Specialty plastics provider showcases recycling technologies at TPC

KINGSPORT, Tennessee

Global specialty plastics provider Eastman features its sustainable packaging polymers at The Packaging Conference (TPC) in Austin, Texas, Feb. 3-5. Eastman will demonstrate how it has reinvented its material production processes and replaced fossil fuels with waste plastic as feedstock. The company's Advanced Circular Recycling technologies—carbon renewal technology (CRT) and polyester renewal technology (PRT)—use hard-to-recycle waste plastic to create new materials with zero drop-off in performance, safety or aesthetics.

"At Eastman, we are committed to activating the circular economy with sustainable packaging products for our customers," said Scott Ballard, vice president and general manager for Eastman's Specialty Plastics division. "Through our new recycling technologies, we're addressing sustainability challenges across the value chain."

Eastman's Advanced Circular Recycling technologies offer beginning-of-life and end-of-life solutions for plastic packaging that might otherwise end up in landfills. These technologies create new products with high percentages of recycled content achieved through certified mass balance allocation with no diminishment in performance. The new technologies also enable closed-loop solutions so that the resulting products can be infinitely recycled. Eastman is leveraging these technologies for applications in cosmetics and food and beverage packaging as well as in its full line of resins for shrink films, including APR-approved Eastman Embrace Encore™ and Eastman Embrace Float™ copolyesters.

Eastman unveiled sustainable packaging innovations for cosmetics at LUXE PACK MONACO and won the 2019 LUXE PACK in green Award in the Responsible Initiatives category for activating the circular economy via three recycling processes, including mechanical recycle stream technology in addition to Eastman's Advance Circular Recycling technologies. During the show, the company introduced next-generation Eastman Trēva™ engineering bioplastic, made with both biobased and certified recycled content, and Eastman Cristal Revēl™ copolyesters, a new line of proprietary compounded polyesters made with post-consumer recycled (PCR) content.

CRT utilizes mixed waste plastics that are diverted from landfills to generate syngas for use in Eastman products, including Trēva. PRT uses glycolysis to disassemble waste PET into its fundamental building blocks, which are then used to produce circular polyesters that can claim high levels of recycled content without compromising quality. A later phase of PRT using methanol to break down a wide variety of waste polyesters will be fully operational by 2022.

In Austin, Eastman will lead a session called "Revolutionizing Materials" on Tuesday, Feb. 4, about brands transitioning to recycled plastics for their products and packaging.

Visit Booth 19 to learn more about Eastman's sustainable material solutions.

About Eastman

Founded in 1920, Eastman is a global specialty materials company that produces a broad range of products found in items people use every day. With the purpose of enhancing the quality of life in a material way, Eastman works with customers to deliver innovative products and solutions while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability. The company’s innovation-driven growth model takes advantage of world-class technology platforms, deep customer engagement, and differentiated application development to grow its leading positions in attractive end markets such as transportation, building and construction, and consumables. As a globally inclusive and diverse company, Eastman employs approximately 14,500 people around the world and serves customers in more than 100 countries. The company had 2019 revenues of approximately $9.3 billion and is headquartered in Kingsport, Tennessee, USA.

About Eastman in the circular economy

In 2019, Eastman began commercial-scale chemical recycling for a broad set of waste plastics that would otherwise be landfilled or incinerated, or worse, end up in the environment. Eastman Advanced Circular Recycling technologies process waste plastics traditional mechanical recycling methods cannot—including polyesters, polypropylene, polyethylene, and polystyrene—derived from a variety of sources, including single-use plastics, textiles, and carpet. These technologies provide a true circular solution of endless recycling for materials, allowing them to be reused repeatedly. For more information, visit eastman.eco.

Editorial Contact

Laura Mansfield, APR
Tombras
1-865-599-9968
lmansfield@tombras.com