to IHS Markit’s ‘Chemical Economics Handbook: Biodegradable Polymers’ report. Foam packaging, which includes starch-based loose-fill packaging (packing peanuts), is a significant end-use for biodegradable polymers in Western Europe and North America; mulch films and other agricultural applications are important enduses in Western Europe and Asia. Smaller-volume markets include paper coatings for cups and cartons, as well as textiles, nonwoven fabrics, resorbable medical devices such as sutures and implants, downhole tools for oil and

gas field operations, and three-dimensional printing filament. Currently, global demand for these polymers is 360 000 tons, but total consumption of biodegradable polymers is expected to increase to almost 550 000 tons by 2023, representing an average yearly growth rate of 9% for the five-year period, which is equivalent to a volume increase of more than 50% from 2018 to 2023. Western Europe, with the world’s strictest and increasingly stringent regulations for single-use plastics, commands 55% of the global market value in 2018 for these specialty biodegradable polymers, followed by Asia and Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) at 25%, then North America at 19% of consumption, with the rest of the world combined at less than 1% of demand. To truly capture the benefits of these biodegradable polymers, however, you need to have the collection and composting infrastructure to support their use. Very few major cities or municipalities currently have the necessary infrastructure in place. Mandatory composting programmes can contribute to demand growth for biodegradable polymers, states IHS Markit. The expansion of composting programmes can spur demand for compostable trash bags and food service ware, both important end-uses for biodegradable polymers. The shortage of composting facilities that are capable of processing biodegradable polymers limits the positive impact of mandatory composting programmes on biodegradable polymer demand. www.ihsmarkit.com/index

Plastic bottle deposit scheme in UK proving a hit with shoppers FROZEN food chain Iceland is trialling vending machines that pay shoppers 10p for each returned plastic bottle. Shoppers have received the equivalent of more than £30 000 in total for recycling plastic bottles in the first supermarket trial using ‘reverse vending machines’ installed to reduce littering, says a report in The Guardian newspaper. The machines, introduced last year by the Iceland chain at five UK sites, reward consumers with a voucher worth 10p for every deposit of a bottle purchased at the shops. Iceland, a frozen food specialist, said figures published early January suggested the trial had delivered “significant results” and strong consumer engagement, with 311 500 plastic bottles recycled so far. In November alone a daily average of

2 583 bottles were recycled across the five sites, with an average of £250 in coupons refunded each day. Iceland was the first UK supermarket to install such machines in support of the government’s proposed deposit return scheme in England – which expects retailers to be responsible for properly recycling the containers – and in line with its own efforts to reduce the impact of single-use plastics on the environment. Richard Walker, Iceland’s managing director, said: “Iceland has continually led the way in the fight against the scourge of plastic since making our announcement to eliminate plastic from our own-label product packaging. At present just 43% of the 13 billion plastic bottles sold each year in the UK are recycled and 700 000 become litter

Machines, introduced last year by the Iceland chain at ﬁve UK sites, reward consumers with a voucher worth 10p for every deposit of a bottle purchased at the shops

each day. Pressure is growing on the government, retailers and consumers to increase rates of plastic bottle recycling and so reduce marine pollution. The UK’s largest supermarket, Tesco, is also carrying out a trial, as are Morrisons and the Co-op, but none have yet published their results.

Niss

Fraunhofer release position paper on recycling bioplastics By Grace Nolan, British Plastics & Rubber EXPERTS at Fraunhofer UMSICHT are discussing bioplastics and its compatibility with recycling. The new German packaging law took effect on 1 January, which allows for more food packaging, such as fruit and vegetables, to be made from sustainable plastics. The new law creates incentives for using products made from recyclable plastics and renewable raw materials in packaging. This could increase the share of bioplastics in the overall plastics market, which to date is just 0.6%. Bioplastics are biobased, biodegradable, or both, thus the material seems to be an ideal candidate to make packaging more sustainable. www.umsicht.fraunhofer.de/en

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However, the only way to maximise bioplastics’ contribution to this development is to ensure that they are part of the reusable material cycle. In a new position paper, “Recycling Bioplastics,” experts from Fraunhofer UMSICHT took a closer look at the material group of bioplastics and wondered: Are bioplastics compatible with recycling? The researchers at Fraunhofer UMSICHT establish that bioplastics can fundamentally be identiﬁed and sorted like conventional plastics. If bioplastics are used more frequently in the future, for instance in packaging, this will require targeted adjustments to the waste management system, among other things.

This produces a few different recommendations, including deposit programs, sorting trials and labelling of recycled products. Products and materials must be designed to remain in circulation after they are used. That includes being able to cleanly separate all of the components in order to facilitate recycling (e.g. lids from yogurt cups). However, solutions still need to be developed and established that are technically, economically, and ecologically reasonable. Experts at Fraunhofer UMSICHT believe this is the only way to appropriately increase the share of sustainable plastics in our value chain. FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019 55

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Middle East

Kizad Polymers Park is adjacent to the newly built Khalifa Port which can handle more than 2,5 million containers per year and plans to double its capacity to 5 million containers per year by 2020

Bringing converting capability to the Middle East

Essential if the region is to retain more of the value of the polymer it produces BY NIALL MARSHALL

THE six GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait) produce more than 27 million tons of polymer every year but convert less than 5 million tons into useful plastic articles. The balance of the polymer produced is exported for further processing. It has long been an ambition to bring converting capability into the region to retain more of the value of the polymer produced in the Middle East, and to export finished products to the massconsuming regions of Europe and North America. Historically there has not been much incentive to develop the local converting industry because the relatively small population means a small regional end-user market. Over the last two decades things have changed: rapid population growth means it is not possible for governments to provide the same levels of support to their nationals and with almost 50% of the population being under 20 years old, there is an increased urgency to create jobs. One way that has been identified to create jobs is to create an exportfocussed converting industry by providing incentives for large plastic converters to invest in factories to serve their international markets. In principle, this involves establishing environments attractive for plastics converting in terms of allowing foreign ownership, tax incentives, access to efficient logistics and supply chain services and cheap land and electricity. And of course, with abundant polymer on your doorstep, this is preferably cheap polymer, but at least polymer without the international shipping costs and duties. One of the earliest attempts to develop a plastic converting cluster was the Abu Dhabi Polymers Park in early 2008. It was expected to host 60 plastic product manufacturers converting more than 1 million tons of polymer per year 56

for regional and international export markets. In addition to the various incentives offered, it was mentioned in the press that the park would negotiate with polymer producers for the combined large volumes of polymer by the converters to secure the lowest prices! By 2011 only one investor had commissioned a factory in the ADPP: a 15 000 tpa joint venture between ADBIC (the government owned Abu Dhabi Basic Industries Corporation that developed ADPP) and an artiﬁcial grass producer. And any expectation that the local polymer producer would sell to ADPP customers at a discounted price was not realised. The production cost of monomers, the raw material to produce polymers, is the lowest in the world in the Middle East. Governments in the region have passed-on the low-cost feedstock to the polymer producers, many of whom are joint ventures with multinational polymer producers with, at least an implicit understanding, that these polymer producers would prioritise the local converting industry in their sales strategies. Many local converters don’t see that there is any advantage given to them, not in terms of availability or price, and there are many reports that Middle East polymer is offered at lower prices in markets such as China, India and Europe than in the countries where the polymer is produced. Credibility is given to these claims when the polymer producers are prosecuted in these international markets for dumping – selling polymer in export markets at lower prices than in their home markets. If international converters can beneﬁt from more choice and lower polymer prices in their home markets, there is no real incentive to build factories in the Middle East for export markets. In Saudi Arabia the government realised that its development programme would not work based

on such implicit agreements and so it started allocating feedstock to new petrochemical projects conditional on downstream converting investments also being made. This has resulted in the establishment of a number of factories producing BOPP, artificial grass, geomembranes and agricultural film. There are also two plastics conversion parks which have been established – one next to the giant PetroRabigh refinery and petrochemical complex (which produces more than 3 million tons of polymers) and the other one next to the Sadara complex with its 26 petrochemical plants (including four polyethylene plants) in Jubail. Abu Dhabi has just announced the development of a new plastics converting park: Kizad Polymers Park. Kizad is adjacent to the newly built Khalifa Port which can handle more than 2,5 million containers per year and plans to double its capacity to 5 million containers per year by 2020 (for comparison, Durban handles about 2,8 million containers per year). There are a number of favourable investment policies: Kizad certainly has excellent connectivity for imports and exports. Kizad is looking to attract polymer producers (for specialty polymers, including for 3D printing), plastics converters, recyclers, engineering support companies (including mould and die makers), compounders, masterbatch producers, testing laboratories and recyclers. And even end-users! International experience has shown that industry clusters can benefit from the shared environment of support companies and are able to attract and develop skills in a way that is very difficult in isolation. The PlasChem parks in Saudi Arabia are already more successful than earlier attempts to establish polymer converting parks and so perhaps the Kizad Polymers Park will achieve its goal of producing 400 000 tons of polymer products by 2025.

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Design

Automotive Additive manufacturing, autonomous vehicles, greener parts featured prominently THE Society of Plastics Engineers’ Automotive Division’s 2018 Automotive Innovation Awards saw 10 grand award winners across as many categories. When it started in 1970, the competition – organised by the Automotive Division of SPE – was intended to draw automaker attention to plastics as an underutilised material in the automotive industry. At the time, most polymeric content on cars was restricted to ashtrays, buttons, knobs, rubber mats, seals and tyres.

Environmental Ford for the use of sustainable hybrid composites on the 2018 Lincoln Continental luxury sedan. The automaker said the industry-ﬁrst application of composites

combining cellulose ﬁbre from trees with long glass ﬁbre in a polypropylene matrix results in a $2 million cost savings achieved by reducing weight and cycle times by 20-40%.

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Body Interior

Ford for the integrated modular pelvic bolster on the 2018 Lincoln Navigator SUV. The application combines two side-impact bolster designs into one and integrates the part into the door trim map packet. The condensed design offers an estimated cost savings of $100,000 in tooling and a 10% weight reduction.

Additive Manufacturing Several major automotive manufacturers have been using 3D printing, and Ford is one of them. For the first time, the Automotive Innovation Awards Competition recognised additive manufacturing as a separate category – Ford was the winner of all three finalist spots with the window alignment fixture on the 2017 Mustang convertible coming out tops.

Ford Motor Co for the window alignment fixture on the 2017 Mustang convertible. The 3D-printed fixture, made with a carbon fibre-reinforced nylon from Stratasys Ltd, is 30% lighter and cheaper to produce than the traditional welded fixture.

Innovation awards Body Exterior Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV for the thermoplastic liftgate on the 2019 Jeep Cherokee. The thermoplastic liftgate replaces the

steel design and enables a 28% mass reduction in addition to a 50% tooling and capital investment savings. The automaker said it is

an industry-ﬁrst use of conformal infrared welding behind the moulded-in-colour grain Class A surface.

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Ford Motor Co for a 3D printed venting insert on the 2019 Ranger pickup. To improve venting, the 3D printed insert is designed with integrated venting channels that allow gas to escape into the atmosphere. Ford said manufacturing time is reduced by 70% for the 3D-printed part compared with steel. The design also eliminates the need for a separate grille.

Ford Motor Co for a 3D-printed lift assist used in assembly for the 2018 Escape SUV and Fusion sedan. The updated lift assist, which carries anything from a half shaft to an instrument panel, has a 100kg weight savings over a traditional steel welded or machined lift assist. Ford said the 3D-printed version also costs 50% less to manufacture.

