WOW. For my former Wordpress blog email subscribers, hello and welcome back. Sorry for the delay ironing out the kinks of this new blogging platform. Unfortunately, for those of you who followed my blog via Wordpress accounts, I am unable to add you to my list of blog subscribers for post notification. Come back to me, urbanbandit, Verdhan Patankar, thedevelopmentroast, Spencer, Mary Schuch, amARTS&MEDIA, Andrew Gustyn, Robotic Rhetoric, gardenerat60, and Ken! Hopefully the brilliance of SEO will reunite us in the near future!
A lot of time has passed and events transpired, which means we got to get busy on some updates.
On developments in PET thermoform recycling, I believe this excerpt from Plastics News’ article, “PET recycling rate inches up, while recycling capacity continues to expand,” summarizes well:
“2011 saw the first significant amount of PET thermoformed packaging moving through the system in both the U.S. and Canada,” said NAPCOR, which began an initiative in 2009 to remove the obstacles to PET thermoform recycling.
Indeed, most of the 47-million pound increase in recycled PET in 2011 came from 45.8 million pounds of alternative PET feedstock, including 24.9 million pounds from bales of just PET thermoform packaging.
That is both an encouraging sign and “a small, but important beginning,” said the NAPCOR report.
“These efforts are now bearing fruit,” said the NAPCOR report. “All purchasers and processors of curbside bales are allowing some level of thermoforms mixed in with the bottles,” typically around 10 percent, with some accepting as much as 20 percent of thermoform containers in PET bottle bales.
“In the short-term,” said the report, “increased PET thermoform collection is the best hope of addressing the key issue of supply” which continues to vex a rapidly growing PET reclamation infrastructure.
“That’s going to be the one place we get relief from supply,” said Schedler. “I see that more than doubling in 2012. That’s the only thing that will give us a boost.”
NAPCOR hopes three model PET thermoforming projects underway in Omaha, Neb.; Montgomery County, Md.; and in Elk and Lebanon counties in Pennsylvania will boost PET thermoform collections even more.
“Those projects will prove that recycling of thermoform packaging is a viable business model,” Sabourin said.
Click here for the full article.
So that is totally awesome. I can’t believe that from the time I started this blog in October of 2009 until now ish the reality for recycling PET thermoform packaging has completely changed: From “not recycled” to “recyclable” (check locally), the infrastructure has been established, the investment in technology made, and the foundations of a supply and demand equilibrium planted; soon enough thermoform packaging, like the clamshells, blisters, trays and components manufactured at Dordan, will be recyclable, and recyclable in the truest sense of the word. Radical!
These developments in PET recycling have spurred other industry innovations, like this recyclable shrink sleeve label for PET bottles, introduced at last week’s Pack Expo.
Industry be taking names and making moves!
And that provides a lovely transition into feedback from last week’s Pack Expo at McCormick Place in Chicago.
First of all, whoever decided to have the Expo start on a Sunday is no friend of mine. But that’s neither here nor there. I hope everyone had a smashing time in my lovely city, enjoying the outlandish Halloween celebrations that transpired all week.
Pack Expo was exciting for Dordan because we were introducing our new “3D Package Design and Manufacturing Synergy” exhibit; this is basically a fancy way of saying designing packaging with the process of thermoforming—including its capabilities and limitations—at the forefront, not afterthought, of the packaging development process. This approach to package design is valuable because it optimizes the thermoforming process, enhancing output and reducing waste; through intrinsic insight into the dynamic relationship between the design and material, tool and machine, Dordan engineers guarantee package design and manufacturing synergy.
In order to demonstrate this Design for Thermoforming Process, I put together a presentation, which includes package modeling videos, package design renderings, and package design case studies. Get it here:
Also, Dordan expanded its Bio Resin Show N Tell, adding the first thermoformed-sample of ALGIX’s “algae plastic,” OCTAL’s 65% less energy consumptive PET, DPET™, and profiled US Argonite’s Oshenite™ PP. Here is some coverage about the new additions from Packaging Digest.
Like with previous years, the 3rd Annual Show N Tell included a comparative cost analysis, which demonstrates how these alternative resins interact with the market. This is the meat of the exhibit, serving as an educational tool where the realities of these materials are communicated to interested parties, enhancing the sophistication of the dialogue on “green materials.” Get the Bio Resin Show N Tell here:
AND, last but not least, drum roll please…
A study commissioned by KP and conducted by Clemson University discovered that clear, plastic packaging was the preferred packaging medium among consumers when compared with paper packaging alternatives; this validates our tagline, and my grandfathers proclamation, that “Seeing it Sells it!” Here is some covereage on the findings of the study as per Plastics News. Also, I have a presentation from KP delivered at the AVPM that I would love to share with you, assuming I receive approval to do so soon.
That's all for now. Next post will discuss this amazing new technology that allows manufacturers to quantify the "carbon footprint" on a per product level. Wow!