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Auto plastics recycling effort has ‘long way to go'

Auto plastics recycling effort has ‘long way to go' Steve TolokenFrom left, Amanda Martin, GIC; Matthias Scheibitz, BASF; Peter Schwarz, Covestro; Erik Licht, LyondellBasell; and John Mortell, Plastics Europe. A new pilot project aims to improve upon an unfortunate reality for the auto industry. Recycling of the plastics they use is challenging, and new vehicles have less than 3 percent recycled content in their plastic parts. An Oct. 9 panel at K 2025 looked at the problem and the status of an effort to tackle that by the Global Impact Coalition, a chemical industry group that works to lower the sector's environmental and carbon footprint. A big challenge for recycling cars is that new vehicles have dozens of different types of plastic spread across thousands of components, said Amanda Martin, communications lead for the Geneva-based GIC and moderator of the panel. "How do we pull out all these parts, recycle them and put them back into use in other materials, and specifically in a closed-loop system in other vehicles?" she asked. "New vehicles have less than 2.5 percent of recycled content in plastic parts, so we have a long way to go to increase circularity in vehicles." More than 800,000 metric tons of end-of-life vehicle (ELV) plastics are incinerated or landfilled each year in the European Union, a significant environmental and economic loss, the coalition said in a news release. The project is in its first phase, where it's dismantling, shredding and sorting the plastics in 100 cars in the Netherlands and Germany, clustering them into 10 types of polymers and auto parts for the coalition companies to recycle. The overall goal is to "optimize a new approach to dismantling, sorting and recycling plastic fractions under real-world conditions," the coalition said. The project, which includes eight companies, is still working through its first phase and figuring out next steps. "It's not over yet, and we are looking to how do we take this forward in a phase 2 next year," Martin told the audience in Düsseldorf. Ambitious targets preferred The eight companies — including large plastic resin makers BASF, Covestro, LG Chemical, LyondellBasell, Mitsubishi Chemical Group and Sabic — are working together in a precompetitive fashion but will benefit from European Union recycling targets under the ELV directive, the panel said. "Regulatory should set targets, probably also ambitious targets, because only setting ambitious targets will really drive development and drive innovation," said Peter Schwarz, head of sustainability technologies, engineering plastics, at Covestro. "We really have to cooperate, to work together, to exchange and also probably not always hide behind IP barriers in order to really learn about what is best," he said. The coalition said the European Union is close to finishing its ELV directive, initially proposing that, by 2030, 25 percent of plastics in new cars should come from recycled materials, with about 25 percent of that recycled plastic coming from end-of-life cars, creating a closed-loop system. "Hopefully by the end of the year we will have very definitively exact targets and exact times," said John Mortell, senior policy manager with trade association Plastics Europe. "That's maybe a 20 percent target by 2032, a 25 percent target by 2036. And with different materials, which materials are included, pre-consumer, how much bio-based materials and also what the closed loop will be here," he said. "That's a very important part of this." Martin asked the panel, held in the Plastics Europe booth, what should happen to move to commercial viability. "Someone has to pump money into the system to make it work, and what is behind it is extended producer responsibility systems," said Matthias Scheibitz, head of sustainability strategy for BASF Performance Materials. He pointed to refrigerators as an example of EPR in Europe, where companies putting refrigerators on the market pay fees for end-of-life management. Chemical recycling needed Schwarz said chemical recycling is critical to making automotive plastics recycling viable. "Closed-loop recycling car-to-car will not work without chemical recycling — full stop," he said. "We have a zoo of materials in a car, and even if you do sorting, you still have mixed fractions. "If you do mechanical recycling with these, you can make park benches or something like that, but nothing that can go back into a car," Schwarz said. Erik Licht, director of new business development, APS Europe, for LyondellBasell, said the entire supply chain, including recycling companies, has to be able to make money and have incentives to make the system work. "By 2032, regulations will come, but in automotive, we need to start now," he said. "We have to have the network. We have to have hubs and megahubs because you can't transport plastics over distance. It destroys the costs." * Source : https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/only-25-percent-recycled-content-auto-plastic-coalition-sees-long-way-go