Design

Chassis/ Hardware Fiat Chrysler for the high-strength, selftapping composite nut on the 2016 Chrysler Paciﬁca minivan. The composite nut has self-healing properties that allow it to maintain sufﬁcient torque and clamp load even after being stripped. Estimated cost savings are around $3.25 per vehicle.

Automotive Innovation

Process/Assembly/ Enabling Technologies Fiat Chrysler for the integrated tyre carrier, rear camera and brake light assembly on the 2018 Jeep Wrangler. The hybrid composite technology uses magnesium injection moulding for higher

60 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

Safety Ford for the interlocking mechanism design for side impact on the 2019 Transit Connect van. The patentpending design, which prevents the fracturing or separating of components that could cause sharp edges, replaces the need for metal bracket reinforcements.

Materials Hyundai Motor Co for its use of EMI (electromagnetic interference) shielding compounds developed for high-voltage junction box upper covers on the 2019 Nexo SUV. The material, from Hanwa Compound, replaces conventional die-cast aluminum for reduced weight and manufacturing costs.

structural strength and reduced weight as well as polymer overmoulding for better impact and corrosion resistance. The new design also eliminates the need for a steel bracket.

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Design

Automotive Innovation

2018 Hall of Fame Award To be considered for a Hall of Fame Award, an automotive plastic or composite component must have been in continuous service in some form for at least

15 years and broadly adopted in the automotive industry. Given that criteria, this winner certainly qualiﬁes – the ﬁrst injection moulded PC/PBT rear

Powertrain Ford for the all-plastic vacuum generation system for brake assist on the 2017 F-150 pickup. The lightweight, low-cost system is designed to assist with braking feel and function. The thermoplastic part achieves a 40% weight reduction and a 25% cost savings over current pump systems.

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energy absorber for a vehicle bumper system, used on the 2003 Honda Element compact crossover SUV from Honda Motor Company.

Design

Bioplastics

Recognises innovation, success, achievements by manufacturers, processors, brand owners or users of bioplastic materials FOR the 13th time, the international Bioplastics MAGAZINE has honoured packaging designers with the ‘Bioplastics Oscar’. Five judges from the academic world, the press and industry associations from America, Europa and Asia selected the five finalists for the 13th Bioplastics Award. The Award recognises innovation, success and achievements by manufacturers, processors, brand owners or users of bioplastic materials. The five shortlisted companies and products are (without any ranking): www.bioplasticsmagazine.com

Loliware (USA)

Lolistraw – edible and hypercompostable straws Many people are aware that there are enough plastic straws to wrap around the earth’s circumference 2.5 times each day. Straws are too small to be recycled, so they usually end up in landﬁlls and waterways. Lolistraw, introduced by Loliware of New York, USA, is the world’s ﬁrst hypercompostable and even edible straw. It is made from Loliware’s patent-pending, seaweed-based material technology and is home compostable, marine-degradable and

non-GMO. The straw is made from seaweed which breaks down in the organics bin alongside food waste in 60 days or less. Seaweed is a renewable resource that does not require land resources and actually absorbs CO2. The initial texture of Lolistraw is like plastic, but can be made with a ﬂavour or with added nutrients. Before traceless disposal, Lolistraw will last for up to 8 hours in a beverage and will have www.loliware.com a shelf life of up to 24 months.

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Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (The Netherlands)

The world’s first biobased circular car The world’s first biobased circular car, designed and built in the Netherlands by the Technical University of Eindhoven, was presented earlier this year by the team of students responsible for its design and realisation. This is the first time that a car chassis and all bodywork has been made from natural and biobased materials – no metal or traditional plastics were used for

the structural parts of the car. The parts are manufacturers, suppliers and universities made of light and strong sandwich panels to inspire others. In addition to its biobased based on natural flax fibre and LuminyR PLA composition, it is also ultra-light and supplied by Total Corbion PLA. electrically powered. Noah reaches a top The car, named Noah by the TU speed of 110km/h and the battery range ecomotive student team, was designed lasts up to 240km. At 360 kg, the weight of as a city car and features two seats the car excluding batteries is less than half and a spacious trunk. Noah is currently the weight of comparable production cars. undertaking a European tour of car In addition to being biobased, the parts are also recyclable, resulting in a 100% circular car, sustainable in all life phases. The PLA supplied by Total Corbion PLA for use in the car is biobased and recyclable and made from renewable resources, offering a reduced carbon footprint versus many traditional plastics. High heat Luminy PLA grades were used to construct the car, in order to ensure durability and sufficient heat resistance. www.tue.nl

awards Aakar Innovations (India)

Compostable sanitary napkins for India’s girls and women Aakar Innovations (Belapur, Mumbai, India) is a hybrid social enterprise that enables women to produce and distribute affordable, high-quality, 100% compostable sanitary napkins within their communities while simultaneously raising awareness and sensitisation of menstrual hygiene management. That’s why Aakar launched a 100% compostable sanitary pad under the brand name Anandi. Anandi uses biobased compostable polymer ﬁlm. It uses virgin soft pine wood pulp containing more than 97% of cellulose and hemi-cellulose. The wood pulp as used has pure cellulose materials with complete uniformity of ﬁbres allowing it to decompose easily, activated by an eco-friendly ozone treatment process and using compostable bioplastic. The root sources of the material is from naturally available corn starch. www.aakarinnovations.com

Bio4Pack (Germany)

PLA meat tray for fresh meat

www.bio4pack.com

PepsiCo and Danimer Scientific (USA)

Gen 2 biobased/compostable Flexible Package Since the launch of a 100% PLA-based compostable snack bag in 2009, PepsiCo has been working in conjunction with Danimer to develop the next generation of biobased resins that could enable industrial compostable snack bags with the right balance of sustainability, performance and cost. The new Danimer resins are blends www.danimerscientiﬁc.com

of biopolymers and mineral filler. PepsiCo developed the right supply chain partners and worked on optimising the conversion of these core films to barrier films and subsequently fully laminated film structures that meet their performance specs. This next generation bag is comparable in feel, noise and performance to PepsiCo’s

www.pepsico.com

current bags and certiﬁed to be industrially compostable by TUV Austria. Plans are to pilot the new biobased structures in Chile. In the meantime, Danimer and PepsiCo are collaborating on a Generation 3 chip bag that is based on Danimer’s PHA technology and will be fully biodegradable in home composting environments.

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After many years of development in cooperation with several major companies in the meat and packaging industry, Bio4Pack has launched a completely new sustainable packaging for fresh meat made from renewable raw materials. The meat tray is manufactured from renewable raw materials (sugar cane) that ensure an important CO2 saving. The tray is thermoformed from sugarcane based PLA and the transparent multilayer lid is made up of a layer of cellulose based film and one of a PBS/ PBAT/PLA blend. Even the cellulose absorption pad is biobased and compostable. The fresh meat packaging from Bio4Pack makes an important contribution to the acceptance and application of bioplastics and thus has a positive influence on the development of a circular economy. The Bio4Pack meat packaging meets all requirements with regard to food safety and can easily be processed on all conventional packaging machines. The Bio4Pack meat trays are available in various colours and sizes. The packaging has an EN13432 certificate for compostability and is 4-star biobased rated. Although the complete packaging is according to EN 13432, Bio4pack and other stakeholders in Holland are investigating the best way to recycle PLA to make it serve as raw material for new sustainable products and/or packaging.

Design

Design for

plastic alternatives Winners aim to develop alternatives for plastic packaging materials THE winners of a lucrative competition tasking designers to come up with new materials to replace plastic packaging have been revealed. Announced at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, the Circular Materials Challenge winners aim to develop alternatives for the plastic packaging materials that are currently used for sauces, fresh coffee, and snacks – which are currently too hard or expensive to recycle. The ﬁve winners will each receive a $200,000 share of the $1 million prize and will join a 12-month accelerator programme, run in collaboration with Think Beyond Plastic, to make the innovations marketable at scale. The challenge forms part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastics Economy Innovation Prize, which aims to dramatically reduce the number of plastics that enter the ocean each year by encouraging innovation to prevent the matter from becoming waste in the ﬁrst place. University of Pittsburgh One of the two winners in the ‘make unrecyclable packaging recyclable’ category, the University of Pittsburgh team has

used nano-engineering to create a recyclable material to replace packaging made from layers of different materials. While current multi-layered packaging materials are difﬁcult to recycle, the University of Pittsburgh’s packaging would be made from layers of a single material, polyethylene, making it easier to recycle. Changing the polyethylene’s nano-scale structure would allow each layer of packaging to have different properties, which when combined, create a much better material that can even be coloured without pigments. Aronax Technologies Spain Aronax Technologies Spain, the second winner in the ‘make unrecyclable packaging recyclable’ category, proposed a magnetic additive that can be applied to materials to give better air and moisture insulation. The additive contains small particles of silicates and iron oxide that will give plastics better abilities to block gases such as oxygen – making them suitable for protecting sensitive products such as coffee and medical products, while still being possible to recycle.

This innovation by Elk Packaging and Associated Labels and Packaging, is a fully compostable version of the multi-material ﬁlms that are currently used for granola bar wrappers, laundry detergent sachets, and crisp bags

Full Cycle Bioplastics, Elk Packaging, and Associated Labels and Packaging A joint proposal by Full Cycle Bioplastics, Elk Packaging, and Associated Labels and Packaging to create a high-performance material from renewable materials, agricultural by-products and food waste was a winner in the ‘combining materials that nature can handle’ category. This innovation is a fully compostable version of the multi-material ﬁlms that are currently used for granola bar wrappers, laundry detergent sachets, and crisp bags. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland’s proposal to create compostable multi-layer materials from agricultural and forestry by-products was another winner in the ‘combining materials that nature can handle’ category. The packaging that looks and feels like plastic, but is actually made from wood, could be used for stand-up food pouches for products like muesli, nuts, dried fruit and rice. VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland’s proposal to create compostable multi-layer materials from agricultural and forestry by-products

Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC The ﬁnal winner in the ‘combining materials that nature can handle’ category, the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC, has developed an organic coating for plastic that makes fresh food packaging compostable. These new coatings can improve the capacity of bio-based and biodegradable packaging so that it meets the required performance standards to guarantee the required minimum shelf life of food products. 66

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Günter Maralik +27 83 441 3206

Wolfgang Maralik +27 82 771 7271

Office Cell: +27 66 250 1937 • admin@mgmwtrading.co.za Log Road Unit No. 17 • Roodekop Industrial Area • Germiston

Please note our new contact details

www.hitech-china.net

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Office Add: No.67, 6th Avenue, Xincheng Industrial Park, Dinghai District, Zhoushan City Post code: 316023 Tel.: ++86-580-8806008 8806009

Fax: ++86-580-8806010 Email: lyzon@hitech-china.net ciplas_mchy@yahoo.com.cn

2018/09/14 11:31

Design

PackTheFuture High number of entries in EcoDesign category underlines increasing consideration of the circular economy THE 4th edition of ‘PackTheFuture – The Sustainable Plastic Packaging Award’, managed by ELIPSO & IK, the trade organisations representing plastic and ﬂexible packaging in France and Germany, awarded 13 winners out of 48 entries. The versatile innovations reﬂect the growing importance of sustainable packaging for the plastic packaging sector in Europe. The high number

of entries in the Eco Design category underlines the increasing consideration of the circular economy by the industry. Established in 2014, the PackTheFuture Award is based on an initiative of ELIPSO – The French Plastic and Flexible Packaging Association and IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen e.V. – The German Plastics Packaging Association. The packaging award

focuses on promoting the innovative and creative potential of all kinds of plastic packaging. It offers an ideal opportunity for ELIPSO and IK members to advertise the sustainability of their own plastic packaging products. The World Packaging Organisation (WPO) has recognised the PackTheFuture Award as a qualifying contest for the WorldStar Awards: the largest packaging competition worldwide.

