Welcome to the Plastics Weekly, NEO’s regular news monitoring of the plastics industry.
This week’s highlights:
- China has launched an anti-dumping probe into plastics that are imported from the European Union, United States, Japan and Taiwan. The probe is focused on POM copolymers, a type of engineering plastic that is more durable than the more widely used commodity plastic, and which can partially replace metals like copper and zinc for use in auto parts, electronics, medical equipment and more. The investigation, which is expected to last around a year, comes amid China’s broader trade row with the United States and Europe. (Reuters)
- Chemical giants DOW and SCG Chemicals are joining forces to boost recycling in the Asia Pacific. Dow Thailand and SCG, one of the largest integrated petrochemical companies in Asia, have signed a memorandum of understanding to transform 200,000 tonnes/year of plastic waste in the region into circular products by 2030. The partners will start by developing waste sorting, and mechanical and chemical recycling technologies in Thailand, the country where both companies are based.(Sustainable Plastics)
- Researchers expect chemical recycling to reach its “inflection point” in this year and the next, which will give a better understanding of the global capacity, technological maturity and commercial viability of advanced recycling. An analysis of nearly 170 chemical recycling installations globally says in part that 2024 and 2025 mark “a key inflection point” as to how and whether pyrolysis systems in particular will affect the plastic landfill diversion and recycling rate. (Recycling Today)