Soft drink producers to reduce packaging waste

(polyestertime) -- Soft drink manufacturers are on track to reach zero waste to landfill by 2015 - however, maintaining product quality remains a key challenge.

This was the conclusion of a recent report recent report from the British Soft Drinks Association (BSDA) that reviewed the sector's sustainability progress - the Soft Drinks Industry Sustainability Strategy, launched in 2008.

The report builds on tough ambitions for waste reduction, as well as those included within phase 2 of WRAP's Courtauld Commitment.

Setting out packaging waste reductions already achieved by the sector, the study outlines how drinks manufacturers can further reduce the impact of their packaging and work towards waste prevention.

Brands like Coca-Cola and Pepsico tend to go for a "blended PET and degradable solution" while also investing in plant-derived plastics and selling it as an alternative to oil as it has no degradability issues.


Last year Coca-Cola launched a plant bottle for its 500ml products. Featuring 25% recycled content, it includes up to 22.5% of PET derived from renewable plant sources rather than hydrocarbons from petrochemical sources - saving more than 60,000 barrels of oil each year.

MRC

(braskem) --Braskem Americas reported emissions resulting from a boiler failure at its polypropylene (PP) plant in LaPorte, Texas, according to a government filing available on Monday.

A temporary boiler that was replacing the plant's C boiler during maintenance failed, causing a loss of steam to the B flare, the company said in a filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).


The loss of steam resulted in the flare smoking intermittently for about an hour, the filing states. All emissions were either recovered or sent to a flare for destruction, according to the filing.

It was not clear whether the unit had been restarted, or whether there was any lost production at the plant. A company spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Braskem Americas operates a 390,000 tonne/year PP plant at the facility.

MRC

(vestolit) -- The German company Vestolit announced increases in its Europe PVC prices of EUR90/tonne for paste applications and EUR100/tonne for thermoplastic applications effective from 1 February, a company source said on Monday.

The increasing trend for the procurement of raw materials to manufacture PVC products could not be compensated adequately in the past few months and now leads to a price adjustment for paste and thermoplastic products, said company in the press-release.

MRC

(polyestertime) -- China lost the most share of US year-to-date dollar textile imports as of November, off .45 percentage points compared to a year ago, according to data released by The Office of Textiles and Apparel (OTEXA).

Mexico and Canada were next, each down .1 percentage points. India and Vietnam have gained the biggest shares so far this year, at .7 and .4 percentage points, respectively.

Vietnam has also enjoyed the biggest increase in textile square meter equivalent unit volume to the U.S. so far this year.

MRC

(trevira) -- Trevira, a manufacturer of hi-tech polyester fibres and filaments, will reorganise all of its filament yarn production by moving to a new facility later this year. The company plans to improve its production and marketing efficiencies by transferring its texturizing capacity from Zielona Gora, in Poland, to Guben, in Germany, where it already has production facilities.
According to Trevira, the reorganisation is expected to enable the business to lower its cost structure and serve customers more efficiently.


The move is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.
Last year, Trevira was acquired by the consortium of Indorama Ventures (Thailand) and Sinterama (Italy) in a deal that was finalised on July 1. The main focus of the transaction was to facilitate the expansion of the business in the speciality fibres and filament yarn sectors.

MRC