Heinz Plastics Böhm GMBH (Germany) for its Recyclat Verschluss

EcoDesign Category

Jokey Plastik Wipperfürth GMBH (Germany) for its Jokey Multi Pack 185

Groupe Barbier (France) for its Low Fusion Film

rsatile The ve reflect the tions nce innova ng importa i grow ustainable he of s g for t g n i g a k agin pac c pack plasti ctor in se e Europ

68 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2019

Incoplas (France) for its rPE-range

Nordfolien GMBH (Germany) for its NorDiFill Eco

Award

2018

Special Award Alpla Werke Alwin Lehner GMBH & CO KG (Austria) for its World’s first recyclable shampoo bottle made of beach plastic

Social Beneﬁt Category

Betapack (France) for its Bouchon Snap Clic Pelican

RPC Bender GmbH (Germany) for its Sportscap Secure Flip 1881

Product Protection Category

Save Food Category Olivo & Knauf Industries (France) for their BOX MAX 64

Ohlro Hartschaum GMBH (Germany) for its O BOX H250

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Bernhardt Packaging & Process (France) for its Steri-Liquid Pouch

Web

Styrenics Circular Solutions

launches website

Leading a new and comprehensive approach to the recycling of styrenics STYRENICS Circular Solutions (SCS) has launched a dedicated website as part of its commitment to leading a new and comprehensive approach to the recycling of styrenics. The SCS website details both the vital role that styrene-based products play in the circular economy and the steps SCS is taking to transform the styrenics industry. The website has been designed to elaborate on speciﬁc areas of SCS engagement, as outlined in the PlasticsEurope Voluntary Commitment, including: • Accelerating the use of innovative recycling technologies, namely depolymerisation and dissolution, to convert used styrene-based products

back into virgin material for high-quality applications; • Mobilisation of regional waste collection and sorting partners to capture the maximum volume of used styrenebased products and create new market opportunities for styrenic recyclables; • Learning from partners across the value chain, such as styrene- and expanded polystyrene manufacturers and leaders from the supply chain, brand owners and trade associations; • Dialogue with the value-chain partners and policymakers committed to unlocking styrene’s potential in the circular economy. The website will also provide

Website highlights intrinsic recyclability of styrenics and the technologies and partnerships that enable it

updates on SCS milestones and news about related initiatives and the expanding SCS organisations. Founded in 2017 and hosted by PlasticsEurope, SCS drives the greater involvement of all partners across the styrenics value chain and waste management stream. www.styrenics-circular-solutions.com

Top 10 plastics blogs on the net SOMEONE has had the time to research the best plastics blogs from thousands of top plastics blogs, using search and social metrics. Feedspot produces a comprehensive summary of the day’s most important blog posts and news articles from the best plastics websites on the web and deliver them to your email inbox each morning. To subscribe, simply provide your email address on https://blog.feedspot.com/plastic_blogs/ Here is the Top 10 at the time of writing: 1. PlasticsToday – Community for Plastics Professionals PlasticsToday is part of the leading B2B media and events company, UBM, serving more than 800 000 advanced manufacturing professionals around the world. This gives PlasticsToday the ability to leverage market knowledge and content from the leading media brands and events serving the medical device, advanced design and manufacturing, packaging, pharma and electronics industries. www.plasticstoday.com 2. Plastics Technology Blog Plastics Technology covers technical and business information for plastics processors in injection moulding, extrusion, blow moulding, plastic 70

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additives, compounding, plastic materials and more. www.ptonline.com/blog

solutions in thermoformed packaging, tooling, and extrusion services. www.plasticingenuity.com/blog

3. Plastics News Plastics News is a weekly, 46 000-circulation trade newspaper delivering global news to a primarily North American market. Founded by Crain Communications in Akron, Ohio, in 1989, it covers the business of the global plastics industry. www.plasticsnews.com

7. TriStar Plastics Corp. – Tech Talk Blog This weekly blog covers composite bearing design, plastic engineering and surface modiﬁcation topics. TriStar Plastics Corp provides engineering, custom fabrication and manufacturing of high-performance plastics and selflubricating bearing materials. www.tstar.com/blog

4. European Plastic Product Manufacturer – The Magazine for Europe’s Plastic Processors European Plastic Product Manufacturer (EPPM) magazine is the leading resource for plastic processors across Europe. It proﬁles new equipment, materials and services for the entire sector. www.eppm.com/blog 5. PlastikCity PlastikCity blog shares all the relevant industry news and brings plastic industry buyers and sellers together in an efﬁcient on-line arena. www.plastikcity.co.uk/blog 6. Plastic Ingenuity Blog Plastic Ingenuity provides the best

8. Global Plastic Sheeting Blog GPS blogs about ﬁre testing, ﬁre retardant plastics, methane gas, four types of polyethylene, and more. www.globalplasticsheeting.com/ou 9. Productive Plastics Inc Productive Plastics is a contract plastic forming company specialising in heavy gauge plastic thermoforming, pressure forming, vacuum forming, twin sheet forming, and custom plastic thermoforming. www.productiveplastics.com/produ 10. Reddit – Plastic Stay up to date with the latest articles on Plastic. www.reddit.com/r/plastic

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World News

Covestro employees support the groundbreaking ceremony for a new ﬁlms production in Thailand, among them Dr Thorsten Drier, Global Head of the Films Segment (third from right)

AROUND THE WORLD

Covestro breaks ground on new production line in Thailand

COVESTRO has started to build up a new manufacturing line for polycarbonate films at Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, Thailand. With this new capacity, the company will serve the fast growing demand in Asia Pacific and strengthen its own position as a market leader. The project is the first step of a global capacity increase for Covestro´s film production. The total investment of more than €100-million also includes an expansion of the associated infrastructure and logistics. The existing films facility started operations in January 2007 and produces Makrofol® polycarbonate and Bayfol® polycarbonate blend films, which are used in industry sectors such as security and ID cards, automotive, medical, as well as electrical and electronics. It produces a selection of grades, including new optical grades, and the new facility is designed to extend the range of products in response to market demand. www.covestro.com

Companies kick in $90 million to ﬁght plastic pollution in Asia

MAJOR consumer product makers and chemical companies, including Dow Chemical Co, PepsiCo Inc and Procter & Gamble Co are kicking in $90 million to ﬁght plastics ocean pollution in Asia, and trying to demonstrate that such projects can be viable investments. Other expected contributors to the fund include Group Danone SA, Unilever NV and Coca-Cola Co. Organizers said they hope to show that private capital can help to kickstart investment in plastic waste management in Asian countries that generate signiﬁcant amount of marine pollution, but often lack resources to better manage the packaging waste from their growing consumer societies. Dow said it sees the effort as supporting practical methods of reducing plastic waste and ocean pollution. 72

Legalisation packaging

Only interested in the legal cannabis market AS the stigma of marijuana use, both medicinally and recreationally, continues to wane in the United States, more plastics packaging companies are embracing the market. According to PlasticsNews.com, that was clearly evident at Pack Expo in Chicago, where companies openly displayed a willingness to jump into the market. Companies, both private and public, are typically risk adverse, so the fact that one of the largest plastics processing companies in the world is now openly talking about cannabis packaging signals both a market opportunity and a cultural shift. But Berry Global Group Inc CEO Tom Salmon, made one thing perfectly clear: His Fortune 500 ﬁrm is only interested in the legal cannabis market.

“As you see the proliferation of legalisation of cannabis, of medicalgrade marijuana, there has to be a responsible way to package it. So why not take advantage of those years of expertise, knowledge and know-how to deliver value to those customers that are using it for medical purposes, and in states where it is legal for recreational purposes, in a responsible way?” Salmon said. “This is taking advantage of a packaging know-how. If you think about what we are trying to do, we’re supporting, in all instances, a legal industry, right? A legal business on a state-by-state basis, region-by-region basis,” he said. “We’re not, obviously, going to drift beyond those conﬁnes.”

STRICT new limits on plastics scrap imports in Southeast Asia, including announcements by authorities in Thailand, could have a ‘devastating’ impact on Chinese recyclers, according to the head of one of the country’s recycling associations. In the latest move suggesting Southeast Asian nations are following the Chinese government’s lead on limiting waste imports, Thai authorities announced a crackdown on electronic waste and plastic scrap, including waste plastics bound for recycling plants. President of the China Scrap Plastics Association, Steve Wong, noted that the tightening import rules come as some Chinese companies had moved operations there, or made plans to do so, as a response to Beijing’s earlier ban. Beijing-based CSPA said Thailand plans to inspect 2 240 plastics recycling factories to search for illegal imports of e-waste and other violations of environmental and labour laws, and import permits. “Major import problems came to

the surface over the past few weeks at the principal markets in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia,” Wong said. “The environmental concern regarding the smuggling of highly contaminated e-waste triggered a tightening of regulatory controls of plastic scrap imports by Thailand and has now virtually paralyzed the normal trade ﬂow to this country.” CSPA said more than 30 000 containers are sitting idle in Thai ports, following similar problems at ports in Vietnam. “The latest changes have had a devastating effect on the recyclers, particularly those that moved their businesses from China due to the plastic ban,” CSPA said. Wong had previously estimated that about 20% of China’s plastics recycling companies that relied on imported feedstocks had moved to other countries in the wake of Beijing’s crackdown on plastic imports, mostly to Southeast Asia. About 60% of industry companies had shut down.

Southeast Asia countries adopting stricter plastic scrap limits

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leads top global firms to cannabis One of

Child safety for package designers the largest Presto’s Child-Guard and packaging plastics processing processors. zipper was originally designed to help keep companies in the world Companies have children out of detergent been making now openly talking effective cookie pod packaging, but the opportunities now go packaging for a about cannabis beyond that application, long, long time, packaging Meussling said. Meussling said, but Cannabis companies know that packaging never had they need to upgrade their packaging to be child-safe. Now the firms as they become more mainstream. are faced with making child-resistant “There’s a lot of regulations they are packaging for a wide variety of products faced with. States are trying to figure it that contain cannabis. out, but they know they want child safety. Zip-Pak, a division of Illinois Tool So that’s how they started using our Works Inc, introduced its own childproduct,” he said. “As time goes on, we’re resistant slider called Safety-Lok at Pack finding the cannabis market is not just a Expo. The slider requires more than one bunch of people who want to smoke it.” action — in this case both squeezing and But that doesn’t mean it comes easy sliding – to open the package.

Todd Meussling, senior manager of market development at Presto Products Co, with the company’s mini-Slider closure application

Carrie Strieter, Zip-Pak’s director of marketing and innovation, said SafetyLok has multiple applications and also pointed out its potential use for medical marijuana packaging. But Zip-Pak is cautious about how to approach the opportunity.

