Following the acquisition of the closure materials business from Henkel in May 2021, the transfer of production from Henkel in France to Actega DS in Bremen has now been completed. The brands acquired from Henkel include Celox, Sincera and Daraform.

Combining additive manufacturing with new sustainable materials, allows for a more flexible and resource-efficient production. But for companies to be able to fully utilize the strength of the technology, support is needed in every step along the supply chain ranging from development of new business models to product design and testing in a real production environment. Therefore, Rise is opening up the Application Center for Additive Manufacturing together with industrial and academic partners.

BIC, a globally operating company specialising in stationery, lighters and shavers, has chosen to team up with Avient. When BIC engineers recently were challenged to incorporate more recycled materials in a new women’s razor, they found answers in Avient’s reSound R recycled-content TPE. The TPE has a soft, grippy feel and is highly colourable and is formulated to achieve 62 % recycled content.

Arburg has founded a new subsidiary, the Arburgadditive GmbH + Co KG. It will be based at the company’s headquarter in Lossburg, Germany, and will house activities related to additive manufacturing. Managing Director will be Dr. Victor Roman, who is set to join the company on 1 December 2021.

The rise of circular economy principles has led to a new collaboration between Covestro LLC and the University of Pittsburgh. Pitt’s Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation (MCSI) and Swanson School of Engineering will house the new Covestro Circular Economy Program at the University of Pittsburgh.

The world is facing major challenges: Climate change must be fought; the environment must be protected, and resources must be conserved. It is also important to make good use of the opportunities offered by digitalisation. The plastics industry has a key role in this process because plastics are ubiquitous in the world. Climate protection, digitalisation and the circular economy are therefore also the three major topics at K 2022, the world's leading trade fair for the plastics industry. To get in the mood for the industry meeting in autumn 2022, the VDMA is letting representatives of the plastics machinery industry and all other stakeholders in the sector have their say through weekly interviews.

On 9 November 2021, private equity firm Gamut Capital Management, L.P. announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Davis-Standard, LLC and its affiliates from Oncap, the middle-market private equity platform of Onex. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing conditions, is expected to close in Q4 2021.

In the course of the second quarter of 2022, BASF’s global research activities will be bundled in a central research unit based in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

DuPont announced on 2 November that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Rogers Corporation for USD 5.2 billion. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2022, subject to customary closing conditions.

Covestro’s product range in Europe is to be expanded to include mass-balanced thermoplastic polyurethanes from as early as the beginning of 2022, and in Asia at a later date. This was announced recently by the company.