Engineered to Recycle - Waste Not

    Listed below are some outstanding applications for recycled plastics. There are so many more to consider, but these piqued my interest. Commitments from industrial leaders to build products with recycled plastics help to create the market, generating incentive and adding value to industrial and consumer packaging produced with recycled materials.

1.     Auto maker Audi, with their popular and dynamic A3 line, offers upholstery with fabrics made from recycle PET bottles. “These are good recycling candidates because polyester resins are known for their mechanical, thermal, chemical resistance as well as dimensional stability.” - Dan Carney, Design News
2.     Recycled high density polyethylene (rHDPE) is used to make bottles for packaging laundry detergents. A “partnership between companies ALPLA and Henkel Laundry & Care, and is playing a substantial part in promoting the bottle-to-bottle loop in the market.”- Herwig Schrank, Global Key Account Manager at ALPLA. “Bottle-to-bottle loop”… an exciting concept for recycling.
3.     Long-time Liberty Intercept customer toolmaker Stanley, Black, and Decker (SBD) will launch a new product line called Reviva in 2022 with 50% recycled plastics in the enclosures. “Every day, we aim to live our purpose – For Those Who Make The World – and elevate our commitment to corporate social responsibility, and creating new eco-friendly products is one way of achieving that mission.” - Jim Loree, CEO Stanley, Black, and Decker. SDB’s slogan “For Those Who Make the World” takes on additional meaning with their commitment to the environment.

    The world is choking on trash and it’s only getting worse. A very large part of this problem is that developed nations are shipping their trash to developing nations, which are the least prepared to manage it. Often, trash spills into waterways leading to oceans, disrupting and entangling animal inhabitants, and presenting health hazards for the residents of these developing nations. All of these factors and more create a mess that is most imperative to solve, and which is something that can be corrected with our help.

    Now is the time to open up your packaging specifications and make changes to mono-layered recyclable materials. We are doing damage to our planet. Recycling rates must improve. We can all play a part in this effort.

    "It makes no sense at all to take and actually ship materials that are going to create problems for someone else on the other side of the planet." -1998 Arnie Bailey, former Packaging Engineer, Analogic.