ALPLA and Texplast

intensify collaboration Recycler Texplast installs third extrusion line at Wolfen site

SINCE July 2018, ALPLA and FROMM have been successfully working together in PET recycling. Another extrusion line at the Texplast site in Wolfen will increase the capacity for food-safe PET regranulate by 15 000 tons each year – material that ALPLA will return to the recyclable material cycle in Europe, and in Germany in particular. Austrian packaging solutions specialist ALPLA and German recycling company Texplast, a subsidiary of FROMM Plastics, are beneﬁtting from working together. Texplast is now investing in a third extrusion line and will increase its annual capacity for food-safe PET regranulate by 15 000 tons to an approximate total of 27 000 tons. For

ALPLA and Texplast are intensifying their collaboration in PET recycling

the expansion, Texplast is currently building a new hall at the company site in Wolfen. The facility is expected to become operational in April 2019, and according to Texplast, around €4.5 million has been invested. With optimised logistics, Texplast brings returnable bottles to the recycling plant via the shortest routes possible www.alpla.com

WORLD NEWS-1.indd 73

and thereby keeps its carbon footprint as small as possible, highlights Matthias Schäfer, Texplast representative, “By collaborating with ALPLA, we have closed the bottle cycle: We recycle the returnable goods from the food retail industry and turn them into high-quality, food-safe granulate from which ALPLA produces preforms for new PET .

www.texplast.de

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World News

AROUND THE WORLD

Plastics recycling at a ‘tipping point’

PUBLIC concern about ocean litter, China’s ban on scrap imports and plans by major consumer product companies to use more recycled content could be a ‘tipping point’ for boosting plastics recycling. According to PlasticsNews.com, that was the view from a recent open house held by recycling technology supplier Erema Group GmbH. The Austrian company, one of the largest makers of equipment for plastics recycling, hosted its annual Discovery Day forum late last year. Martin Baumann, vice president of sales at Erema North America Inc, said the emotional impact of ocean plastics waste for consumers and the pressure that puts on brand owners that use a lot of plastics packaging will create a pull of demand for using more recycled content plastics in products. “The whole issue of ocean plastics, the pictures that have reached the common consumer, everybody knows about it, and that emotional aspect will actually drive the brand owners to keep their commitments,” he said. “Hence, I do believe we have reached the tipping point and the amount of recycled plastic will increase in the coming years signiﬁcantly.” Erema estimates that to meet new European goals of a 55% recycling rate by 2030, the amount of recycled plastic used in products there will have to more than double compared to what was used in 2014, to more than 10 million tons.

Porcher Industries inaugurates new manufacturing site in China

PORCHER Industries has a new 24 000m2 manufacturing site in Zhejiang province, China. The initial focus of its activity is the manufacture of 8-million m2 of material intended for airbag production, applying Porcher Industries’ expertise to driver safety and the automotive developments of the future. Looking ahead, the site, equipped with the most advanced looms and coating machines, automatic control tension systems and weight control coating equipment, plans to offer a broader range of innovative technical textiles and thermoplastic solutions for the aerospace and industrial sectors. The $56 million cash investment, supported by the regional government and local development zone, has helped secure Porcher Industries’ place in one of the most dynamic economies in the world today. 74

Total Corbion PLA bioplastics plant in Thailand

BASF makes products with

Pilot products manufactured and certiﬁed with partners in the value chain

BASF is breaking new ground in plastic waste recycling with its ChemCycling project. Chemical recycling provides an innovative way to re-use plastic waste that is currently not recycled, such as mixed or uncleaned plastics. Using thermochemical processes, these plastics can be used to produce syngas or oils. The resulting recycled raw materials can be used as inputs in BASF’s production, thereby partially replacing fossil resources. “With our ChemCycling project, we are using plastic waste as a resource. In this way, we create value for the environment, society and the economy. We have joined forces with partners throughout the value chain to establish a working circular model,” said Brudermüller. BASF is collaborating closely with its customers and partners, which range from waste management companies to technology providers and packaging producers, to build a circular value chain,” said Dr Martin Brudermüller, Chairman of the Board of Executive

Directors and Chief Technology Officer of BASF SE. BASF is already developing pilot products, including mozzarella packaging, refrigerator components and insulation panels with 10 customers from various industries. Manufacturing products that meet high quality and hygiene standards – which are specifically required for food packaging, for example – is possible because the ChemCycling products supplied by BASF have exactly the same properties as products made from fossil resources. At the beginning of the production chain, BASF feeds oil derived from plastic waste by an oiling process into the Production Verbund. BASF gets this feedstock for the pilot products from the partner Recenso GmbH, Germany. As an alternative, syngas made from plastic waste can also be used. The first batch of this oil was fed into the steam cracker at BASF’s site in Ludwigshafen in October. The steam cracker is the starting point for Verbund production.

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TOTAL Corbion PLA, a 50/50 joint venture between Total and Corbion, has started-up its 75 000 tons per year PLA (Poly Lactic Acid) bioplastics plant in Rayong, Thailand. The plant has successfully produced Luminy® PLA resins. This bioplastic provides a valuable contribution towards the circular economy being biobased and biodegradable and offering multiple environmentally-friendly waste solutions.

World News

starts-up 75 000 tpa

The new 75 000 tons per year PLA bioplastics plant in Rayong, Thailand

The new facility will produce a broad range of Luminy PLA resins from renewable, non-GMO sugarcane sourced locally in Thailand: from standard PLA to innovative, high heat PLA and PDLA with unique properties. The products will meet customers’ needs in a wide range of markets notably packaging, consumer goods, 3D printing, fibres and automotive and are specifically optimised for extrusion, thermoforming, injection moulding and fibre spinning processes. At the end of their useful life, PLA products can be mechanically or chemically recycled, or in some cases composted and returned to the soil as fertilizer. www.total-corbion.com

chemically recycled plastics Collaboration to recycle It breaks down or ‘cracks’ this raw material at temperatures of around 850 degrees Celsius. The primary outputs of the process are ethylene and propylene. These basic chemicals are used in the Verbund to make numerous

chemical products. Under the mass balance approach, the share of recycled raw material can be mathematically allocated to the ﬁnal certiﬁed product. Each customer can select the allocated percentage of recycled material.

Dr Stefan Gräter and Dr Andreas Kicherer show a sample of pyrolysis oil. Using thermochemical processes, waste plastics which can’t be recycled can be used to produce syngas or oils. The resulting recycled raw materials can be used as inputs in BASF’s production, thereby partially replacing fossil resources

www.basf.com

VERSALIS (Eni), RadiciGroup and Safitex have joined forces to make synthetic grass for sports fields recyclable in line with the principles of the circular economy. Versalis supplies the raw material (polyethylene), RadiciGroup is a manufacturer of fibres for sport applications, and Safitex, a manufacturer of synthetic grass turf. The project involves an all-Italian supply chain and is aimed at reinforcing the circularity of this application to reduce its end-of-life impact. Currently, synthetic grass turf is disposed of through landfill or incineration. Thanks to the collaboration between these three Italian industrial leaders pursuing the path of “Made Green in Italy”, at the end of its life, synthetic grass turf can now be recycled like other plastics: it is collected, shredded and processed for other applications in the sports sector (shin guards, elbow pads and bibs) or for furnishings (vases, accessories and garden equipment).

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synthetic grass

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World News

AROUND THE WORLD

Krones strengthens its PET capabilities

KRONES, a leading manufacturer of ﬁlling and packaging solutions, has acquired MHT Holding AG (MHT). MHT, based in Hochheim, Germany, together with its subsidiaries is providing injecting moulding tools and services to the PET industry. The company generates approximately €25 million revenues with 125 employees. The acquisition of MHT represents an extension of the Krones PET product portfolio into tooling for PET preform manufacturing and thus closes a gap in the Krones PET value chain. Krones can now offer a broader portfolio of PET capabilities for customers in the beverage industry, who increasingly demand integrated solutions. Acquiring MHT enables Krones to close the PET cycle, from PET preform manufacturing and stretch blow moulding all the way through to PET recycling – and then back to the manufacture of a new preform. MHT’s headquarters will remain at Hochheim with the current management to continue to run the business. In April 2018, Krones acquired 70% in Integrated Plastics Systems AG, Switzerland. Integrated Plastics Systems AG is focussing on providing turnkey PET injection moulding solutions for the beverage industry. The acquisitions of MHT and Integrated Plastics Systems AG are both enhancing the Krones PET competence and portfolio. www.krones.com

Nordson to build global hub for extrusion and fluid coating die business NORDSON Corporation has celebrated the groundbreaking for a new world headquarters for its EDI® extrusion and Premier™ fluid coating product lines, one that will include advanced equipment for enhancing die quality and more efficient systems for serving customers. The 13 500m2 facility will be located in an industrial park near three existing Nordson sites in Chippewa Falls, including the current EDI headquarters and extrusion die manufacturing facility; a plant for Premier dies and all aftermarket service; and a technology centre for research and development (R&D) and laboratory trials. Relocation of these operations to the new facility will begin in June 2019 and be complete by late 2020. Nordson also will enhance production efficiency with new state of the art equipment. “The new global hub for our EDI brands will redefine the way that dies are built,” said John J. Keane, executive vice president in charge of Nordson’s Polymer Processing Systems (PPS) business. “Advanced manufacturing equipment will streamline workflow and produce dies with tighter tolerances. A complete reconfiguration of our operation will integrate people and resources previously deployed in separate locations, generating collaboration and synergy that will improve the customer experience and reduce lead times.” www.nordson.com 76

DuPont to build new specialty materials manufacturing facility in East China

Thermostat housings and water outlets made with Zytel

Compounding & adhesives investment to meet growing demand in transportation, electronics, industrial and consumer products markets

DUPONT is investing more than $80-million to build a new manufacturing facility in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu Province in East China. The new facility will produce compounded highend engineering plastics and adhesives to serve customers in transportation, electronics, industrial and consumer products markets. The planned site is expected to become operational in 2020 with expansion through 2023. The production facility, to be built at the Yangtze River International Chemical Industrial Park, will support growing demand for DuPont transportation & advanced polymers (T&AP) business’ specialised materials. Investment in new compounding lines will be focused primarily on DuPont™ Zytel® nylon engineering plastics, Delrin® acetal resins, Hytrel® thermoplastic polyesters and Multibase™ thermoplastic

LV battery housing made with Zytel

elastomers (TPEs), lubricants and specialty silicone materials. The site plans to include new production lines for automotive adhesives and intends to manufacture additional specialty products in the future. www.dow-dupont.com www.plastics.dupont.com

Ravago buys California distributor

RAVAGO Americas has acquired resin distributor Bolcof-Port Polymers of Azusa, California, its second deal of September 2018 and 10th overall since 2016. Bolcof-Port will become part of Ravago’s Amco Polymers unit. Bolcof-Port has been in operation since the 1960s and was one of the ﬁrst resin distributors in southern California. • Ravago is the owner of Plastomark and Ultra Polymers in South Africa.