이명규 기자 2025-10-19

Polypropylene prices hold steady in September, drop likely in October

Polypropylene prices hold steady in September, drop likely in October File photo Polypropylene resin prices stayed flat in North America in September after declining in the previous two months. But pricing for that material might be a different story in October, with market sources anticipating lower prices. Regional PP prices had dropped an average of 2 cents per pound in August after falling 1 cent in July. June prices had been up 0.5 cents. PP market prices continue to follow changes in polymer-grade propylene (PGP) feedstock. PGP supplies had been tight earlier in the summer, but improved in July and August as three PDH process units that make PGP increased their production rates. Those improvements made it more difficult for PP makers to maintain June price levels. North American PP inventories increased by almost 70 million pounds in August, as regional demand dropped by 1 percent, according to a market report from RTI Global. PGP prices could be considerably lower in October, according to an Oct. 9 report from PP supplier Blue Clover of New York. PGP prices already had dropped 6.25 cents between Sept. 24 and Oct. 9, according to the report, and aren't expected to improve. The PGP drop through Oct. 9 "is over a lot of volume," the report said. In the first eight days of October, 94 million pounds of PGP were traded on the spot market, almost equaling the 101 million pounds traded for all of September. "There is an avalanche of PGP available," the report said, adding the high volume is happening even with a maintenance turnaround for a PDH unit in the Gulf Coast reducing short-term PGP supplies. On the PP side, the report said PP makers "have worked diligently over the past six months to try as best they can to keep the market in balance," but the situation remains volatile. "Levers have included pulling back on [PP] operating rates, funneling material into export and being careful not to build inventories," the report added. "However, the incredible pullback in demand for PP and other PGP derivatives from convertors and compounders is impossible to contend with from the supply side." The report also said that China "continues to flood so many markets with PP that it absolutely crushes U.S. PP exports, which have been a historically important part of the demand profile." Counting previous increases and decreases, regional PP prices are down a net of 3.5 cents so far in 2025. * Source : https://www.plasticsnews.com/resin-pricing/north-american-polypropylene-prices-flat-september-october-drop-expected-pgp-floods

