European plants are the first to use several new technologies for solvent-based recovery of PVC wire coatings, centrifugal recycling of post-consumer nylon carpet, and mechanical separation of multi-material flakes.
Over a dozen processors already foam wood-fiber composites and an equal number are experimenting with it. Foaming with wood cuts resin cost and weight in half and brings design advantages. But it also requires particular know-how in materials formulation and extrusion hardware.
Perpetually in its infancy, PET foam sheet has been a hard sell for packaging producers over nearly a decade. It found successful niches in thermoformed ovenable bakery trays, meat trays, and reheatable dinner trays for home delivery to disabled persons.
Instead of going to landfills, previously unusable mixed waste like auto shredder residue is yielding a new trove of inexpensive engineering resins for car parts. Sortation technologies derived from the mining industry can pull out usable ABS, PC, acrylic, PP, TPO, and PPO alloys.
Liquid-crystal polymer extrusion resins cost over $10/lb, but when used sparingly in 2-5 micron layers, they can be cost-effective in barrier packaging films.
The new standard relates to the design and use of the take-off equipment. Its biggest impact will be to require older sheet roll stacks to be extensively rebuilt or replaced in order to meet new emergency nip-opening requirements.
A developer of new plastics technologies is applying low-temperature die drawing to take advantage of a new raw material: expanded, oriented, wood-filled polypropylene (EOW-PP).
Coextrusion is on the increase in tubing for medical uses, with more layers, more exotic materials, and much thinner walls. These require unprecedented levels of dimensional accuracy and flaw detection.
On the surface, the technology free-for-all feels like 1992 all over again. That was the first time makers of blow molded gas tanks faced California emissions standards that their technology couldn’t meet. The six-layer blow molded gas tank won that round, but today’s tanks won’t pass far tougher emissions standards coming in 2003 and 2004.
It has kept a low profile for the last 40 years, but more blown-film processors are starting to take a look at PS for breathable packaging and cellophane replacements. A couple of dozen processors worldwide have kept this technology quietly to themselves—but not for much longer.
Although the bulk of materials-handling equipment introductions were covered in our June pre-show issue, there were still a number of new developments waiting to be discovered at NPE 2000 in Chicago.