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AROUND THE WORLD

PepsiCo aims for 25% recycled plastic content by 2025

AS part of its sustainable plastics vision, PepsiCo has set a new goal to strive to use 25% recycled content in its plastic packaging by 2025. PepsiCo aims to achieve this goal by collaborating with suppliers and partners, helping to increase consumer education, fostering cross-industry and public-private partnerships and advocating for improved recycling infrastructure and regulatory reform. The goal includes an aim speciﬁc to PET (polyethylene terephthalate) beverage bottles to achieve 33% recycled PET content by 2025. Already, PepsiCo is one of the world’s largest users of food-grade recycled PET. PepsiCo’s new goal builds on goals announced in 2016 under the company’s Performance with Purpose 2025 Agenda. The 2025 Agenda included goals for PepsiCo to strive to design 100% of its packaging to be recyclable, compostable or biodegradable; to increase its use of recycled materials; to reduce the carbon impact of its packaging and, in partnership with the PepsiCo Foundation, to work to increase recycling rates. www.pepsico.com

Songwon expands inhouse production in South Korea A NEW production line at Songwon’s site in Suwon, South Korea for the manufacture and distillation of Songsorb® CS 400 UV stabiliser has become operational. With a total capacity of about 1 000 metric tons, it allows fully backward integrated inhouse manufacture of Songsorb CS 400 at all stages from intermediate to ﬁnished product. Other individual coatings additives as well as blends of UV absorbers and hindered amine light stabilisers are produced at the site. Songsorb CS 400 is a liquid hydroxyphenyl triazine (HPT) UV absorber designed to ensure high performance and durability in waterand solvent-borne as well as 100% solid automotive and industrial ﬁnishes. It has very high thermal stability and outstanding resistance in coatings exposed to high bake cycles and/ or extreme external conditions. It is suitable for use in amine and metal catalysed coatings, substrates containing such catalysts and coatings applied on topcoats. 78

Over 100 representatives from the international plastics industry gathered together at Next Generation Recyclingmaschinen in Feldkirchen an der Donau to experience live the new Liquid State Polycondensation (LSP) method of PET recycling

NGR & Kuhne

host PET day

Photo 14 (NGR): PET/ PET-G as well as PET/PE compounds can be easily processed with LSP

Successful demonstration of new, innovative LSP system

MORE than 117 representatives of the plastics industry from 24 countries met in November for an open day at the Upper Austrian mechanical engineering company Next Generation Recycling Machines (NGR). In cooperation with the German machine supplier and extrusion specialist Kuhne GmbH, an innovative recycling process for polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was demonstrated to the interested audience. Previous methods of recycling PET back to near-virgin quality have shown limitations. The LSP recycling method developed by NGR now opens up completely new possibilities for the plastics industry. Achieving food grade standards, decontamination and rebuilding of the molecular chain structure takes place in the liquid phase of the PET in the LSP process. This principle allows recyclers more flexibility with regard to the input materials. Different forms of PET waste can be mixed and recycled. This means not only bottle flake, but also scrap fibre, sheet, thermoform waste, strapping, and other lower

value scrap streams can be recycled to much higher IV and higher value recycled products. In addition, the NGR process at the outlet provides controlled mechanical properties of the recycled PET. Furthermore, LSP can be used to process co-polymer forms of PET (PET-G) and polyolefin contents (e.g. PE) without any problems. In addition, it had been demonstrated that PET/ PET-G as well as PET/PE compounds can be easily and safely processed using Liquid State Polycondensation without any limitations. Until now, this was not possible with conventional recycling processes. After the melt has passed the LSP reactor, it can either be granulated or – like at the demonstration in Feldkirchen – processed to FDA approved film with outstanding optical and mechanical properties by implementing devices such as a sheet die, a roll stack, cutting devices or a winder. These films are mainly used for thermoforming applications. • Represented in South Africa by Safrique International – www.safrique.com www.ngr.at

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Speak to us.. We know material handling! TEL: 011 462 2990

info@demaplastech.co.za

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AROUND THE WORLD

Styrenics Circular Solutions formed

STYRENICS Circular Solutions (SCS), the joint industry initiative to drive the shift to a more circular economy for styrenics, has been incorporated as an independent organisation and collaboration platform. SCS’ four founding members, INEOS Styrolution, Total, Trinseo and Versalis (Eni), signed the SCS incorporation agreement to further solidify their commitment to transform the styrenics industry by unlocking polystyrene’s unique circularity potential. Game-changing technologies will enable polystyrene, EPS and other styrenic based plastics to be fully recycled so that they can be used again and again in high-quality applications, ultimately also for food contact. The newly incorporated platform will enable the inclusion of new members across the styrenics value chain and waste management stream, as well as build on the collaboration with long-standing partners, such as PlasticsEurope, and new partners alike. SCS will place a strong focus on engaging waste collection and sorting partners to recover more polystyrene and EPS-based products. www.styrenics-circularsolutions

UN launches global plastic pollution project THE United Nations has launched a ‘global plastic platform’ to ﬁght plastics waste worldwide. The platform aims to encourage new commitments to reduce plastic pollution and explore innovative ways to change the habits of design, production, consumption and disposal of plastics around the world. The aim is to provide support to countries and cities with ambitious environmental commitments, by facilitating the sharing of experiences and the establishment of new policies. The Europe-wide strategy calls for transforming product design, production, use and recycling within the EU and involves investment opportunities and jobs within the sector. Under the new EU plans, all plastic packaging on the EU market must be recyclable by 2030, the consumption of single-use plastics will be reduced and the intentional use of microplastics will be restricted. 80

Borealis supports global commitment to

eliminate plastic pollution at source Commits to increase its recycled plastics volume by fourfold by 2025

Borealis CEO, Alfred Stern

World News

BOREALIS, a leading provider of innovative solutions in the fields of polyolefins, base chemicals and fertilisers, has signed The New Plastics Economy’s ‘A Line in the Sand’ – Global commitment to Eliminate Plastic Pollution at the Source. A global commitment to eradicate plastic waste and pollution at the source has been signed by 250 organisations including many of the world’s largest packaging producers, brands, retailers and recyclers, as well as governments and NGOs. Signatories include companies representing 20% of all plastic packaging produced globally. The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment is led by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, in collaboration with UN Environment, and was officially unveiled at the Our Ocean Conference in Bali, Indonesia in October 2018. “Change is possible. We truly believe that working side-by-side, businesses and governments can tackle plastic pollution at the source,” explains

Borealis CEO Alfred Stern. “As a plastics producer we have taken a leading role in helping to solve the issue of plastic littering and recycling. We support ‘A Line in the Sand’ Global Commitment by committing to more than quadruple our recycled plastics volumes by 2025 and further scaling up our Project STOP to help close the tap on ocean plastics.” The Global Commitment aims to create ‘a new normal’ for plastic packaging. Targets will be reviewed every 18 months and become increasingly ambitious over the coming years. Businesses that sign the commitment will publish annual data on their progress to help drive momentum and ensure transparency. Targets include: • Eliminate problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging and move from single-use to reuse packaging models. • Innovate to ensure 100% of plastic packaging can be easily and safely reused, recycled, or composted by 2025. • Circulate the plastic produced, by signiﬁcantly increasing the amounts of plastics reused or recycled and made into new packaging or products. www.newplasticseconomy.org

RPC in buyout talks with US private equity firms LEADING UK plastics packaging firm RPC Group plc, with global operations including more than 20 plants in North America, is in preliminary discussions with US-based private equity firms Apollo Global Management and Bain Capital over two possible buyout offers. The RPC statement came in response to a Bloomberg report saying the leading European packaging firm was in talks with potential buyers. The report valued the company at £2.8 billion, noting a 20% decline in RPC’s shares this year. RPC reported a 36.4% year-on-year increase in sales at £3.74 billion for the full year in 2017, with adjusted profit before tax up 36.1% at £389 million.

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Diary AFRICA ENERGY INDABA THE Africa Energy Indaba conference and exhibition will be taking place from 19–20 February at the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg. The Africa Energy Indaba Conference will discuss debate and seek solutions to enable adequate energy generation across the continent. Delegates, drawn from all continents, represent an unrivalled combination of industry experts, project developers, financiers, energy users, government officials and manufacturers. The conference also provides the exciting side events listed below: • Africa Gas Forum • IPP & PPA Conference • Women in Energy Conference • SANEA Energy dialogue The Africa Energy Indaba Exhibition is highly relevant to companies actively involved in all areas relating to showcasing solutions for the benefit of Africa. This extends to services for major energy projects on the continent, rural energy solutions, urbanisation and energy needs and the renewable & sustainable energy industry and the management of it. www.africaenergyindaba.com

Africa Rubber Industry Forum 2018 Inaugural event well attended

THE ﬁrst edition of Africa Rubber Industry Forum 2018 from 20-21 November 2018, focused on the latest developments in rubber, latex and tyre technologies. Forum focus areas included everything from new rubber raw material and additives, curing and vulcanization of rubber, mixing and compounding, rubber reinforcement, nano composites and extrusion and calendaring, to rubber mould design and moulding of rubber,

rubber bonding, rubber testing and rheology, tyre technology, recycling of rubber and tyres, latex dipped products technology and industry regulations. The Edu-Conference programme was well attended and covered topics such as the ‘Impact of Filler Dispersion on Compound Quality’, ‘Rubber Vulcanization Chemistry – Mechanism and Property Control’, ‘Best Practices for Rubber Chemists’ and much more.

Safrique team – Grace Wilu, Selvie Moodley, Pauline Muvirimi and Logan Govender at the Safrique stand

COMING UP

INDUSTRY CONFERENCE BRINGS KEY BREATHABLE FILMS STAKEHOLDERS TO BERLIN RESPONDING to the growing markets of breathable films across multiple end-use applications, leading experts and professionals from across Europe and beyond will gather in Berlin for a key Breathable Films conference from 27-28 February. In addition to unique networking opportunities, the Breathable Films conference provides expert analysis and debate from the entire supply chain to evaluate the trends, challenges and opportunities facing the breathable films industry across the world. Following the success of the launch event in 2018, the conference again covers developments and innovations in raw material characteristics, machinery, testing techniques, film formulation, extrusion & processing technologies as well market trends continuing to facilitate cost reduction without compromising film performance and safety criteria. www.ami.international/events/event?Code=C0958

WHAT LIES IN THE FUTURE FOR PLASTICS REGULATIONS? AMI has launched its 3rd Plastics Regulations Conference, from 6-7 March at the Hilton Hotel Dusseldorf featuring leading compliance commentators including Steptoe & Johnson, Burges Salmon and Mayer Brown who will give their perspectives on the latest updates within European regulatory framework. The legislative landscape for the plastics industry is ever changing and 2019 looks to be no different. With the increasing interest in issues such as single use plastics, the continued implementation of REACH and increasing uncertainties surrounding Brexit, Plastics Regulations 2019 offers an excellent opportunity for professionals across the supply chain to meet with global regulatory experts and gain impartial information on the latest European regulatory updates and make sure organisations are compliant with current and future legislation. wwww.ami.international/events/event?Code=C0959 82

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Rethinking the future of packaging New themes every day and free-to-attend seminars! AFRICA’S ultimate packaging, food processing, plastics, printing and labelling exhibition, Propak Africa 2019, takes place from 12-15 March at the Expo Centre Nasrec, Johannesburg. The industry has come to count on Propak Africa for its showcase of the latest innovations and technologies, sustainable packaging initiatives, leading products, services and solutions, and the most cutting-edge machinery and equipment. Not forgetting the advice from technical experts and the knowledge gained from attending colocated conferences. You can look forward to everything you’ve come to expect at Propak Africa and a whole lot more – including new themes every day and free-to-attend seminars! The four themes which will run over

the four days include: New Products, Sustainability, Skills Development, ‘Local is Lekker’ South African Day. These are just a few of the daily freeto-attend topics you can enjoy: • Packaging For The Future • Packaging 4.0 • Top Consumer Trends • Africa Insights • SA Packaging Market Overview Co-located conferences Taking the opportunity while the industry is together at one venue, various associations and organisations have planned conferences which visitors can register for: The Institute of Packaging SA’s (IPSA) Think Tank, 12-13 March , Black Eagle Conference Room, email: secretary@ipsa.org.za, tel: 011 804 1614,

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At the Greenacres stand were Johnny Hattingh, owner Des Green and Piet van Dongen

www.propakafrica.co.za/_downloads/ ipsa-think-tank.pdf Printing SA Conference, 13 March, Black Eagle Conference Room, contact Abisha Katerere, email: akaterere@ printingsa.org, tel: 011 287 1160 SAPRO: Design for Recycling Workshop, 13 March, Black Eagle Conference Room, contact Lisa Parkes, email: lisa@plasticrecyclingsa.co.za, www.propakafrica.co.za/_downloads/ sapro_details.pdf

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PACKAGING INNOVATION & SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE 2019 10+ INDUSTRY EXPERTS SHARE THEIR VIEWS ON MARKET SHAKING TOPICS. SUSTAINABILITY IN A CHANGING LANDSCAPE AND INDUSTRY BUY IN.

