Advil to reduce plastic in over 80 million bottles by 20%

MOSCOW (MRC) -- In what’s being called a first for over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, Advil maker GSK Consumer Healthcare (GSK) has announced a plan to reduce the plastic in over 80 million Advil bottles by 20%, which the company says will result in a reduction of nearly 500,000 pounds of plastic in the environment, said Canplastics.

GSK has already begun transitioning Advil’s bottles to 20% less plastic, the company said in a news release, and by 2022, Advil will have reduced the plastic in nearly all bottles available in stores and online, with the exception of the brand’s Easy Open bottles.

In the news release, GSK officials said the initiative will draw on a new barrier resin technology that reduces the amount of resin required to mold and craft the bottles, while maintaining the same barrier protection properties. “It allows for a 20% reduction in material usage for high-density polyethylene (HDPE) bottles that will never enter the environmental waste stream, without a reduction to critical performance characteristics of the bottle,” the news release said.

"With the new technology available to us, we saw this as an opportunity to invest in the future of our brands and sustainability goals,” said Sarah McDonald, GSK’s vice president of sustainability. “The initiative is a first in the over-the-counter (OTC) medicine category, and kicks off a series of plastic reduction initiatives across the GSK product portfolio."

As MRC reported previously, in July 2020, German machine engineering company Thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions said it had won an order from Turkish packaging producer Koksan Pet Packaging Ind Co to build a PET plant in Gaziantep, in the southeast of the country. The plant will be built next to an existing production site built by Thyssenkrupp back in 2013. The two facilities are expected to have a production capacity of 432,000 tonnes of PET resin per year. The plant will use the Melt-To-Resin (MTR) process patented by Thyssenkrupp's subsidiary Uhde Inventa Fischer to produce various grades of resin. Completion and commissioning are planned for 2022.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estmated PET consumption increased to about 57,760 tonnes in February 2021, up by 7% year on year. Overall PET consumption in Russia totalled 115,210 tonnes in the first two months of 2021.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Valero Energy Corp, the second largest U.S. crude oil refiner, plans to operate its 14 refineries up to 89% of their combined total throughput capacity of 3.15 million barrels per day (bpd) during the second quarter of 2021, a company executive said, said Hydrocarbonprocessing.

Valero’s U.S. Gulf Coast refineries are planned to operate up 92% of their combined total throughput of 1.86 million bpd, said Homer Bhullar, vice president of investor relations, during a Thursday conference call to discuss first quarter earnings with Wall Street analysts.

The company’s Mid-Continent refineries in Tennessee and Oklahoma were forecast to produce up to 93% of their combined total capacity of 485,000 bpd while refineries in Quebec and Wales supplying North Atlantic markets will run up to 71% of their 505,000-bpd capacity, Bhullar said. Valero plans for its two West Coast refineries to operate at 89% of their capacity of 305,000 bpd, he said.

The company’s refineries in the U.S. Mid-West and Gulf Coast sustained “no significant mechanical damage” from the winter storm that started on Feb. 14, said Chief Executive Joe Gorder. “Although our refineries and plants in those regions were also impacted, they did not suffer any significant mechanical damage and were restarted within a short period after the storm,” Gorder said.

The company plans no further asset sales after completing a deal on Monday to sell a partial interest in a Pasadena, Texas, petroleum terminal, he said. Valero’s production is approaching levels seen before the COVID-19 pandemic cut motor fuel demand, said Lane Riggs, chief operating officer.

“We’re running in utilization rates that were more indicative of pre-COVID levels, but they’re not completely -- we’re not completely running at max because we are still being very careful with our supply chain,” Riggs said.

As per MRC, Valero Energy Corp posted a larger quarterly loss as a winter storm hit its operations in February, but its top boss shrugged off the rare event to focus on rising fuel demand and fatter refining margins. A cold snap in Texas earlier this year disrupted energy supply and sent numerous refineries offline, prompting profit warnings from companies including Exxon Mobil and Phillips 66. But the storm-related disruptions also boosted fuel prices and in turn, margins for refiners, with Valero's Q1 refining margin surging 33% sequentially to USD1.45 billion.

Ethylene and propylene are the main feedstocks for the production of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), respectively.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia"s estimated PE consumption totalled 241,030 tonnes in January 2021 versus 217,890 tonnes a year earlier. Only shipments of low density polyethylene (LDPE) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) increased. At the same time, PP shipments to the Russian market reached 141,870 tonnes in January 2021 versus 123,520 tonnes a year earlier. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- The Washington, D.C.-based Plastics Industry Association has a new safety standard focusing on the manufacture, care and use of granulators, strand pelletizers, dicers, and single-shaft rotary grinders, said Canplastics.

This standard does not apply to other types of shredders or to pulverizers. Safety Requirements for Granulators, Strand Pelletizers and Dicers Used for Size Reduction of Plastics is available for sale at a reduced price for member companies at the association’s web store.

"This document provides important information, vital to the safety of people working on or near some very powerful machinery, and the standards for keeping these machines in top condition are essential to the future of plastic production and recycling," said Plastics Industry Association president and CEO Tony Radoszewski.

The new 47-page safety requirements are the result of a three-year collaboration among members of the association’s Machinery Safety Standards Committee, which the organization says represents "expertise from all corners of the plastics industry."

Jason Forgash, president of Bay Plastics Machinery and David Miller, general manager for size reduction with Conair Group, co-chaired the team that produced the standard, which is an update and expansion of a 2004 standard. “Working with a team of outstanding individuals from across our industry on this standard was a great experience," Forgash said. “Our goal was to update a standard that had not been reviewed for too long, and to ensure that our segment of the industry is meeting the most current safety requirements available."

