lundi 19 juillet 2010

Plastic packaging: threats and eco-friendly alternatives

Plastic Packaging (PE and PP) : shortages and rising prices

The British Plastics Federation has joined European colleagues to warn of the threat to the sector of raw material shortages and rising prices.

BPF director general Peter Davis said that while this situation was affecting the entire sector, packaging manufacturers were feeling it most due to the availability of polyethylene and polypropylene.

HDPE price increase

In the 12 months to May, the euro price of high-density polyethylene for blow-moulding rose by more than 30%, the BPF said.

Polypropylene rose by 50% for the same period.

The BPF said the situation was due to the faster than expected economic recovery and the surge in Chinese demand in particular.

Reduced European reduction

European plastics production is also set to reduce – cracker capacity in the EU is forecast to fall by 26% in the next five years. The trend is towards production in the Middle and Far East.

Peter Davis said: "It is extremely important that the end customer buying and using plastic products, whether food retailers or car manufacturers, realise the very real pressures that our processing members are under and reflect this sympathetically in negotiations with suppliers.


Paper or Plastic?

Conscientious consumers going about their busy days eating, working, shopping and cooking are faced with many little decisions that can have a cumulative impact on the environment or their health.

We like to believe we're making the best choices, but we often don't have the resources or time to really check it out.

The Tribune recently compiled a list of consumer dilemmas from readers and staff, then consulted the experts, crunched the numbers and considered different angles to come up with some answers.


Purac starts project to produce lactic acid from papermaking waste streams

Purac has signed a contract to participate in a consortium that will develop a process to produce feedstock from cellulosic waste derived from the pulp and paper industry. This feedstock is expected to be usable for production of lactic acid. The other partners in the program are Crown Van Gelder N.V., a paper producing company, and Bumaga B.V., a development center in the paper and board industry. The project is part of the Dutch Biorefinery program and partially funded by the Dutch Ministries of Economic Affairs and Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality.

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