이명규 기자 2025-10-19

German industry says plastics treaty can boost recycling, speed investment

German industry says plastics treaty can boost recycling, speed investment Caroline SeidelThree plastics industry leaders from Germany — Thorsten Kühmann, general manager of plastics and rubber machinery association VDMA; Oliver Möllenstädt, executive director of the German Association of Plastic Converters; and Christine Bunte, head of Plastics Europe Deutschland — agreed there is a need for a global agreement on plastics sustainability. The German plastics industry wants a global plastics treaty to boost recycling and waste management and quicken its transformation to a greener manufacturing industry. That was the view from three German plastics associations at an Oct. 7 news conference on the eve of the K 2025 show in Düsseldorf. While the plastics treaty talks have proven difficult — the last round in August in Geneva failed to reach agreement and press reports Oct. 7 said the head of the treaty process was about to step down — the associations said an agreement could help build a case for green investment in plastics. "We are strong supporters of this global [plastics] agreement because we need regulations on a global scale," said Thorsten Kühmann, general manager of plastics and rubber machinery for the German VDMA association. Similarly, the head of the German Association of Plastic Converters, or GKV, said the treaty and other policy should support increasing the use of recycled content and strengthen collection of plastic waste. "It's necessary from our point of view, to start now with these investments, and these investments need a global framework," said Oliver Möllenstädt, GKV's executive director. "This is why we as a German plastics industry are very convinced that we need a global plastics treaty as soon as possible." The third group at the news conference, Plastics Europe Deutschland, said that 2.7 billion people in the world lack access to waste management. "That's almost every third person on the planet who does not have access, and that, of course, puts a tremendous pressure on the environment," said Christine Bunte, head of Plastics Europe Deutschland. "The global plastics treaty can really be a vehicle to install waste management on a global level and really improve that. And it can help turn plastics from a waste into a resource." "It is really the one chance that we have, on a global level, to change the way that plastics, and particularly plastics waste, are being handled," she said. Möllenstädt said the treaty, for example, could establish global standards for extended producer responsibility systems for plastic packaging. He also outlined a seven-point policy framework for the European Union that GKV supported, including EU-wide design for recycling rules, developing the European single market for plastics recycling and rules for recycled content. The groups, however, were particular about what they wanted — and didn't want — in any treaty, suggesting it should stay focused on waste management. "From our point of view, the starting point must be waste management, it's an overwhelming aspect," Möllenstädt said. "All the other aspects can follow because a treaty on the United Nations level is not a monolithic structure which is ready at the beginning." Some of the key stumbling blocks in the talks have been over whether the agreement should limit plastics production and strengthen global regulations around potentially hazardous chemicals and additives used in plastics. The European Commission and many European countries in the treaty are part of a so-called "high ambition coalition" advocating for a more aggressive agreement. But GKV said European nations should be more pragmatic. "The European Union, the European Commission, started with very high ambitions in this negotiation of the plastics treaty," Möllenstädt said. "From our point of view, a more pragmatic way would be better to solve these problems. … It's necessary to build up structures to finance waste management in developing countries." Tariffs ‘difficult way' to help US industry VDMA said German-made injection molding machines will be at least 20 percent more expensive in the United States because of tariffs enacted by President Trump. Kühmann said that will come from a 15 percent tariff on general machinery and imports, as well as tariffs enacted in August to put duties on the value of steel used in making plastics machinery, a potentially difficult figure to determine. He said U.S. manufacturing of injection molding machinery can only supply 10 percent of the U.S. demand. "In the United States, you've got a strong plastics industry altogether, there's only one link which is missing, and that's the machinery side," he said. "In the case of injection molding … 90 percent of them are imported from Europe, Japan, Canada and China." The U.S. tariffs, which apply to machinery globally, will raise the price of U.S. machines from 20 percent to 60 percent, depending on the country of origin of the equipment, he said. "To make the American industry great again, that is a difficult way to handle this," Kühmann said. "If we want to have an open and global market, tariffs are definitely not the way you should prefer to go." * Source : https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/eve-k-german-industry-wants-plastics-treaty-soon-possible

