SABIC Leads in Ocean-Bound Recycled Plastic Portfolio

Turkchem 06 Apr 2021 77 2 dk okuma

TURKCHEM

SABIC announced the launch of a new recycled material made from ocean-bound plastic recovered from inland areas within a 50-kilometer radius of the ocean and ocean-fed waterways. Ocean-bound material is mechanically recycled and converted into components for new consumer goods and electronic applications such as TV remote controls and electronic razors. It has potential for use in other sectors such as automotive in the future.

The new recycled material, part of SABIC's TRUCIRCLE ™ portfolio and services, is a XENOY ™ PC/PET compound containing a minimum of 10% ocean-bound recycled PET blended with polycarbonate.

According to an internal SABIC LCA Study [1] based on a resin class containing 20% recycled content, for every 1 kT of product containing ocean-bound recycled XENOY PC/PET compound, 24 million equivalent single-use 0.5-liter PET [2] [3] water bottles [4] could potentially be diverted from our oceans and prevented from becoming marine litter.

The new material, part of SABIC's engineering thermoplastics (ETP) product range, offers potential significant reductions of up to 7% in carbon footprint [5] and 11% in energy consumption [6] compared to its new class counterpart. It has good impact resistance, processability and chemical resistance.

Sergi Monros, Vice President Performance Polymers and Industry Solutions for SABIC Petrochemicals, said, "Our new ocean-bound recycled material can help directly address the issue as part of our commitment to minimizing plastic waste that ends up as waste. By creating more sustainable materials and building new partnerships, we hope to play a pioneering role in helping reshape our industry and our entire value chain, while also helping provide guidance for necessary regulation and governance."

Monros continued, "We are proud to have succeeded in designing materials based on ocean-bound recycled PET to meet our customers' high-performance requirements while ensuring excellent processability."

The new ocean-bound recycled material forms part of SABIC's TRUCIRCLE portfolio and services and showcases the company's circular innovations and can help provide our customers with access to more sustainable materials. In doing so, SABIC aims to give end consumers greater confidence in purchasing products knowing that the material has been recycled and produced in a way that helps protect our planet.

The TRUCIRCLE portfolio features designs including recyclability, mechanically recycled products, certified circular products from feedstock recycling of used plastic, certified renewable products from bio-based feedstock, closed-loop initiatives to recycle plastic into high-quality applications and helps prevent valuable used plastics from becoming waste.