myPlasticsindustry

My Knowledge 03-03-08

My Knowledge

Week in Review
PUBLISHED 03/03/2008

SABIC Innovative Plastics Korea: `Plastics Worth More Than Thought’

If product makers want to deliver stylish designs that are durable without sacrificing efficiency, plastics may be their best bet, says the local head of one of the world's largest producers of high-performance polymers. "More and more global manufacturers are looking for high-quality engineering plastic materials to replace metals in automotive parts, cell phones and electronics," Hwang Moon-sun, president of SABIC Innovative Plastics Korea, said in a Korea Times interview Tuesday. The company, formerly GE Plastics, was taken up last year by Saudi Arabia's SABIC, the world's largest chemical company by market value, at $11 billion. Since the buyout, Hwang says SABIC has been beefing up the presence of its plastics division in Korea by expanding the production line in its Chung-ju factory, which houses a 40,000 ton manufacturing system and other testing facilities. ...The Korea Times, 2.27.08
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Panasonic Develops New Recycling Technology For Decomposing Plastics

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. said on Tuesday that the company developed together with Kusatsu Electric Co., Ltd. a recycling technology that can decompose plastic and recycle useful metals used in electronic equipment without causing hazardous gases. Using the catalyst of titanium oxide, the technology facilitates recovery of inorganic substances such as metals by transforming organic substances such as plastics into harmless gases. The new recycling method combines Kusatsu Electric's non- incineration plastic disposal technology using titanium oxide and Panasonic's high grade materials recovery technology that is used to recycle old home appliances, said the company in a news release. The method uses unique mixing and carrier systems that allow plastics to contact the catalyst efficiently for gasification, leaving the valuable metals, the company said. ...English News Service, 2.26.08
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Dow Chemical Restructuring Places Saran Product, Specialty Films With Other Plastics

Dow Chemical Co., Louisiana’s biggest chemical employer with nearly 6,000 workers in the state, will restructure some of its business lines, earmarking specialty items such as its Saran Wrap production for new ventures within the company, possible sales or joint ventures outside Dow. No immediate impact on Dow’s biggest Louisiana operations — the 3,000-worker Plaquemine site and the St. Charles operations — was expected from Monday’s announcement. It’s a realignment that follows Dow’s December announcement that it would shed 1,000 jobs — 2 percent of its work force — in a global restructuring, one that includes the closing of a 60-job Norco plant that produces plastics. In the previously announced Norco closing, Dow said it would offer many of the Norco workers transfers to the company’s St. Charles Operations near Hahnville, where 2,300 people work. On Monday, Dow said it would place Saran Product and Specialty Films into a portfolio with other plastics, including polycarbonates, compounds blends, synthetic rubber and specialty copolymers. ...The Advocate, 2.26.08
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China's Largest Plastic Bag Manufacturer Closes

Huaqiang, China's largest plastic bag manufacturer, has shut because of a national environmental drive that will impose limits on the use of plastic bags starting June 1, a local source said on Tuesday. The Henan Province-based factory stopped production in mid January and its 20,000 employees were awaiting their fate, said Liu Henglie, the commerce bureau director in Suiping County where the plant is located. All machines in Huaqiang's two factories in Suiping County and Luohe City are to be sold. Further details about the future of the factories and its workers remained unknown, according to the official. A notice in front of the Luohe factory on Saturday said "1,600 plastic film blowing machines and over 1,000 packing machines are for transfer. The two factories in Luohe and Suiping are to be transferred at a price of 280 million yuan (39.1 million U.S. dollars) to 350 million yuan." ...English News Service, 2.26.08
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EDITORIAL: Recycle Plastic? Fantastic

In recent years, a number of countries and U.S. cities have moved to curtail the use of disposable plastic bags. The hundreds of billions of bags used annually worldwide cause environmental mischief. Marine animals mistake them for food and then suffocate or starve to death. Sea turtles mistake them for jellyfish, their primary food source. In 2002, a whale that washed ashore on a Normandy beach had an 800-kilogram knot of plastic in its stomach. Chicago Ald. Margaret Laurino (39th) and Edward Burke (14th) have sponsored an ordinance that would require chains with five or more large stores -- at least 5,000 square feet -- to have easily accessible recycling bins for their bags. The stores would be required to sell reusable bags, such as cloth sacks. Many grocery chains already do this. The ordinance sounds reasonable and is preferable to a city ban on plastic bags. Most grocery stores sell reusable bags for a nominal fee -- often $1. Options abound at various prices: canvas, linen, bamboo, lightweight nylon. ...Chicago Tribune, 2.25.08
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