이명규 기자 2025-10-19

Plastics Industry Association says tariff uncertainty could dent growth

Plastics Industry Association says tariff uncertainty could dent growth Carolline SeidelPlastics Industry Association Chief Economist Perc Pineda at K 2022. While the U.S. plastics industry's economic performance was solid in 2024, it could see its shipments and employment contract slightly because of uncertainty over tariffs and trade policy, a U.S. industry association says. At a Sept. 16 online briefing to release its 2025 Size and Impact Report, executives at the Plastics Industry Association pointed to good fundamentals but said uncertainty regarding tariffs and trade policy could hold back growth. Perc Pineda, chief economist with the association, said the plastics industry could see the economic value of its shipments fall slightly. "Because of the uncertainty that's holding back the manufacturing sector, the main customer of the plastics industry, we could see shipments in plastics manufacturing pull back by 0.5 percent," he said. "By and large, what appears to be holding the manufacturing sector back are uncertainties tied to higher tariffs and the unpredictability of new and revised tariff measures," Pineda said. "As a consequence, plastics manufacturing employment could also decrease by 1.1 percent." The report, which is a detailed look at 2024 economic data for different parts of the industry, said the total employment in the plastics industry rose 1.3 percent to 1.066 million in 2024. The value of shipments also rose to $551 billion, a 0.2 percent increase from 2023. It's the eighth-largest sector in U.S. manufacturing, and Pineda said the economic data points to solid underlying fundamentals. In both employment and shipments, plastics did better than manufacturing overall last year. "We actually thrived in 2024 in spite of the interest rate-driven manufacturing slump," he said. "This tells me that there is plenty of room for the plastics industry to grow, considering that we are an impactful industry and we are vital to the U.S. economy." But tariffs are clouding the outlook. Seaholm Seeking clarity Matt Seaholm, the president and CEO of the association, said it hopes for more clarity around trade policy from Washington. He said the association has been advocating for plastics machinery and materials to be seen as inputs for other manufacturing sectors, and as a result be given some tariff relief. "I'm hopeful that there will be some recognition of plastics machinery and materials as a manufacturing input, and some tariff relief could ultimately be found in the coming year," Seaholm said. Companies in the industry have been trying to manage the impact of President Donald Trump's administration's decision in August to expand steel tariffs to include the steel content of imported plastics machinery and molds, along with more than 400 other industrial products. The U.S. plastics sector imports about 75 percent of its machinery. Some industry groups, like the American Mold Builders Association, which represents plastic mold manufacturing companies, support the Trump administration's expanded steel tariffs. Seaholm said companies are struggling with uncertainty in the economy and frustrated with shifts in trade policy. "The frustrations virtually all industries are currently feeling about the dramatic shifts in American trade policies are hopefully only presenting short-term challenges and will eventually return to a norm that supports economic growth," Seaholm said. "There are no doubt headwinds facing the industry and the economy," he said in opening comments on the webinar. "Uncertainty is always one of the biggest impediments to economic investment and growth, and uncertainty is abound. Interest rates, government spending, new regulations, consumer strength, sentiment toward plastics and yes, of course, tariffs and trade policy." Pineda predicted that there will be some resolution to the steel and aluminum tariff debate because it's a key input to manufacturing. "I think over time we will see a resolution to this issue, because I don't really think that the global trading environment could withstand continued higher cost of steel and aluminum," he said. Seaholm did point to an economic boost from the large tax legislation that the Republican-controlled Congress passed and that Trump signed in July, in particular, from research and development tax credits and expensing provisions the industry lobbied for. But he also said the impact of that law "to some degree … remains to be seen." "What we saw get passed this summer, both from an R&D tax credit standpoint, as well as immediate expensing, really presents some tremendous opportunities for capital investment," Seaholm said. "That is, without a doubt, a huge win." "But there's also the trade and tariff component to this that is certainly putting the pause on a lot of economic development and investment, and that push and pull is really creating a bit of, I guess, pause in the plastics industry investment," he said. "It's frustrating. I know our members are telling us that on a regular basis." * Source : https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/association-says-tariff-uncertainty-pausing-plastic-investment

