Let's go K 2022!
The paradigm shift for our planet calls for new food for thought – also in the plastics and rubber industry.
Hot Topics of K 2022
New additional service in the run-up to K 2022 in Düsseldorf: Monthly K-Talk starts online on January 20, 2022!
Outlook, orientation, hot topics +++ exciting live discussion rounds with industry experts, users, and representatives from the media and politics +++ K-Talk enables global dialog even before the Leading Trade Fair in the fall +++ on-demand service
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AlgX: from green algae to green plastic
With AlgX, the French industrial project Eranova has developed a product that responds to two global problems: Plastic pollution and algae pollution. It is a technology patented in 30 countries that allows the production of bio-based, recyclable, biodegradable and compostable plastics from green algae in the spirit of upcycling.
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Turning plastic grocery bags into sustainable fuel
More than 300 million tons of plastic waste are produced annually, which causes serious environmental issues. Consequently, most plastic waste ends up in either a landfill or the ocean. A significant number of plastics break down into microplastics, which are ingested by fish and other marine life causing havoc to marine ecosystems.
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Polymer discovery gives 3D-printed sand super strength
Researchers at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory designed a novel polymer to bind and strengthen silica sand for binder jet additive manufacturing, a 3D-printing method used by industries for prototyping and part production.
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Borealis acquires minority stake in UK-based sustainable packaging innovator Bockatech
Borealis, one of the world’s leading providers of advanced and circular polyolefin solutions and a European market leader in base chemicals and fertilizers, announces that it has acquired a minority stake in Limited, a UK-based growth-stage green tech business and inventor of the innovative EcoCore ® manufacturing technology platform for sustainable packaging.
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Young plastics researchers are on the trail of proper recycling
The Pöppelmann Research Week on the topic of "Plastics and Recycling" brought young people closer to the topics of plastics and recycling.
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Made to degrade
There's a lot of plastic in the ocean. Much of it comes from the single-use items that we're all familiar with, such as food wrappers and microbeads that inadvertently wind up in the sea. But a growing amount is coming from plastics that are actually made to be used in marine environments, such as instrumentation used for an emerging ocean "Internet of Things."
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Plant from plastics?
Plastics have taken the world by storm over the last century, finding applications in virtually every aspect of our lives. However, the rise of these synthetic polymers, which form the basis of plastics, has contributed to many serious environmental issues. The worst of these is the excessive use of petrochemical compounds and the disposal of non-biodegradable materials without recycling.
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Using circular economy principles to recycle toys
Many of us are familiar with this scene in our children’s bedrooms: when the kids have outgrown their toys, the latter typically get boxed up until we finally take heart and purge them. But it doesn’t have to be that way: the initiative of the HolyPoly company takes recycling steps to create new toys – that look slightly different.
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Reducing plastic pollution by adding RNA-inspired 'breaking points'
Once plastic products are used and discarded, they can linger in oceans and harming sea life. One potential solution, a biodegradable polymer called polylactide (PLA), has so far not fully lived up to its promise, showing little sign of breakdown once in seawater. In a new study, researchers set out to address this issue by incorporating RNA-inspired breaking points to the polymer.
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Turning a problem into a solution: Wasser 3.0 studies ways to remove microplastics from water without a filter
Plastic is an important material and a virtually irreplaceable component in many products. However, the breakdown and disposal of plastics after use also goes along with microplastics. At the end of its life cycle, plastic material first ends up in the environment and then comes back to us: a study has found that we ingest about five grams of plastic every week without realizing it.
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Air Liquide and BASF welcome support from European Innovation Fund for joint CCS project
Air Liquide and BASF are planning to develop the world's largest cross-border Carbon Capture and Storage value chain. The goal is to significantly reduce CO2 emissions at the industrial cluster in the port of Antwerp. The joint project has been selected for funding by the European Commission through its Innovation Fund, as one of the seven large-scale projects out of more than 300 applications.
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Covestro and Eco-mobilier collaborate for tackling next-level PU mattress foam recycling
Materials manufacturer Covestro and Eco-mobilier, a French eco-organization and non-profit extended producer responsibility (EPR) schemer for the collection and recycling of used furniture, aspire to generate enhanced value aiming at mattresses and upholsteries.
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Microfliers: Polymers on a mission for the environment
They are the size of a grain of sand and resemble trundling maple seeds: the flying microchips that researchers at Northwestern University have now developed. In the future, they should make it possible to monitor air pollution or airborne diseases. Polymers play a fundamental role in this. John Rogers tells us more in an interview with K-MAG.
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Scientific Council of K 2022 convenes First Meeting
Renewable energies, resource-saving processes, climate neutrality – rising to major challenges is key. These global tasks require creative minds, innovative technologies and high-performance materials.
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Program aims to help students tackle the challenges of plastics waste
Plastics waste presents a major challenge for humanity. There are many innovative people taking impactful action to address this issue, but their efforts are often on a small scale or overlooked, with no good means to scale them to make a significant difference.
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"We are plastic" – an initiative for the conscious use of resources
"There is a lot of talk about the plastics industry, but too little talk with it," says the website of the German "Wir sind Kunststoff" initiative, which was launched in May 2021. It sees itself as a dialog platform for the industry on socially relevant aspects relating to plastics. To this end, eight associations pool their expertise and approach the public together as the faces of the industry.
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How a bacterium may help solve the plastic pollution crisis
Plastic pollution is one of the most pressing environmental issues of our time. The accumulation of petroleum-based plastics is having devastating effects on our environment, wildlife and human health. Researchers revealed a bacterium that is not only able to degrade difficult-to-recycle petroleum-based plastics but can also sustainably produce more environmentally friendly biodegradable plastics.
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Track and trace system as an answer to encourage reusable packaging
The digital economy can help us prevent packaging waste, say researchers at Lancaster University and University of St Andrews, who are working with the founders of Reath, a start-up business based in Edinburgh, with a mission to build the digital infrastructure for reuse.
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Plastics recycling deadlines loom – will companies meet their goals?
Many of the world's largest consumer product companies, including Cocoa-Cola, Unilever and PepsiCo, have set ambitious targets for replacing virgin plastics with recycled ones – typically 25 percent of their total packaging by 2025. So far, however, most companies have made only modest progress and will need to ramp up their efforts to reach these lofty goals.
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Commercially viable production of climate-neutral plastic is possible
Since the early 1950s, plastics have found their way into almost every area of modern life. Between 1964 and 2014, plastic consumption increased twentyfold, from 15 to 311 million tonnes per year. Not only has environmental pollution from plastic waste increased during this time, but the amount of petroleum its manufacture consumes is large, as are the associated greenhouse gas emissions.
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Covestro receives the German Design Award for its CMF Aesthetics Toolkit
As announced by the German Design Council, Covestro's CMF Aesthetics Toolkit will receive the German Design Award 2022 in the category "Excellent Product Design – Material and Surfaces." The toolkit is designed to inspire designers to explore the many aesthetic and functional possibilities of polycarbonate in the field of color, material and finish (CMF).
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Digital marketplace for recyclates: cirplus networks entire value chain
Sometimes you have to see a problem with your own eyes – or feel it with your own feet – to want to do something about it. At least that's how it was for Christian Schiller, who launched cirplus, a digital marketplace for recyclates.
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Elastic polymer that is both stiff and tough, resolves long-standing quandary
Polymer science has made possible rubber tires, Teflon and Kevlar, plastic water bottles, nylon jackets among many other ubiquitous features of daily life.
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