Green Is Here to Stay
I've been around plastics long enough to be skeptical of just about anything I hear related to our material and the environment.
I've been around plastics long enough to be skeptical of just about anything I hear related to our material and the environment. But if you think that the "bio" movement that has made headlines in plastics and other ´óÏó´«Ã½es is just another passing fancy, best think again. Already staggering investments have been made on the materials side to develop and commercialize bio-resins. Machinery makers and suppliers of critical components like screws and tooling have made adjustments to their technologies to accommodate these materials. Suppliers with lab lines report that more and more trials are being run with green grades of material. And just this past week announcements were made by high-profile suppliers Dow and DSM on developments extending bio technology to plasticizers and high-performance materials, respectively. Processors best prepare on how to utilize these materials. Is it a tweak here and there, or is a major readjustment required to your processing capabilities? Remember 10-15 years ago when ISO certification was all the rage, and processors were hiring ISO compliance officers or bringing in consultants to guide them through the procedure? Well I am hearing the same thing is going on with respect to the green movement, with some leading-edge plastics processors already hiring sustainability officials or hiring consultants with expertise in the area. Are you taking the necessary steps to stay ahead of this?