이명규 기자 2025-09-21

European resin prices in a post-summer slump

European resin prices in a post-summer slump Vioneo European polyolefin prices have fallen slightly over he last two months, PVC prices have remained stable while polystyrene prices have continued to tumble. At the beginning of August, most polyolefin producers attempted to stabilize prices in order to improve their margins even though both ethylene and propylene contract settlements had fallen by €10 per metric ton. However, buyer resistance forced sellers to offer discounts similar to the cost reduction. In September, polypropylene prices remained at the previous month’s level as the propylene contract price was unchanged. Polyethylene prices were also unchanged despite a gain of €5 per tonne for the ethylene contract price. The order situation was too low to justify a small price rise. In August, base PVC prices fell in proportion (down €5 per tonne) to the €10 per tonne reduction in the cost of ethylene. In September, the price reduction was reversed in line with the €5 per tonne rise in the cost of ethylene. Polystyrene prices have fallen in each of the last six months to hit their lowest level since summer 2023. The styrene monomer reference cost has fallen sharply and demand has remained very weak. In August, PS prices fell by €25-30 per tonne, which was less than the €35 per tonne reduction in styrene monomer as sellers aimed to retain aa part of the cost reduction to improve their operating margins. In September, polystyrene prices are down in line with the €46 per tonne decline in the styrene monomer reference price. PET prices fell in August due to a combination of weaker demand and lower raw material costs to reverse the upward trend in the previous month. PET prices have remained unchanged by mid-September on stable feedstock costs and low demand. Supply adequate Supply is more than adequate to meet the low level of demand across most product sectors, despite polymer production plants continuing to operate at reduced rates and a number of plant shutdowns for planned and unplanned maintenance. High density PE, linear low density PE, PS, PET and PP production from local producers is at a normal level. Availability is also being supplemented by imports. Low density PE supply is low but adequate as import volumes have declined. PVC supply is well balanced. A summary of recent supply-related developments is summarized below. - Unipetrol RPA restarted PP|PE/ethylene production at its Czech Republic plant Sept. 15 following maintenance.- DUCOR Petrochemicals restarted its PP lines in the Netherlands in early September following force majeure.- Ineos shut down its PP|PE and ethylene lines in the United Kingdom on Sept. 2 for maintenance.- Inovyn shut down several European PVC production lines for maintenance late August.- Total PC restarted production of PP|PE at several locations in France early September following force majeure.- Orlen shut down its Polish LDPE facility early September for maintenance. Demand weak Polymer demand has picked up slightly after the summer holiday season but remains well below what would normally be expected. This is largely explained by the sluggish European economy and continued consumer uncertainty. In view of the slow pick-up in demand, converters are adopting a cautious approach to restocking and are only buying sufficient material to meet their immediate production needs. October outlook Brent crude oil prices have fallen from a peak of $72.6 per barrel in early August to $67.3 per barrel in mid-September, yet naphtha prices have been more stable over the same period. OPEC has announced that it will increase oil production in October, which will likely exert further downward pressure on crude oi prices. Ongoing low demand and an adequate supply indicate either stable or slight downward polymer price pressure. * Source : https://www.plasticsnews.com/resin-pricing/european-resin-prices-post-summer-slump

이명규 기자 2025-09-21

Tariffs bring short-term gains, long-term questions for plastics industry

Tariffs bring short-term gains, long-term questions for plastics industry Leo Michael Trade policy rarely produces all winners or all losers. And with the latest round of tariffs targeting imported plastics machinery, molds and recycled resins, it's clear the U.S. plastics industry is facing both opportunity and disruption. Yes, there are some potential bright spots. U.S. mold makers — particularly small and midsized shops — could see a bump in business as tariffs make overseas tools more expensive. U.S. recyclers may also benefit from new reciprocal tariffs on imported PET, which could push buyers to turn back to domestic supply. But those silver linings come with a cost. For processors across North America, the expanding list of Section 232 and reciprocal tariffs creates deep uncertainty, especially for companies that rely on imported machines, molds or components to meet customer demand and hit sustainability targets. The new 50 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum content hit a broad swath of equipment, including injection molding machines, plastic and rubber molds, material handling systems and industrial robots. Many of these products are made in Germany, Japan and Canada — long-time trade partners and key suppliers to the U.S. plastics industry. The impact is already being felt. German machinery group VDMA warned the tariffs are sending their members "hurtling toward the precipice of an existential crisis." In Canada, the mold-making community is sounding the alarm that decades of cross-border manufacturing integration are at risk. The Japan Plastics Machinery Association sent a letter to the Plastics Industry Association this week asking for its assistance in dealing with the tariffs. And here in the U.S., processors and toolmakers are stuck in the middle. Capital spending is slowing. Orders are delayed. Companies are waiting to see what rules will stick — and which could be reversed in court. That wait-and-see attitude comes at a cost. A recent study from consulting firm Wipfli found that 53 percent of manufacturers surveyed were operating below capacity in the second quarter. Tooling programs are being postponed or shelved entirely. Even companies with reshoring potential are hesitant to act without clarity on tariff exposure. And while quoting activity is up, few firms are committing to large equipment purchases while prices remain uncertain. Let's not forget: More than 70 percent of plastics processing equipment in the U.S. is imported. That includes the sophisticated injection molding machines and robotics that power everything from medical device production to lightweight automotive parts. Tariffs on those machines don't just affect bottom lines — they can limit innovation, reduce efficiency and delay the shift to more sustainable operations. Meanwhile, U.S. recyclers are navigating shifting ground. The new reciprocal tariffs that took effect this month could add 10 to 14 cents per pound to the price of imported recycled PET pellets. Imports had surged in recent years, with resin from Asia and Latin America gaining share. The new tariffs could give domestic recyclers a chance to regain market — but also add cost pressures and pricing instability at a time when brands are reevaluating recycled-content commitments amid softening demand. It's a classic trade-off: protectionism to help one part of the industry risks undercutting another. In some cases, the same company may feel both sides of the equation. We've said it before: The plastics industry needs clear, consistent policy to plan ahead. That includes trade policy. Manufacturers can't make multimillion-dollar tooling investments or hire new workers if the regulatory ground shifts every 90 days. It's refreshing to see an industrial policy from Washington that encourages manufacturing — although this one appears tilted too far in favor of steel and aluminum producers at the expense of other vital sectors, including plastics. In the long run, we need real solutions — ones that support innovation, encourage recycling and ensure that plastics processors have the tools they need to compete globally. * Source : https://www.plasticsnews.com/viewpoint/us-tariffs-plastics-equipment-molds-and-pet-create-uncertainty