As per MRC, American company Kraton announced that the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted an emergency exemption for the use of its new sulfonated polymer, which rapidly inactivates the coronavirus. The Environmental Protection Agency has issued an emergency permit for the use of the polymer in the states of the United States, Georgia, Utah and Minnesota for specific applications to protect against the COVID-19 virus. American Delta Airlines will be the first to use this material in these states.

Russia's output of chemical products rose in March 2021 by 5.4% year on year. Thus, production of basic chemicals increased year on year by 6.7% in the first moths months of 2021.According to the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation, mineral fertilizers accounted for the greatest increase in the January-March output. Production of benzene grew up to 121,000 tonnes in March, compared to 113,000 tonnes a month earlier.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- US refiner Phillips 66 and Southwest Airlines have signed a memorandum of understanding to advance the commercialization of sustainable aviation fuel, focusing on public awareness and research and development, as per Phillips 66's press release.

The memorandum of understanding also sets the framework to explore a future supply agreement involving Phillips 66’s Rodeo Renewed project in California and highlights the commitment by both companies to a sustainable energy future.

Sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF, is a lower carbon-intensity fuel that can be produced from renewable feedstocks such as waste oils, fats, greases and vegetable oils.

Phillips 66 is a major US refiner and supplier of jet fuel and aviation gasoline. The memorandum of understanding aims to leverage the company’s expertise in refining, distribution and technical commercialization of transportation fuels as well as its portfolio of renewable energy projects.

The latter includes Rodeo Renewed, the proposed conversion of the San Francisco Refinery in Contra Costa County, California, into one of the world’s largest renewable fuels facilities, capable of producing an initial 800 million gallons per year of renewable fuels. The project, subject to permits and approvals, is expected to be completed in early 2024.

As MRC reported previously, Worley has been recently awarded a front-end engineering services contract by Phillips 66 to convert its San Francisco refinery in Rodeo, California, USA into a renewable fuels-manufacturing facility. Under the contract, Worley will provide front-end engineering design services for the facility, which will be executed by Worley’s North America West team with support from Worley’s Global Integrated Delivery team.

Besides, in October 2020, Phillips 66 said it plans to reconfigure its refinery in Rodeo, California to produce renewable fuels from used cooking oil, fats, greases and soybean oils.

We remind that US-based Phillips 66 remains open to developing another ethane cracker for its Chevron Phillips Chemical (CP Chem) joint venture, the refiner's CEO said in March 2018.

Ethylene and propylene are feedstocks for producing polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP).

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated polyethylene (PE) consumption totalled 356,370 tonnes in the first two month of 2021, down by 9% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market was 246,870 tonnes in January-February 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Phillips 66 is a diversified energy manufacturing and logistics company. With a portfolio of Midstream, Chemicals, Refining, and Marketing and Specialties businesses, the company processes, transports, stores and markets fuels and products globally. Phillips 66 Partners, the company’s master limited partnership, is integral to the portfolio. Headquartered in Houston, the company has 14,300 employees committed to safety and operating excellence. Phillips 66 had USD55 billion of assets as of Dec. 31, 2020.
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MOSCOW (MRC) -- Berry Global Group, Inc. (Evansville, Indiana) has announced an investment of more than USD70 million to support continued growth in consumer packaging films, primarily for e-commerce, food, and beverage applications, according to BusinessWire.

The investment supports new multi-layer blown film lines along with infrastructure upgrades and other equipment that will come online in 2021 and 2022, across multiple sites in the North American manufacturing system. Beyond the traditional infrastructure upgrade, the film lines will support the anticipated increased customer demand for recycled content.

Beyond the material, Berry is committed to remaining at the forefront of the innovation necessary to meet customers’ sustainability goals and will do so through its investments in the latest equipment technologies, advantaged film development, and design for circularity. Line flexibility is a critical investment strategy deployed by Berry to ensure that ongoing material science developments apply to customer specifications, ranging from recycled content in its films to PHA resins that support bio-resin use.

Within the flexible packaging market, Berry demonstrates its strength in design for circularity with more innovation coming to the market in partnership with its customers. Berry’s investments in infrastructure for a circular economy combined with its flexible films expertise positions the company as one of North America’s preferred sustainable film suppliers.

As MRC informed earlier, in January 2021, Berry Global Group announced that Madrid-based Repsol, its longtime supplier, will supply it with circular resins. The Spanish multienergy global company will supply Berry with International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus-certified circular polyolefins from its Repsol Reciclex range. These polyolefins are obtained by advanced recycling, enabled by the adoption of new chemical recycling technologies, of postconsumer plastic scrap not suitable for traditional recycling. As a result of the agreement, Berry says it will procure food-grade polypropylene (PP) for food and health care packaging. The packaging company will initially use the materials in manufacturing at its European packaging facilities.

According to MRC's ScanPlast report, Russia's estimated polyethylene (PE) consumption totalled 356,370 tonnes in the first two month of 2021, down by 9% year on year. Shipments of exclusively low density polyethylene (LDPE) increased. At the same time, polypropylene (PP) shipments to the Russian market was 246,870 tonnes in January-February 2021, up by 30% year on year. Supply of homopolymer PP and PP block copolymers increased.

Berry Global Group, Inc. create innovative packaging and engineered products. Harnessing the strength in its diversity and industry leading talent of 47,000 global employees across more than 295 locations, the company partners with customers to develop, design, and manufacture innovative products with an eye toward the circular economy.
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