(Photo Credit: The Recycling Partnership)Global manufacturer Milliken & Company joined the new Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, a collaborative plastics industry effort that the Recycling Partnership established over the summer to boost polypropylene plastic recovery and recycling in the US.
Better recycled polypropylene quality and performance in the United States would be advantageous for Milliken & Company. Membership in the coalition supports the company’s goal of improving plastic circularity, according to Allen Jacoby, senior vice president of plastics additives for Milliken’s Chemical Division.
“Milliken will tap into its material science expertise to help the organization increase the supply of high-quality recycled polypropylene plastic in a variety of ways,” the company said. That includes funding coalition efforts to improve the polypropylene recycling infrastructure nationwide, creating consumer programs encouraging curbside recycling, and offering their products to packaging producers seeking recycled polypropylene plastic material.
The company, which has a manufacturing business spanning textiles, flooring, specialty chemicals, and healthcare, makes several products that Milliken says “promote the recyclability of polypropylene plastic packaging.” These additive solutions — clarifiers, nucleating agents, performance modifiers — help polypropylene plastic become more easily recyclable, the manufacturer said.
“Polypropylene plastic offers important sustainability advantages in food and non-food packaging applications, including high-performance mechanical properties that reduce the amount of material required in an application compared to other resins,” Milliken noted. “Because it can be used in containers, closures, and labels, polypropylene plastic helps avoid multilayer constructions that are traditionally difficult to recycle.”
In July, Keurig Dr Pepper became a founding sponsor of the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, committing $10 million to the coalition. The Walmart Foundation and Braksem also provided support. Other coalition members include the American Chemistry Council, Danone North America, EFS Plastics, KW Plastics, LyondellBasell, Procter & Gamble, St. Joseph Plastics, and Winpak.
