Page 16 - Plastics News June 2018

CompAny news

PetStar joins UN sustainable Birch expands compounding

development effort work

exican food-grade recycler PetStar SAPI de CV, owned aterials firm Birch Plastics Inc. has expanded its
Mby Coca-Cola México and six bottlers, is joining Mcompounding efforts with an R&D pilot line and two
the United Nations’ sustainable development efforts, lines for toll compounding work. “Our business grew in
hoping to inspire other companies to follow suit. After 2017, leading us to make some capital investments in
launching a sustainable business model recently, which equipment and employees as well as to start offering
aims to recover and recycle all the PET bottles sent to new services. The market is evolving with all the new
market by its seven stakeholders by 2020, it is joining the polyethylene plants starting up [in North America] and
management board of Global Pact Mexico for two years China changing
through May 2020. According to the Geneva-based United the recycling
Nations Environment Programme, France launched the business
Global Pact for the Environment initiative in September for a lot of
2017. The pact aims to build upon, among others, the compa n ie s,
Stockholm Declaration, the Rio Declaration, Rio+20, Vice President
sustainable development goals, the 2030 Agenda and the Brandon Cleary
Paris Agreement, which became effective in 2016. The said adding,
“We try to
be proactive
instead of reactive with the evolution of this business.
Birch has been pelletizing recycled plastic we generate
from its grinding facility for a long time, offering both
regrind and reprocessed pellets as a postindustrial
recycler. The R&D line was needed because of increased
interest in adding recycled plastic into consumer
goods, according to Cleary. “There are limits to how
much [recycled content] is too much, and finding the
balance between suitability and part failure can only
be achieved through rigorous research and trials,” he
move “will allow the company to … participate more said. To meet this need, Birch now offers an open-door
actively in building a culture of sustainability in line with approach to the research and development process.
the 2030 Agenda and the [U.N.’s] Sustainable Development Cleary said the new line “has been a hit.”
Goals,” Jesús González, the Mexican board’s president,
said, announcing PetStar’s incorporation at a PetStar Now, companies have a place where their R&D team
sustainability forum in Mexico City. can come and develop new products or send them to
us and we do the work,” he explained. Birch offers
The U.N. General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for
Sustainable Development in September 2015. It includes 17 clients equipment to use by the day or week to run small
goals, such as eradicating poverty and hunger, developing R&D trials. The firm also supplies clients with staff to
responsible consumption and production and taking action do mixing and loading so they can concentrate on the
on climate change.”The goal is to codify and unite the formulation side of the developmental work. Most of
guiding principles of environmental law into a single text Birch’s clients have been focusing on adding recycled
with legal force. Currently we are collecting 70 percent content to their products or trying out new additives
of the bottles sent to market,” company founder and CEO to allow comingling of plastics into their materials. The
Jaime Cámara Creixell said. He added the company he firm also has partnered with major additive suppliers
founded in 2006 is the largest recycler of food-grade PET that need small amounts of their product compounded
anywhere, and hopes to inspire others to execute actions into their customers’ resin to prove the concept before
against the enormous environmental challenge. going commercial, he added.

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