Welcome from MBA Polymers’ new CEO, Richard McCombs

Welcome to the latest edition of the MBA Polymers newsletter. As you may know, I rejoined MBA Polymers as CEO in July 2015, at the request of the company’s Board of Directors. I had previously led MBA for 12 years between 1999 and 2011, growing the business from its early stages to a multinational enterprise with commercially proven, internationally recognized technology in three separate locations.

At this time, MBA Polymers, along with the wider virgin and recycled plastic sectors, is facing challenging economic conditions due to low commodity prices. This is likely to continue for the foreseeable future, placing the business under considerable pressure. Additionally, we face challenges in securing a sufficient supply of automotive shredder residue (ASR) and electronic shredder residue (ESR) for our UK and China plants, respectively. Our UK plant in Worksop was designed to process up to 60,000 tonnes of ASR annually, however, we are currently operating at under 50% capacity. Similarly, our China plant, which can accommodate up to 40,000 tonnes of ESR per year, received less than 30,000 tonnes of material to process in 2014.

While difficult times lie ahead, I have gladly returned to MBA Polymers due to the passion I have for the company and its mission. I will work tirelessly to maintain our leading market position as the largest and most advanced plastics recycling company in the world.

Indeed, the core premise of MBA Polymers remains unshaken. We believe that high quality resins can be profitably extracted from huge global volumes of ASR and ESR to produce post-consumer recycled plastics that compete with virgin resins on price and performance. We know that this is of interest to global manufacturers, having already attracted the attention of major companies in the electronics and automotive sectors. As businesses continue to adopt circular-economy principles, having the ability to source high performing, low carbon secondary raw materials from multiple locations globally will only grow in importance.

I will do the very best job I can for MBA and its many stakeholders, and I look forward to working with all of our constituents—our suppliers, our employees, our partners and our customers—as we navigate some tough challenges.

Yours respectfully,

Richard McCombs

Five minutes with… Kristof van Mieghem, Production Operative at MBA Polymers’ Austria plant

This month, we speak with Kristof van Mieghem, a production operative and deputy shift supervisor at MBA Polymers Austria, the JV plant we operate with Müller-Guttenbrunn. Kristof has worked with us for three years. Here, he gives an insight into the complex technical processes we use to create high quality recycled plastic from electronic waste, and what it means to contribute to a company making a positive difference in the world.

Could you describe your role in detail?

I’m working on two major production processes – our high tech separation system and the extrusion of recycled plastics. I spend most of my time on the separation process, whereby the cleaned and shredded plastic flakes derived from e-waste are sorted into pure polymer flakes. Once separated, these flakes are melted into thin strands and cut into 3mm pellets. Knowing that our customers use these purified and extruded plastic pellets for the production of low carbon vacuum cleaners or coffee machines makes me feel proud.

So your work sounds technically very interesting?

Absolutely. It is often difficult for outsiders to comprehend how everything works. It’s a great technological feat to be able to make a new material from complex waste streams. Some of the recycled material goes through five different installations, some of which are three floors high. It’s fascinating to learn how materials can be recycled in the Müller-Guttenbrunn Group. An old electrical appliance could be recycled almost entirely into secondary raw materials for new products, for example.

How do you find working shifts?

I work four days and then have four days off. By working shifts, we are able to keep the factory in operation 24 hours, seven days a week. We only stop production for a short time at Christmas. As with anything, shift work has pros and cons, but I’m happy, as as I have four days with my family and time to dedicate to my work as a paramedic with the Red Cross.

What do you like best about your job?

Since the waste material we process is never quite the same, you always have to find new and creative solutions. It has a lot to do with understanding how to adjust the machines during operation to achieve optimum performance. This means I have constant variety in my work, and I learn something new every day.

It sounds as though contributing to the company’s goal of recovering raw materials from waste is rewarding work?

Yes, indeed. In addition to knowing that the recycled plastic is used in new products, we’re also preventing waste from being sent to landfill, incinerated or deposited in the ocean. Just imagine, at MBA Polymers Austria, we process more than 100 tonnes of waste material every day. For me, this is a significant contribution to making the world a better place. We save 4.5 tonnes of CO2 per tonne of recycled plastics, which is huge when you consider that we only need to produce two tonnes of plastic to save the equivalent amount of CO2 emitted by an Austrian citizen annually. Our production process also uses less than 20% of the energy used to create virgin plastic.

To hear Kristof speaking to Austria’s P3TV about his work at MBA Polymers (in German), please click here. To read more about our JV with Müller-Guttenbrunn, please click here.

Objectform: Raising the bar for sustainability in the 3D printing industry

Pioneering tech start-up ObjectForm has just won a prestigious Plastics Industry Award for its 100% recycled ABS 3D printing filament and is gearing up to develop more new recycled plastic filaments under its Fila-CYCLE brand. The award win follows hot on the heels of positive feedback already received from the Innovate UK Board, a UK government initiative to support talented technology start-ups.

Here, we explore the company’s journey to date and ask one of its founders, Scott Knowles, why he is confident in the future of recycled plastic 3D printing filament.

