Welcome to the Plastics Weekly, NEO’s regular news monitoring of the plastics industry.
This week’s highlights:
- After a week of tense UN negotiations in Paris, nations remain split on how to reduce plastic pollution amid a frenzy of industry lobbying. Negotiators have agreed to develop a first draft of a treaty by November but will need to overcome divisions over issues such as whether the rules will be legally binding and whether they will limit petrochemical companies’ production of new plastic materials. A group of 130 countries, including Mexico, Canada, New Zealand and most of Europe, want binding rules. But countries that produce fossil fuels, such as the US, Russia and China, want a voluntary system in which countries are free to establish their own frameworks. (Financial Times)
- Chemical maker LyondellBasell Industries said it would test new electric furnace technology in olefins production in a bid to cut greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. LyondellBasell is among the world’s largest producers of olefins that are used in automobiles, durable goods, detergents, milk bottles and food packaging. The company said the eFurnace technology, which it is testing in partnership with Technip Energies and Chevron Phillips Chemical, could enable LyondellBasell to use renewable electricity as a heat source for the olefins cracking process. (Reuters)
- Dow will begin sourcing bio-based feedstock for its plastics production in the U.S. The company has secured a long-term supply of bio-based ethylene feedstock for use in renewable-polyethylene production through a North American agreement with bioconversion company New Energy Blue. New Energy Blue will make the bio-based ethylene from leftover corn stalks and leaves, which Dow will buy and use it to produce polyethylene for packaging, footwear, and transportation applications. (Plastics Today)