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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Nova Chemicals
(Calgary, Alberta, Canada) has entered the post-consumer recyclate (PCR) market
through a partnership with Merlin Plastics (Delta, British Columbia, Canada),
according to Chemweek.
Under the
agreement, Nova will finance a “multimillion-dollar” project supporting Merlin’s
expansion into high-density polyethylene (HDPE) PCR suitable for food-contact
applications. Merlin will, in turn, supply up to 30 million pounds/year of the
material to Nova under a five-year agreement.
“This partnership with
Merlin and our forthcoming suite of PCR-containing resins will help meet our
customer and brand-owner needs and expand high-quality PCR supply for use in
consumer packaging,” says Luis Sierra, president and CEO of Nova.
Merlin
is Canada’s largest plastics recycler, with operations in British Columbia and
Alberta.
Nova expects the Merlin HDPE PCR to obtain non-objection letter
(NOL) status from the US FDA during the first half of 2021. The company will
begin sales at the same time to customers in the US and Canada.
Nova says
its portfolio of PCR will also include non-NOL recycled HDPE and linear
low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) sourced from North American recyclers. Supply
agreements are still being negotiated.
Nova says it is not actively
pursuing the acquisition of a recycler.
“Initially, the PCR produced as a
result of our investment will divert PCR from lower-value applications such as
plastic lumber or detergent bottles into higher-quality applications such as
flexible packaging,” says Nova. “However, by demonstrating that milk, water, and
juice jugs can have a second life in high-value consumer packaging applications,
we believe it will help enable a ‘virtuous cycle’ over time where more
high-quality packaging is binned, collected, and recycled into FDA NOL recyclate
as market demand grows.”
As MRC reported
previously, early this summer, NOVA Chemicals (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
says it has developed a new technology for the production of high-density
biaxially-oriented polyethylene (HD-BOPE) films. Biaxial orientation extends the
physical characteristics of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) films, enabling the
manufacture of fully recyclable high-performance film structures without mixing
resin types.
According to MRC's ScanPlast report,
Russia's HDPE production totalled 1,040,000 tonnes in the first seven
months of 2020, up by 84% year on year. ZapSibNeftekhim accounted for the main
increase in the output.
NOVA Chemicals Corporation is a plastics and
chemical company headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and is wholly-owned
ultimately by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United
Arab Emirates. |
