The polystyrene producers AmSty, Ineos Styrolution and Trinseo have signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to jointly explore recycling options for polystyrene. According to the three partners, the companies are committed to a circular economy for polystyrene.

Songwon Industrial Co., Ltd. announced that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with First Quality Chemicals, a speciality chemicals distributor in Mexico, for the coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers (CASE) markets.

BASF’s Coatings division has presented its new, most advanced refinish product line in its range of waterborne coatings solutions for the automotive industry. According to the company, by increasing the efficiency and significantly lowering the environmental impact, the products meet the highest expectations of modern body shops.

The Plastics Industry Association, producers of NPE: The Plastics Show, announced the opening of attendee registration for the industry’s largest trade show in the Americas.

In response to the new report “Biodegradable and compostable plastics – challenges and opportunities” by the European Environment Agency (EEA), European Bioplastics (EUBP) highlighted the need to acknowledge successful precedents in the deployment of these innovative materials in collaboration with a receptive community of consumers. Unfortunately, several media outlets made use of a biased interpretation of the report to draw a distorted picture of biodegradable and compostable plastics.

OECD countries have agreed to update rules on the export of hazardous plastic waste for recycling in line with international changes so that advance consent from destination countries will be required ahead of shipping. However, they did not reach consensus on updated arrangements for the export of non-hazardous plastic waste. OECD countries have agreed to review the situation for non-hazardous plastic waste in 2024.

Melanie Kostka has been awarded the Reifenhäuser Sponsorship Award on the occasion of IKV’s 30. International Colloquium Plastics Technology. With the Sponsorship Award, the Reifenhäuser company honoured the outstanding research work done by Melanie Kostka, who is employed as a scientific assistant at the Institute for Plastics Processing (IKV) in Industry and Craft at RWTH Aachen University.

Huntsman Advanced Materials announced the launch of the Araldite 2000 Adhesive Core Range, designed to help businesses across virtually every industry to maximise productivity by covering up to 80 % of all bonding needs, from assembling products to making repairs in tough conditions.

According to Covestro Elastomers, the corona pandemic is putting pressure on manufacturers of packaging materials and corrugated board. The strong business growth of digital mail order in the wake of the crisis also requires extensive support from the packaging industry to ensure the dispatch of large quantities of goods. Covestro Elastomers said it contributes to this with polyurethane elastomers and optimised delivery logistics.