The meteoric rise of 3D printing

The global 3D printer market is expected be worth $13.4bn by 2018, according to technology research firm Gartner. Worldwide shipments of 3D printers are set to double this year, reaching 217,350 units, up from 108,151 in 2014, and will continue to double every year for the next three years, the company predicts, reaching more than 2.3m units by 2018.

In particular, rapid prototyping – creating scale models of individual parts or whole products using 3D computer-aided design (CAD) data – is thriving, helping to streamline the process of designing of prototypes.

“3D printing is being used everywhere – in industry, in schools and colleges, and at home – it’s really taking off,” says Knowles. “It gives people the opportunity to be creative and helps to bring innovations to life more rapidly.”

Flying the flag for sustainability in an infant industry

Having researched the 3D printing market for several years, Knowles and his co-founders Chris Simpson and Stephan Hollingshead established ObjectForm in 2014 as a 3D design, printing and consultancy business. Founding a new company in a young industry, they wanted to take a responsible approach from the start.

“The 3D printing process requires a lot of plastic, and with the global 3D printing market expected to rocket, the demand for input material will only continue to grow,” explains Knowles. “We realised that something had to be done now – particularly given the global instability of oil – and set out to create a more sustainable filament.”

Determined not be dependent on a product derived from a finite natural resource, the ObjectForm team researched the recycled plastic market, seeking a company that could produce a recycled material in line with their requirements. MBA Polymers’ recycled ABS plastic fit the bill, offering the same level of performance as virgin ABS plastic. ObjectForm also purchased a small extruder in order to create spools of filament (1.7mm in diameter) from MBA’s recycled plastic pellets at its Sheffield site. The result was Fila-CYCLE, a 100% recycled filament offering.

“We’re one of the first 3D printing companies to launch a 100% recycled filament brand,” explains Knowles. “We’re helping to raise the bar for sustainability in 3D printing – to show a positive way ahead for an infant industry.”

Good for business and the environment

By replacing virgin ABS plastic with recycled ABS, ObjectForm is helping to conserve natural resources and divert waste from landfill while boosting the environmental credentials of its Fila-CYCLE brand. Sourcing recycled plastic locally instead of purchasing virgin plastic imported from China also saves carbon emissions and supports the UK’s domestic recycling industry, helping to accelerate the transition to a circular economy.

Importantly, the 100% recycled Fila-CYCLE brand is popular with ObjectForm’s customers. Customers rate the product highly for consistency and performance, particularly for rapid prototyping, regularly giving it score of 5/5. Business customers are glad to be offered a more sustainable material, thereby improving their own reputations, while the material is also popular with architects, Knowles explains. Having launched a high quality recycled filament offering in a short space of time, ObjectForm is now seeking crowd-funding to develop more 100% recycled plastic filaments to add to is now award-winning Fila-CYCLE brand.

To read more about Objectform’s services and its Fila-CYCLE filament, please click here.

Exploring the environmental benefits of recycling plastics

A new study exploring the environmental benefits of plastics recycling has just been published by Elsevier. Penned by researchers P. A. Wäger and R. Hischier, it covers the environmental savings generated by recycling plastics derived from electric and electronic waste, compared to waste-to-energy or landfill.

Plastics play an increasingly important role in reaching the recovery and recycling rates defined in the European WEEE Directive, the paper explains. Through the study, the researchers explored the life cycle environmental impacts of post-consumer plastics production from e-waste shredder residues (ESR). The life cycle analysis (LCA) was based on MBA Polymers’ JV plastics recycling plant in Austria. We contributed data to the study, and our technical experts provided support and advice to help ensure the LCA was as accurate as possible.

Together with our JV partner Müller-Guttenbrunn, we unveiled the country’s largest e-waste shredder at this plant in 2013. We now process some 30 tonnes of feedstock per year at the plant, creating 20 tonnes of recycled plastic.

In reviewing the analysis, the researchers considered both the perspective of customers delivering the residues and customers buying the post-consumer recycled plastics. Importantly, they discovered that from both sides, plastics recycling offers significantly better environmental savings compared to alternatives such as municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) and virgin plastics production.

Incineration at a MSWI plant generates an impact four times the size of our plastics recycling facility, while producing virgin plastics generates an impact of six to ten times that of post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastics production.

Although the study clearly highlights the environmental benefits of plastics recycling (compared to existing alternatives), it concludes by suggesting that future research will also be needed to examine how hazardous substances are dealt with through the recycling process.

To read the full paper, published in Science of the Total Environment 529 (2015), please visit the Science Direct website. For more information on how MBA Polymers creates environmental savings through transforming waste plastics (including e-waste, end-of-life vehicles and construction waste) into secondary raw materials, please click here.

Boosting recycling rates in Europe could create 50,000 jobs

Raising plastics European recycling targets could create 50,000 new jobs across the continent and boost the region’s economy, reports Plastics News. The analysis been conducted by management consultants at Deloitte on behalf of the Brussels-based trade association Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE).

Entitled ‘Increased EU Plastics Recycling Targets Environmental, Economic and Social Impact Assessment’, the report highlights that increased plastics recycling could have ‘a reinvigorating effect on European Union employment’.

