Plastics News Show Daily - April 4, 2012 - (Page 32)

32 PLASTICS NEWS, April 4, 2012 Recycle + + + Proven Extrusion Systems Our continuous and discontinuous screen changers, melt pumps, pelletizers, and static mixers, are often supplied as systems comprising these and other components like controls, sensors, adapters, and common support frame. We have over 30 years’ application experience in the extrusion industry and our products are known for their world class technology. Ask us how you can reduce energy and resin costs, and improve product quality. Let us show you what we can do for you. Maag Automatik, Charlotte, NC 704-716-9000 MaagAmericas@maag.com www.maag.com Visit us at booth 5563 in the West Hall RECHARGE at the PN Oxygen Bar BOOTH #5045 - West Hall Continued from Page 30 ing waste six to seven months ago,” he said. “We saw that everyone out there wanted PET, but no one wanted polypropylene,” he said. “We took aim at that because we want to identify the niches that others aren’t going into.” Still, over the long term Naik sees thermoformed PET containers as the greatest opportunity in the packaging waste stream, as they are now the mandated packaging for most food packaging in Canada and the major aim of several initiatives by recycling and plastics associations in the U.S. “Our baby is going to be thermoformed PET material,” said Naik. “It is already being collected and we are working to establish the best process to recycle it.” The biggest problem, he said, is that bales that contain only PET thermoformed material are tight compared with bales of PET bottles: “They are packed in so thick that they are hard to separate.” That has also been a sticking point for other recycling groups working on similar projects, as they have been unable to find a bale breaker that can handle homogenous PET thermoformed packaging material. The other waste stream the company is eyeing, said Naik, is plastic medical products, which pose an entirely different set of challenges since “every hospital is going to have a different kind.” But Naik said he is confident the Green Research Center will be able to address post-consumer recycling issues “We will have both internal projects as well as joint development programs” with companies interested in developing ways to keep waste out of landfills. “I will be disappointed if we don’t have eight to 10 good programs develop out of the center in the next five years,” he said. “And once we create the process at the Green Research Center, we will set up a customized plant to recycle a product,” he said. SirNaik currently employs about 450 people in the U.S., roughly two-thirds of them in West Virginia. “Geographically that is where I see the growth in the next five years,” Naik said. But he also said the company would like to open up satellite plants — at a cost of $8 million to $9 million for both the land and equipment — in either Louisiana or around Houston to do the same type of work as the Polymer Alliance Service operation. “That location is pretty much maxed out,” Naik said. “We would like to set up some satellite facilities [in the Southwest] because we have some customers there looking for the same services we provide in West Virginia and it is extremely important to be near where their facilities are.” But realistically, he said, that won’t occur until next year. “We have too many other projects going on. But when we do add satellite facilities, we would like to be able to deal with engineering polymers, because that gives us room [for] value-added services.” And though the company once considered molding its own branded products from its recycled resins, Naik said that it is no longer part of the plan. “We are specialists in our own area,” he said. “Any molding in the United States will be done by our sister company, Total Molding Solutions Inc.,” an injection molder in Tecumseh, Mich. Another allied firm is Next Specialty Resins Inc., an engineered resins compounding firm based in Toledo, Ohio, that operates a recycling operation in Addison, Mich., a compounding plant in Heath, Ohio, and a high density polyethylene recycling and processing plant in Fayette, Ohio, run by Naik’s brother Rajiv Naik. IEI also has a joint venture company — Intercontinental Polymers Pvt. Ltd. of Daman, India — which is a partnership between IEI and Indian injection molder, toolmaker and design house Jyoti Plastic Works Private Ltd. That joint venture is building a 44.1 million-pound-per-year engineering resins compounding plant in India. The joint venture plans to target opportunities in the markets for automotive, agricultural equipment and pumps, where there is the potential to switch traditional metal parts to plastic. Want real pricing insight data? Pick up a free copy at PetroChem Wire/CME Group Booth #63038!  http://www.maag.com http://www.maag.com http://www.h-pproducts.com http://www.h-pproducts.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Plastics News Show Daily - April 4, 2012

Plastics News Show Daily - April 4, 2012

https://www.nxtbookmedia.com