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14 MARCH

Ziningi Nsele, Dumisani Mthembu and Adrian de Goede on the H & R stand

Rawmac & Zigsheng exhibiting at Propak Africa 2019 12th to 15th March at NASREC

RAWMAC, together with one of its principals, Zigsheng, will be exhibiting at this year’s Propak Africa from 12-15 March at Hall 5, Stand A19 at NASREC in Johannesburg. With 39 years’ experience as a national distributor of engineering polymers representing leading international producers, Rawmac Import & Distribution has become a major distributor of engineering polymers to the South African plastics industry. Zigsheng is a compounder and producer of Nylon 6 and 66 grades. The company was established in Taiwan in 1997 and has been supplying the South African market for the past six years. Their nylon has been accepted by the industry and is regarded as a top grade. Rawmac has branches and warehousing in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth, through which it provides customers with logistical and technical backup of the highest level of service. Products that Rawmac supplies include ABS, MABS, ASA, GPPS, HIPS, EPS, SBC, Q-RESIN, SAN, SMMA, PMMA, PC, PC/ABS, POM, PA6, PA66, PBT, PP, PP Compounds, HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE, EVA, Urea-Compounds, TPE and TPV.

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Propak Africa Packaging Innovation & Sustainability Conference, 14 March, Black Eagle Conference Room, contact Jolanda van de Spreng, email: jolanda@vdsmedia.co.za, tel: 076 424 0831, www.propakafrica. co.za/_downloads/vds-media_details. pdf

Taking a quick break were expo attendees Aron Malepe of Multotec Rubber, Leslie Bengover and Thabiso Musendame of National Rubber Matmin, and Karen Gekool and Ken Barnes of Protea Chemicals

Anthony Mac Farlane and Wernhard Barnardo from Concord Refrigeration visited the Rigifoam/Resichem stand and were met by Michael Yacoby and Bruce Elliot

PHOTOS: LOWRIE SHARP

Andrew Brugmann of Jonibach and Dr Peter Groome of Jiahua Chemicals in China

www.rawmacplastics.co.za

2019/02/07 18:03

Diary

COMING UP

NAACAM SHOW IN DURBAN IN MARCH THE NAACAM show is to take place at the International Convention Centre in Durban from 12-14 March. NAACAM (National Association of Automotive Component and Allied Manufacturers) guides South Africa’s automotive component initiative. The show is co-hosted by the eThekwini Municipality and the Durban Automotive Cluster. It will be second edition of the show, which followed a competitive host city bidding process. NAACAM aims to become the premier automotive component manufacturing body and its show is intended to achieve manufacturing growth, transformation and stakeholder engagement. It has the support of the DTI, the local automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), the Automotive Supply Chain Competitive Initiative (ASCCI), and the National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA). NAACAM has welcomed the finalisation of the SA Automotive Masterplan process and the announcement of the policy that will be used to achieve the objectives of the sector by 2035. “It is our view that this process has been adequately robust. The end outcome is balanced and in the long-term interests of South Africa as a manufacturer of automotive products. We are satisfied that NAACAM’s inputs were fully considered. The DTI under Minister Rob Davies should be congratulated for the high levels of engagement and evidence-based decision making that led to the finalisation of the policy,” said Ugo Frigerio, newly elected NAACAM president, and also CEO of KAP Automotive. www.naacam.co.za

SAPRO LAUNCHES ‘DESIGN FOR RECYCLING INDABA’ AT PROPAK SAPRO has partnered with WWF to launch the inaugural South African Design for Recycling Indaba. The Indaba builds on the shared vision of the partners to respond to the global shifts in single use plastics towards more sustainable packaging solutions and design innovation to facilitate recovery and recycling thereof. It aims to promote awareness and foster producer, brand owner and retailer commitment to adopting the Design for Recycling document, as a standard for sustainable packaging design in South Africa, and to facilitate and promote use of on pack recycling information (OPRL), in a standardised way, in accordance with the SANS and ISO requirements. The Indaba takes the format of two workshops, hosted over two days on 13/14 March as a part of Propak Africa.

MASTERBATCH ASIA IN BANGKOK AMI’s Masterbatch Asia 2019 from 14/15 March at the Banyan Tree Hotel, Bangkok, will be the 15th anniversary of the international meeting for the Asian masterbatch industry. The conference attracts delegates from all the producing countries in the region, including leading masterbatch producers. Customer requirements are increasingly demanding, with the need for the masterbatch industry to provide unique new products to balance rigorous performance, cost, processability and sustainability speciﬁcations. These issues and more will be explored in depth during the busy 2-day programme, enabling delegates to help lead the debate on how the masterbatch industry can innovate to support customer-focused initiatives. 84

Diary new.indd 84

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The lightweight

path to success Composites Europe 2018 – Lightweight construction a key technology

GLASS and carbon ﬁbre reinforced plastics are in demand when lightweight and forward-looking solutions are called for. This trend towards lightweight construction is currently one of the strongest drivers for the composites industry. Just as strong are the impulses generated by the composites sector itself: the major technological advances in the manufacturing and processing chain enables this sector of industry to increasingly automate and shorten manufacturing processes. Both developments dominated this year’s edition of Composites Europe, held for the 13th time with 365 exhibitors from 30 nations. Event organiser Reed Exhibitions registered 8,148 visitors from 71 countries (2017: 63). At present, the market for glass ﬁbre reinforced plastics (GRP) is growing by 2% against the previous year to a volume of 1 141 million tons, according to the industry association AVK –

Industrievereinigung Verstärkte Kunststoffe. The automotive sector, which is the most important market for selling ﬁbre reinforced plastics in Europe today, is currently undergoing a fundamental change. In addition to higher requirements made on exhaust gas and emission values new drive concepts such as e-mobility are contributing to a restructuring of the sector and opening up new perspectives. Big response to Lightweight Technologies Forum (LTF) Fibre reinforced composites bring their strengths to bear especially in multi-material lightweight construction. After all, the requirements of modern lightweight construction can be met less and less with a single material while hybrid lightweight construction is becoming increasingly important

Mobilising maintenance through digitalisation at EMO Hannover Machine tools show to demonstrate complexity of condition monitoring for autonomous machines A FEW years ago the word maintenance immediately evoked an image of a man wearing blue overalls: today, however, it is increasingly characterised by digital services and mobile devices such as tablets and data glasses. Exhibitors will be presenting examples of these at EMO Hannover 2019 from 16-21 September in Hannover, Germany. The Smart Factory and the related digitalisation offer wide-ranging potential for long-term and predictive maintenance. But what are the beneﬁts for companies? And what are the prerequisites for ensuring that the data necessary for planning, processing and documenting maintenance measures is exchanged reliably? What is certain is that maintenance staff are by deﬁnition production service

providers – even if the job description has changed considerably in recent years. Today it’s crucial for maintenance technicians to be fully familiar with the hardware and software of their machines to plan repairs in advance and procure any required materials. They increasingly have to use digital services to help them monitor the condition of the machines. Before purchasing a machine, companies should make sure that the manufacturer offers service solutions that are tailored to their individual requirements.

www.emo-hannover.de

2019/02/07 18:03

instead – an approach that underlies the Lightweight Technologies Forum at Composites Europe. At the forum a total of 26 companies presented materials, tools and exhibits last year – from ﬁllers, bonding agents and presses for laminating different materials to hybrid semi-ﬁnished products. One highlight was the feasibility study of a car seat that will weigh as little as 8kg.

In future COMPOSITES EUROPE will be jointly located with Foam Expo Europe Starting this year, Foam Expo Europe will be held in parallel with Composites Europe for the ﬁrst time. Foam Expo Europe, which celebrated its premiere last year, presents the entire foam supply chain and is the marketplace for manufacturers and buyers of industrial foams, foam products and services. The exhibition will focus on moulded, rigid and ﬂexible foam solutions, including raw materials, chemicals, equipment and machinery. Composites Europe in Stuttgart will be held from 10-12 September 2019. www.composites-europe.com

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‘Process Live’ moves manufacturing chain centre-stage The new ‘Process live’ exhibition area showed that the industry is becoming increasingly successful in automating and shortening production processes with technological advances in the

manufacturing and processing chain. Here, companies from mechanical and plant engineering industries presented coordinated processing and manufacturing processes. An example of this was the live demonstration by cutting specialist Gunnar (Switzerland), composite automation expert Airborne (Netherlands) and gripping system supplier Schmalz (Germany), who jointly presented the entire production and processing chain with reliable processes from the roll material to the ﬁnished layer structure of a ﬁbre composite component in a combined production cell. The interlocking hardware components are completely interconnected on the software side.

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Diary new.indd 85

AcRystex

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Delene Williams,

2019/02/07 18:04

Diary ANTEC IN DETROIT THE United States’ Society of Plastics Engineers’ annual technical conference, Antec 2019, takes place in Detroit, Michigan, from 18-21 March. With various megatrend sessions on packaging, building & construction, sustainability and transportation, the event offers delegates the opportunity to get face-to-face interaction with expert representatives from the industry. www.4spe.org

USA EVENT FOR INJECTION MOULDING A CONFERENCE focussed wholly on injection moulding, Molding 2019, is to take place from 19-21 March in Indianapolis, USA. This conference and exhibition, now in its 29th year, is aimed entirely at injection moulders and is organised by the editors of Plastics Technology magazine. “We are trying to present information that attendees can take home and put to use immediately. For that purpose, each of the three mornings will be a general session for the whole audience, devoted to ‘Best Practices’ in a particular area of technology. These talks are meant to be of practical value in deﬁning best approaches to specifying or selecting equipment, organizing production or addressing speciﬁc processing issues, as well as expert know-how on problem solving and troubleshooting,” said co-organiser Matt Naitove. www.moldingconference.com

COMING UP

PLASTIC POLLUTION: EFFECTS AND SOLUTIONS EVENT AT EMPERORS THE Plastic Pollution: Effects and Solutions conference is to be held at Emperors Palace on 10/11 April. Presented by PMS Consulting, the event is to focus on waste management, research on bio-based polymers and recycling technologies. This conference focuses on ﬁnding tangible ways and lasting solutions to contain and reduce the deadly effects of plastic pollution on the environment and animal life,” say the organisers, PMS Consulting of Johannesburg. Key speakers include Dr Martin Bletter of the National Scientiﬁc and Technical Research Council of Argentina and Jacques Lightfoot, sustainability manager of PlasticsSA. The focus will be on challenges associated with the life threatening effects of plastic pollution; the exploration of new technologies and innovations to manage and recycle plastic waste; new techniques to reduce plastic waste; analysis of the magnitude and effects of plastic pollution on the environment; gauge awareness of the social and economic impacts of plastic pollution; and initiatives to change consumer thinking and behaviour regarding single-use plastics. • To register, contact sean@psmconsulting.co.za www.psmconsulting.co.za

PLASTICS RECYCLING SHOW EUROPE THE Plastics Recycling Show Europe from 10/11 April in Amsterdam is a free to attend conference and exhibition and has ﬁrmly established itself as the focal point of plastics recycling in Europe. The biggest names in recycled materials, recycling machinery and services will be on display, showing the latest innovation from this exciting industry. The informative and inspiring free conference with key industry ﬁgures will address the latest opportunities and challenges that face the plastic recycling industry in Europe. The event covers the supply chain from design for recyclability, collection, sorting and recycling of industrial, commercial, agricultural, post-consumer and ocean plastic through to the recycled polymer being designed and incorporated into new products and applications. www.prseventeurope.com/prse2019/en/page/home 86

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Clarifiers, nucleators, Milliken highlighted additives that improve plastics processing, sustainability, at Arabplast 2019 SPECIALTY chemicals supplier Milliken & Co exhibited at Arabplast from 5-8 January in Dubai – where it showcased how its additives can help address the key challenges confronting today’s plastics processing industry. Milliken demonstrated how its portfolio of products can enhance both production and sustainability. Milliken offers technology-leading clarifiers and nucleators to improve polypropylene (PP) resins, UV absorbers that improve key properties in PET packaging, and colorants for use with high-performance engineering polymers. Milliken’s Millad® NX™ 8000 is the clarifying agent used to produce UltraClear PP resin, which then can be processed to yield ultimate clarity and transparency in injection moulded, blow moulded and thermoformed polypropylene products. It also enables low-temperature processing in injection moulding when compared to PP clarified with traditional clarifiers, which in turn yields both faster cycle times and energy savings.

