Packaging

Nissin Foods USA soon plans to dump the iconic expanded polystyrene foam cup it has been using for its on-the-go ramen noodles for a half-century and replace it with a new, microwaveable paper cup design that will no longer require boiling water. The company also will spend $228m to open a new U.S. plant in South Carolina.

The use of “forever chemicals” in the European Union would be largely banned under a proposal issued by the European Chemicals Agency. At the same time, more US states continue to ban PFAS-containing products without a clear roadmap for the plastic industry.

The fashion industry is disrupting the PET circular economy by taking it into an application that recycles less than 1% of its products.

Outdoor apparel company Patagonia Inc. has partnered with two materials firms to produce one of its warmest parkas yet –– the StormShadow –– using high-performance textiles made from recycled coastal and marine plastic. Patagonia leveraged W.L. Gore & Associates’ development of expanded polyethylene (ePE) and married it with efforts by New York-based materials engineering company Bionic, which repurposes ocean-bound waste plastics in Costa Rica.

National Renewable Energy Laboratory scientists have used artificial intelligence (AI) to develop a tool to help users find the most sustainable polymers for specific applications. The tool, called PolyID, predicts material properties based on molecular structure.

Facing pressure to eliminate PFAS chemicals from fluoropolymers, plastic additive makers such as Tosaf are launching alternative, PFAS-free processing aids.

In British Columbia, a new law will prohibit single-use plastics starting December 20, 2023. This bill seeks to curtail the production of packaging that contributes to nearly half of the province’s annual plastic pollution, signifying strides towards a sustainable, circular economy.

SABIC’s renewable polypropylene used in in-mold label project. It also launches 10 LNP Elcrin polycarbonate-based copolymers with high post-consumer content.

The plastic industry uses color in almost all applications, as it gives an aesthetic and personal feel to the product. Brand owners can achieve qualities such as “warm”, “soft”, “shiny” and “pleasant” through color, but is it affecting post-consumer recycled?

Colorado State University researchers say they have developed a series of polymers that mimic the properties of polyolefins and are more easily recycled.

Carbios said on Oct. 26 that it has been granted a building permit to construct the world’s first PET bio-recycling plant in Longlaville, France.

U.S. Food & Drug Administration accepts LLDPE resin mechanically recycled from stretch film for use at up to 100 percent level in food-contact packaging.