이명규 기자 2025-09-21

Rising anxiety for Canadian auto suppliers over Trump tariff threats

Rising anxiety for Canadian auto suppliers over Trump tariff threats The Ambassador BridgeCommercial traffic crosses the Ambassador Bridge that links Detroit with Windsor, Canada. The bridge is the busiest crossing between the U.S. and Canada and links automakers and suppliers on both sides of the border. Tariffs as high as 25 percent on vehicles and parts entering the United States could shut down North America's entire automotive industry, according to Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association. A 25 percent tariff, being threatened by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, is so punitive and industry margins so thin that automakers and suppliers may simply halt production instead of booking losses, while turning to the courts for a resolution, he said. "He picked the wrong number. It's so high that it's meaningless in automotive. … You may as well have said 200 [percent], said a million, no one's going to book those losses," Volpe said. Anxiety among Canadian suppliers is growing as Trump dials up the rhetoric and prepares to retake the White House on Jan. 20, Volpe said, but in an industry with razor-thin inventories, the amount of pre-planning companies can undertake is limited. Kevin Hallahan, vice president of marketing and investor relations at Linamar Corp., said the die casting company has prioritized getting U.S. orders filled ahead of the inauguration within its industrial division, but that automotive's just-in-time delivery model makes getting in front of tariffs infeasible. The Guelph, Ontario-based supplier is engaged with the Canadian government to help work through the threat, and it remains confident the highly integrated nature of North America's auto sector will allow cooler heads to prevail, Hallahan said. "The [automakers], they don't have real good switching abilities. If they selected a supplier to be the supplier of a particular powertrain component or structural component of the vehicle, there's been a lot of testing and validation on that before the vehicle reached its first day of production." Trump's tariffs would‘hurt his own people'The inability to quickly line up alternative local suppliers means the tariffs would hurt not only Canadian parts makers exporting to the United States, but raise prices for American automakers and American consumers, he added. But with Trump seemingly willing to "hurt his own people" to advance his policy agenda, Canadian suppliers need to plan for the worst, said Jonathon Azzopardi, president of Laval Tool and Mould Ltd., a maker of compression and injection molds. "We can never forget that there's a border. A lot of us like to think that the border doesn't exist, and we do everything we can to make it imaginary, but it is a reality," he said. As with Linamar, Windsor, Ontario-based Laval Tool has no ability to fast-track U.S. orders to provide some short-term relief to the possible tariffs, but Azzopardi has begun contingency planning. The company's U.S. customers will be saddled with the tariff, which means Laval Tool will need to "stomach" some of that cost to remain competitive with toolmakers south of the border eager to snap up their business, Azzopardi said. "We're going to start taking haircuts," he said. "We're going to have no choice." A 25 percent tariff will put the whole industry in the red, Azzopardi said, but at least for Laval Tool, profitability will take a back seat to holding onto customers. "There's no way you can afford it and still be profitable. The question is, can you afford not to try and preserve relationships, to try and keep the supply chain moving," he said. Canadian supplier growth at riskThe tariff threat puts a decade of growth at Canadian parts suppliers at risk, according to Brendan Sweeney, managing director of the Trillium Network for Advanced Manufacturing, which advocates on behalf of Ontario manufacturers. Canadian parts manufacturers contributed C$10 billion (US$6.94 billion) to the country's gross domestic product in 2024, up from C$8 billion (US$5.5 billion) in 2014, according to a Trillium Network analysis released in December. Employment has also ramped up, growing to 80,450 jobs in 2024 from 69,985 a decade earlier. The end markets for Canadian auto parts have remained largely consistent despite the growth, the Trillium Network found. Forty-three percent of parts were made for domestic assembly plants in 2023, while 55 percent were exported to the United States. Both figures are little changed from 2014. The heavy reliance suppliers have on the United States makes the threat of tariffs "existential" north of the border, Sweeney said. But given the billions in auto parts going into American-made vehicles, "it's kind of existential for the U.S., too." "It's all pretty silly and ham-handed, and if it happens everyone's in trouble, for no good reason," Sweeney added. Despite the anxiety created by the threats, the auto industry can take some comfort in having gone through Trump's wringer before and coming out the other side, said APMA's Volpe. Suppliers and government are dusting off their playbooks from 2019, when NAFTA was reworked into the United States-Canada-Mexico Agreement during the first Trump administration, he said. With the USMCA up for renewal in 2026, the latest threats are not wholly unexpected, Hallahan added. While it is impossible to predict how the coming weeks will play out, Trump already has commitments from Canada on defense and border security, he added. "In that regard, he's already got a win in terms of the acknowledgement of doing more to get to better results on those two issues," Hallahan said. Trump threatened shortly after his election in November to impose tariffs on Canada on his first day in office. In reality, Volpe said, Canada will likely have 60-90 days to formulate a response as federal departments act on the new president's executive order. Article Source : https://www.plasticsnews.com/news/trump-tariff-threats-prompt-rising-anxiety-among-canadian-auto-suppliers