Hyperform® HPN nucleating agents provide an excellent balance of physical properties, and help to improve endproduct performance, while delivering faster, trouble-free production. These additives also override the nucleating effect of pigments. This means that molders can achieve high part quality regardless of the colour used. Hyperform HPN enables the production of stronger, lighter parts by increasing stiffness by about 10% when compared to conventionally nucleated PP, while still retaining the same impact behavior as a non-nucleated resin. Additionally, Hyperform HPN improves the stiffness of non-nucleated PP by 25-30%. Milliken’s ClearShield UV absorber can improve key properties in PET packaging. It effectively protects UV-sensitive packed contents from ultraviolet-light degradation while maintaining the clarity and transparency of PET. The crystal-clear ClearShield additive is compounded directly into the PET resin, which eliminates the need

CHINAPLAS to present rich assortment of concurrent events Circular economy, Industry 4.0, industrial design, medical plastics and much more

CHINAPLAS 2019, in Guangzhou, PR China, from 21-24 May, with its aim to promote the plastics and rubber industries’ development by focusing on technology and creativity, offers an international platform for the release and exchange of information related to advanced new technologies. The show will not only feature more than 3 500 exhibitors, but also will organise a series of exciting concurrent events to address those industries’ needs. Chinaplas 2019 will showcase innovative products and cutting-edge solutions together with exhibitors who are industrial leaders of the world. In addition, the show features a number of concurrent events covering the circular economy, Industry 4.0, industrial design, medical plastics, and much more. With richer content, more diversiﬁed forms, and more practical solutions than ever, Chinaplas offers ways for upstream and downstream members of the supply chain to collaborate and create new opportunities for growth. www.ChinaplasOnline.com

FEB / MAR 2019

2019/02/07 18:04

colorants on display in Dubai to add UV additives to the formulations of the packaged contents themselves. Milliken also highlighted its Keyplast range of dyes and pigments for plastics that can be used by liquid and solid masterbatch producers and compounders. These colorants yield a vast spectrum of stable, reproducible colors, and are suitable for use with a wide range of resins – from PET in transparent food-contact applications, and polystyrene in most general-purpose, medium and high-impact grades; to polycarbonate offering excellent clarity and compatibility with high processing temperatures, and nylon in most compounds of nylon 6, nylon 6,6, glassﬁlled compounds and other polyamide resins. www.millikenchemical.com

Kraiburg TPE unveiled

FEB / MAR 2019 87

10 – 11 A P R I L 2019

Emperors Palace Convention Centre, Johannesburg – Gauteng

Plastic Pollution: The Effects Solutions Conference

Kraiburg TPE unveiled its adhesion-optimized Thermolplast® M compounds with adhesion capabilities for a variety of medical thermoplastics at Pharmapack 2019 in Paris on 6/7 February. The company collaborated with Eastman to develop a range of innovative high-purity TPEs, which resulted in the development of the Thermolast® M thermoplastic elastomers with the capability to adhere directly to specialized polymers used in medical applications, including Eastman’s Tritan™ copolyester as well as PP, ABS, ABS/PC and PET. The materials are designed to achieve with perfect, coordinated adhesion for medical hard/ soft applications

www.kraiburg-tpe.com

Diary new.indd 87

For your registration, please contact: Sean: Project Director Tel: 010 214 0656 | Email: sean@psmconsulting.co.za

OBJECTIVE:

* To update solutions to the challenges associated with the life threatening effects of plastic pollution * To update and explore new technologies and innovations to manage and recycle plastic waste * To update methods and techniques to reduce plastic waste * To update awareness efforts on the social and economic impacts of plastic pollution * To update initiatives on changing customer’s thinking and behaviours regarding single use plastics

2019/02/07 18:04

Diary SA MANUFACTURING SECTOR SET TO GROW

COMING UP

IF RECENT investments in the manufacturing industry are indicative of the trend going forwards, then the future is looking bright for this often beleaguered market sector. In addition, the South African government recently announced that it was embarking on an offensive to attract $100-billion (approximately R1.3-trillion) in foreign direct investment (FDI) over the next ﬁve years to bolster the local economy. Recognising the importance of promoting local manufacturing to other countries, Specialised Exhibitions Montgomery, in association with the South African Capital Equipment Export Council (SACEEC), is launching the Local Southern African Manufacturing Expo (LME) in Johannesburg between 21-23 May. www.propakafrica.co.za

PROPAK WEST AFRICA 2019 PROPAK West Africa is the region’s largest exhibition and conference dedicated to the rapidly expanding sector of packaging, plastics, printing and food processing. Taking place in Lagos, Nigeria, at the Landmark Centre from 17–19 September, this year will mark the show’s 7th edition and is expected to welcome more than 5 000 key industry stakeholders with over 200 leading industry brands on display. With a record-breaking 4,265 attendees and at 2,049m2 in size, last year’s event positioned itself as a truly international event, attracting visitors from 32 different countries, the top ﬁve of which included Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Senegal, South Africa and Togo. www.propakwestafrica.com

K 2019: New technology as Special show and Science Campus address pioneering key issues

INNOVATIVE materials and technology have been at the heart of all presentations staged at the K trade show in Düsseldorf, the international ﬂagship fair for the plastics and rubber industry. K 2019, which will take place from 16-23 October, will also revolve around the key issues of circular economy, resource conservation and digitisation, all of which will be addressed at exhibition stands and by the accompanying programme. The special show, traditionally hosted alongside K 2019 under the known title of ‘Plastics shape the Future,’ will illustrate how plastics can have a sustainable impact on our future, which developments have emerged today and which visions have the potential of becoming reality tomorrow. Centred on several topics, the seven-day event will offer expert discussions, kick-off speeches, entertaining presentations and exciting experiments. Explorations of economic and ecological aspects will also tackle problematic

Food & drink technology Africa in July The latest innovation in packaging design

FOOD & drink technology Africa, from 9-11 July at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand outside Johannesburg. This platform is becoming one of the most important networking and business platforms for the beverage and food industry in South Africa, designed especially for the needs of the Southern African market, showcasing a comprehensive overview of the latest developments in the beverage and food industry. Learn about groundbreaking new ideas at the knowledge and presentation platform – where international and national trends and developments are presented.

2019 Polyethylene Films Coral Springs, Florida

5-7 February www.ami.international/events

Africa Energy Indaba Sandton Convention Centre

19-20 Feb www.africaenergyindaba.com

Breathable Films Berlin, Germany

27-28 Feb www.ami.international/events

Tire Technology Expo 2019 Hannover, Germany

5-7 March www.uth-gmbh.com

Plastics Regulations 2019 Düsseldorf, Germany

6-7 March www.ami.international/events

NAACAM Durban Int’l Convention Centre Propak Africa Expo Centre Nasrec, Johannesburg Masterbatch Asia 2019 Banyan Tree Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand ANTEC Detroit, MI, USA

FEB / MAR 2019

Molding 2019 Hyatt Regency Indianapolis. USA Plástico Brasil São Paulo, Brazil

12-14 March www.naacam.co.za 12-15 March www.propakafrica.co.za 14-15 March www.ami.international/events 18-21 March www.4SPE.org/ANTEC 19-21 March www.moldingconference.com 25-29 March www.plasticobrasil.com.br

PlastPrintPack Nigeria Landmark Centre, Lagos, Nigeria

26-28 March www.ppp-nigeria.com

IOM National Rubber Conference Cape St Francis Resort

4-7 April iomsa@mweb.co.za

Plastic Pipes in Infrastructure Düsseldorf, Germany Plastic Pollution: Effects & Solutions Emperors Palace, Joburg

Diary new.indd 88

9-10 April www.ami.international/events 10-11 April www.pmsconsulting.co.za

The event will have focus on the upand-coming market in Africa, with tailormade solutions for the Southern African market by matching supply and demand. The third edition of food & drink technology Africa, held last year, saw 111 exhibitors and around 1 600 participants from 81 countries taking part. National and international exhibitors such as Anton Paar, Bosch Packaging, Dematech, Ecolab, GEA Africa Ltd., KHS Manufacturing, MacSteel Fluid Control, Renlaw Ltd., Schaefer Keg and Ziemann Holvieka GmbH represented the entire process chain of the food, beverage and liquid food industry.

Plastics Recycling Show Amsterdam, The Netherlands

10-11 April www.prseventeurope.com

Compounding World Expo Cleveland, Ohio, USA

8-9 May www.compoundingworldexpo.com

SA Manufacturing Expo Expo Centre, Nasrec, Johanensburg

21-23 May www.localmanufacturingexpo.co.za

Chinaplas Pazhou, Guangzhou, PR China

21-24 May www.ChinaplasOnline.com

Africa Automation Fair Ticketpro Dome, Northgate, Joburg

4-6 June www.africaautomationfair.com

Pumps, Valves & Pipes Africa Gallagher Estate, Midrand

11-13 June www.pumpsvalvesandpipesafrica.com

Plastics Recycling Technology Düsseldorf, Germany

18-19 June www.emo-hannover.de

Manufacturing Indaba Sandton Convention Centre, Joburg fdt Africa (Lab Africa, IFAT Africa) Gallagher, Johannesburg KITE (KZN Industrial show) Durban Exhibition Centre ARMO Global (hosted by ARMSA) Sun City

25-26 June www.manufacturingindaba.co.za 9-11 July www.fdt-africa.com 24-26 July www.kznindustrial.co.za 16-18 September www.armsa.co.za

EMO Hannover 2019 Hannover, Germany

16-21 September www.emo-hannover.de

K2019 Düsseldorf, Germany

16-23 October www.k-online.com

2020 Machine Tools Africa 2020 Expo Centre, Nasrec, Johannesburg Electra Mining Africa 2020 Expo Centre, Nasrec, Johannesburg

12-15 March www.machinetoolsafrica.co.za 7-11 September www.electramining.co.za

2019/02/07 18:04

a motor for innovation A total of 3 000 international exhibitors are expected to attend K 2019 and show their latest developments from the areas of machinery and equipment for the plastics and rubber industry, raw materials and auxiliaries as well as semi-ﬁnished products, technical parts and reinforced plastics products. More than 200 000 visitors from all over the world are expected to attend the exhibition in Düsseldorf.

www.k-online.com

issues and provide solutions for discussion. The Science Campus K 2019 open platform encourages an active discourse between research and the industry. It also provides exhibitors and visitors with an opportunity to gain a comprehensive overview of recent scientiﬁc activities and results that affect the plastics and rubber industry and offers room for the exchange of information between universities and companies. K 2019 will also address the question of how to recruit new, young professionals for the industry, science and training. The key issues will be prepared by the participating universities, institutes, associations and funding agencies and induced and explored in presentations with the help of select exhibits.

South African manufacturing sector set to grow mega-development in Rosslyn near Pretoria. Fuchs Lubricants South Africa also recently opened its R125-million grease plant expansion in Isando and Russian rolling stock manufacturer Transmasholding (TMH) launched a R500-million investment in a South African manufacturing facility through its subsidiary TMH Africa. Not only does the manufacturing industry in the country provide income and job opportunities to those people directly employed in the sector, but it also has high economic multipliers in its linkages to upstream production sectors

(mining and agriculture) and downstream sectors, including services. Recognising the importance of promoting local manufacturing to other countries, Specialised Exhibitions Montgomery, in association with the South African Capital Equipment Export Council (SACEEC), is launching the Local Southern African Manufacturing Expo (LME) in Johannesburg between 21-23 May 2019.

www.localmanufacturingexpo.co.za

IF RECENT investments in the manufacturing industry are indicative of the trend going forwards, then the future is looking bright for this often beleaguered market sector. In addition, the South African government recently announced that it was embarking on an offensive to attract $100-billion (approximately R1.3-trillion) in foreign direct investment (FDI) over the next ﬁve years to bolster the local economy. Several notable manufacturing plant projects have created a sense of hope for the country, including the R50-million Automotive Industry Centre (AIDC)

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Books

Injection moulding in Europe – thriving or surviving?

90 FEB / MARCH 2019

Designed for fast changes in thickness ACCORDING to a new study by leading industry consultants Applied Market Information, the European injection moulding industry is thriving as most of its markets have recovered from the economic collapse which struck over a decade ago. In 2018 the industry value from virgin polymer exceeded €85-billion, an average growth of 3% p/a since 2007, supported by growing polymer demand and added value opportunities, together with increased polymer prices. The industry is also taking increasing advantage of the use of recyclate feedstocks which added about 8% to the industry value in 2018. The versatility of the injection moulding process lends itself to serving an extremely diverse market portfolio with demand, in terms of polymer volume, being led by the packaging, automotive and electronics sectors. Each market faces different opportunities and challenges, particularly as the plastics sector and the applications it serves comes under increasing environmental scrutiny. Since AMI Consulting’s prior report on the sector in 2014, all the key market segments have grown, with packaging exhibiting the most sustained growth whilst automotive has seen most robust growth in the last four years. Overall demand for injection moulding has seen an average growth of 1.6% p/a in virgin polymer demand taking it above 12 million tonnes in 2018. Injection moulding is the most frag-

mented plastics industry with at least 8,000 companies operating the process in Europe. These businesses range from being single site moulding operations (over 90%) through to multi-national enterprises with many moulding locations in Europe. The industry is attracting private equity investment and some companies are publicly quoted, but about 95% of the businesses are family-owned. The globalisation of the customer base is also attracting investment from outside of Europe, particularly to serve the OEMs in the automotive and electronics sector that have invested in the region. However, the fragmentation of the injection moulding industry and the plethora of markets it serves leads to an intensely competitive business environment in which there have been winners and losers. Since 2014 the total number of injection moulding sites in Europe has fallen, despite substantial investment in new sites in Central Europe. Companies have closed or consolidated mainly because of a shift of the customer base within Europe, its exit from the region or its decline in Europe due to inter-regional competition or technology progression. Within this context, many participating in the industry might be considered to be ‘surviving’. About 17% of moulding sites participate in the industry as in-house or proprietary product producers, which may be considered to have more control of their own destiny, but the majority are custom

Injection moulding polymer demand by end use application 2018

Injection moulding site ownership by country 2018

moulders whose success depends on their selection of product focus and customer base. Many differentiate themselves by specialising in a single market whilst others spread their business across a range of customers in different sectors. The report identiﬁes the few hundred moulders that process more than 10,000 tonnes of polymer per year and discusses those processing more than 15,000 tonnes in the context of the markets they serve. Together these companies represent approximately 58% of the total volume of virgin polymer processed by injection moulding. • ‘Injection Moulding in Europe: Industry value, structure & market dynamics 2019’ is a detailed multi-client research report published in January 2019. For further information please contact Sylvia Tabero at AMI Consulting: sylvia.tabero@ ami.international or +44 117 924 9442.

Consolidation and M&A drive the European polymer distribution market AN authoritative report from AMI Consulting published in September 2018 quantiﬁes and analyses the European polymer distribution market and examines the most recent industry dynamics. The 2018 edition of AMI’s Polymer Distribution in Europe report revises and updates the status and position of distributors across Europe for the polymer materials covered. It builds on its earlier research to

consider the newest trends and factors inﬂuencing the industry such as a lively M&A activity, the inception of the EU Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy, the surge of digitalisation as a new competitive strategy, the development of 3D printing, and the new political and economic scenario the UK and the EU are facing because of Brexit. In 2017, the volume of polymers distributed in Europe surpassed 4 million www.ami.international

tonnes, accounting for 13% of the total demand. The industry recorded revenues of above EUR 8.2 billion, with polyethylene, polypropylene and polyamide being the largest contributors to an added value of nearly EUR 950 million. Despite the difﬁculties intrinsic to polymer distribution, including a demanding customer service and tight margins, this is still a growing market and worth being part of.

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MBT 35 MDS (Mould & Die Solutions) 21 MGMW Trading 67 Mould Base 47 NGR GmbH 27 Nissei ASB 55 Orion Engineered Carbons 11 Performance Colour Systems 23 Plastic Pollution Conference 87 Plastomark 49,51 Polyoak Packaging 17 Rapid Granulator 61

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85 25 05 57 29 63 83 39 43 13 OBC

THERMOFORMING, SHEET EXTRUSION, AND MATERIALS THERMOFORMING TECHNOLOGY

SAVE 90% of your electricity use with GN! • GN (Canada): machines for reduced waste and reduced energy • Thermoforming Moulds for GN and other thermoformers • ToolVu technology for productivity and NEW quality improvement on thermoforming machines • Complete lines for EPS foam trays and EPS cup moulding NEW

EXTRUSION TECHNOLOGY FROM AGRIPAK OF ITALY Mono & multi-layer extrusion lines for the production of: • ‘Cartonplast’ (twinwall/hollow profile sheet) • Multilayer sheet for packaging • Semi-foamed sheet for thermoforming

MATERIALS FOR THERMOFORMED PACKAGING

MEGA BLOW MOULDER

Mega MG-S25L (2016) extrusion blow moulding machine for various medium to large hollow plastic containers up to 25 litres, suitable for PE, PP, PA, EVA, with • Moog DigiPack100 parison controller • Take-out robot take-out • Shini SAL330 hopper-loader • Shini SPV 38U-C proportional valve • Shini SCM-MS volumetric doser • Automated leak tester • 3m conveyor The machine has an 80mm screw, L/D 24/1, plasticizing capacity of 100kg/h, maximum driving power of 49kW and an average electric consumption of 30kW. It is currently used for the production of 20 and 25-litre HDPE jerry cans. Note: The machine is supplied without product moulds R1,600,000 ex-VAT Contact: Les Nel 083 449 6024 (PND Plastics, Gillitts, Durban)

Recycle your plastic with us

We buy most forms of clean factory waste

Contact: Desiré Preston for more info Tel: 011 894 3520 | Cell: 083 774 6038 | Email: desire@jcl.co.za www.jcl.co.za

• Sealing films for trays and top web for FFS machines • OPS, PP, PET sheet for general packaging • PP/EVOH/PP for high barrier containers

BRE INNOVATIONS Contact: Tim Forshaw (083 381 5253) or Phil Hopkinson (083 408 5253) or 021 671 5253 or mail to tim@bre.co.za

PRODUCTION OVER-SPILL?

NEGRI BOSSI 400T

• If you are in the East Rand

Neggri Bossi IMM 400-ton (1996) With accumulators DIMI EL 2 controls Sytrama robot – Cartesian All 3-axis electric drive ± R595 000 onco Contact: Mark 083 301 6666

area and don’t have enough injection capacity to run all your jobs,why not give us at Teatime Distributors a chance to mould some of your products? • We have state-of-the-art Victor Fortune injection moulding machines and are ready to take on work. All you need to supply is your mould(s). To discuss rates and terms, please contact: Romy Chetty on 011 976 1616 / 082 413 7190 romy@teatime.co.za Chloorkop Ext 1, Kempton Park

To place a classiﬁed advert please Fax: 086 519 6089 or Tel: 021 712 1408 or Email: heather@summitpub.co.za

www.saplastics.co.za FEB / MAR 2019

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2019/02/08 12:08

Sport

Shining in blue: the worldwide first hockey field made with CO2 in Krefeld, Germany

Opening of the worldwide ﬁrst hockey ﬁeld made with CO2 in Krefeld, Germany: Niklas Wellen (national player), Hans-Werner Sartory (referee), Dr. Daniel Koch (Covestro), Luis Beckmann (goal keeper), Robert Haake (sports club CHTC), Daniel Klomp (Sport Group) and Oskar Deecke (national player)

Carbon dioxide for the production of

sports floorings Premiere for new product at hockey ﬁeld in Germany

FOR the first time, synthetic sports floorings can be produced with carbon dioxide – which means less crude oil is needed as a raw material. The world’s first subfloor of this kind has now been opened in the hockey facility of a renowned sports club in Krefeld in western Germany. The particularly sustainable new material comes from the materials manufacturer Covestro, which has developed a groundbreaking process for CO2 use to market maturity. This can save up to one-fifth of crude oil in production – an innovative contribution to resource preservation and recycling management. The CO2 for the subfloor is contained in a binder – or more precisely, in one of its components, a so-called polyol. So far, the new CO2-based material called Cardyon® has been used to produce soft polyurethane foam for mattresses and upholstered furniture, which is already being marketed. The further development for use in sports is now the next step in the expansion of the range of applications. 92

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“The use of carbon dioxide as a new raw material is a promising approach for making production in the chemical and plastics industries more sustainable,” explains Dr Markus Steilemann, CEO of Covestro. “This way, we use CO2 in a closed-loop process and save oil. On this basis, we want to offer a comprehensive product portfolio for as many areas of application as possible – in line with our vision of making the world a brighter place.” First customer The first customer for the new binder produced with CO2 is the globally active sports flooring producer Polytan. The company from Burgheim, Bavaria, which belongs to the Sport Group, uses the material to produce elastic underfloors together with rubber granulate. “We attach great importance to using sustainable raw materials and are always on the lookout for ecologically more sensible alternatives to conventional products. Ideally, even the quality of the product can be improved. Covestro guarantees exactly that with

cardyon”, says sport group purchasing manager Daniel Klomp. The first CO2-based floor is now in use at the Crefelder Hockey and Tennis Club. The traditional club maintains one of the leading field hockey facilities in Germany which repeatedly serves as a venue for international matches and championships. The subfloor was laid on a 99x59-metre playing field and serves to cushion the effect of a new, bright blue artificial turf, also from Polytan. The use of CO2 as a raw material for plastics is made possible by a particularly environmentally friendly technology that Covestro has developed together with its partners. CO2 is used as a supplier of the important element carbon – instead of petroleum-based raw materials. Up to 20% of traditional fossil raw materials can thus be replaced by carbon dioxide. Covestro produces the new CO2-based polyols at its Dormagen site near Cologne. The carbon dioxide comes from a neighbouring chemical company, which produces it as a by-product. www.covestro.com

2019/02/07 18:18

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The Home of Size Reduction

Classifieds Feb/Mar'19.indd 92

2019/01/17 11:48

Southern African Polymer Technology

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