editor 2025-02-13

PLASTICS, ACC ramp up campaign for zero plastic resin loss

PLASTICS, ACC ramp up campaign for zero plastic resin loss Operation Clean Sweep Blue Verification boosts rigor and transparency; companies must implement best practices and undergo inspections. The Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS) and the American Chemistry Council (ACC) have launched Operation Clean Sweep (OCS) Blue Verification, which introduces external, facility-level inspections to bolster the rigor of its program designed to keep plastic in use and out of the environment. The new program is intended to offer transparency for the more than 500 participating facilities in the U.S. Operation Clean Sweep was founded by the Plastics Industry Association in 1991 and is managed in partnership with the American Chemistry Council’s Plastics Division. The industry-led program is dedicated to helping companies move toward zero plastic resin loss and is active in more than 60 countries worldwide. To become OCS Blue Verified, a facility must implement 29 management practices that include risk assessments, employee training and data reporting, and undergo inspections conducted by trained and approved OCS Blue Verifiers. The first verification cycle extends through the end of 2025 and continues every three years moving forward. “Preventing pre-production plastic from entering the environment is a top priority for PLASTICS’ members and the entire industry,” said PLASTICS President and CEO Matt Seaholm. “OCS Blue Verification underscores this commitment and ensures all OCS Blue members are held to rigorous management practices while working towards a future where all plastic remains in the circular economy.” * Source : https://www.plasticsmachinerymanufacturing.com/manufacturing/article/53074077/plastics-acc-ramp-up-campaign-for-zero-plastic-resin-loss

이명규 기자 2024-08-25