In particular, it found that increasing plastics recycling targets within the European Union (EU) could create 50,000 jobs in Europe’s plastics recycling value chain within five years. It could also create a further 75,000 indirect jobs in related industries. These figures could rise to 80,000 direct and 120,000 indirect jobs by 2025.

The report findings are complemented by a recent report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which indicates that Europe stands to grow its economy by €1.8tn by 2030 by moving to circular economy. More sustainable waste management is a vital part of this transition.

The funds required to expand the continent’s recycling industry – approximately €1bn by 2020 and €1.5bn by 2025 – could be ‘reasonably tackled by investments from the EU and other sources,’ the report argued. However, there may well be some challenges along the way: ‘Setting high targets is a prerequisite to spur higher recycling performance but will not necessarily lead to increased recycling if existing barriers within the plastics recycling value chain are not successfully overcome.’

The report also advocated transparency in the calculation of targets, recycling rates and in capturing data on the quantities of recycled plastic produced. Recyclers would ideally need to report on the volumes they are producing, it suggested.

Additionally, improved collection facilities will be crucial to expanding Europe’s recycling industry, particularly with just 41% of European packaging waste currently collected for recycling and approximately 25% actually recycled (the proposed target is 45%).

Recycling capacity must also be increased, since plants in the EU are currently only able to handle around half of the plastic waste collected, with the rest being exported (typically to developing countries such as China). Finally, more action should be taken to grow the demand for recycled plastic, if the increased recycling rates are to be met, the report emphasised.

Certain measures, such as tax incentives for products containing recycled plastics, could be introduced. For example, MBA Polymers has already suggested a 0% tax on recycled plastic to the UK government. In 2014, we welcomed the former Business Secretary, Vince Cable, to our Worksop plant to explain how we’re building a more sustainable future for plastics, creating job opportunities and helping to forge a more regenerative economy.

The report concluded: ‘Ultimately, a balance in supply of plastic waste and demand of recycled plastics needs to be established in order to enable a healthy and sustainable recycling sector.’

Mike Biddle challenges electronics industry to think big on the circular economy

Our founder and director, Mike Biddle recently supported the Green Electronics Council’s (GEC’s) first ever circular economy conference. Entitled ‘Emerging Green 2015′, the event united professionals across the global electronics industry to discuss the progress, challenges and future of sustainable electronics.

As a member of the GEC board and a globally recognised circular economy pioneer, Mike played a key role in designing a dynamic, informative conference programme and helped to attract several of the event’s main speakers. His keynote speech, which set the stage for the three-day conference and challenged people to think big on circular solutions, was well received by participants.

Through more than 20 dedicated sessions and presentations, experts and thought leaders explored how electronics companies can contribute to a circular economy. They covered the full spectrum of the electronics lifecycle, from material selection and human rights issues in the supply chain to closing the loop and emerging technologies. Speakers included HP’s VP of corporate responsibility, Kyle Wiens, co-founder of electronics repair organisation i-fixit, and Facebook’s director of sustainability.

“The Emerging Green conference provided a great opportunity to hear from and meet some of the world’s leading experts on sustainable electronics,” says Mike. “At this crucial point in time, the electronics industry stands to stem the flow of electronic waste and make a significant contribution to cutting pollution, conserving energy and improving the lives of millions in its supply chain.”

Reaching the circular economy: ‘Anything and everything is possible’

This was the sentiment expressed by Dame Ellen MacArthur at her recent TED talk in Vancouver. MacArthur began by describing her long-held dream of sailing around the world, and how she made it happen. In 2005, aged 29, she broke the world record for the fastest solo circumnavigation of the globe. While she was on her amazing journey, thousands of miles from civilisation, she made a stark realisation: just as she had packed all the food, fuel and clothes she needed for the duration of the trip, so Earth’s natural resources are also finite. “What we have out there is all we have – there is no more,” she says.

From then on, she rapidly began to connect the dots – the global economy was no different to her solo trip in this sense – it’s based on a finite supply of natural materials. “It was like seeing something unexpected under stone – I could choose to ignore it and replace the stone, or not…” says MacArthur. She chose the latter, and began a new journey of learning, speaking to scientists, economists and businesses leaders to understand how our global economy works.

With our stocks of fossil fuels depleting and just decades left until we run out of materials like copper, zinc and silver (according to current projections), it was clear that something had to be done. A rapidly increasing global population creating a steady demand for more ‘stuff’, coupled with a ‘throwaway’ consumer culture, has led to a frenzied consumption of natural resources, and mountains of waste.

Not only this – the precarious state of natural resources puts businesses under pressure too – raw material price volatility poses significant risks for the world’s manufacturers.

MacArthur realised the system was fundamentally flawed – that it would buckle and break if we kept up the ‘take, make, waste’ model. Through her research and conversations with experts, she realised that a circular system – whereby all materials are used in a restorative way that mimics nature – would ultimately allow humanity to thrive in the long term.

She established the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in 2010 and hasn’t looked back. Through the Foundation, many experts have collaborated to understand best practices – industrial symbiosis, Cradle to Cradle design, biomimicry, ‘access over ownership’ – and how they can contribute to a regenerative economy, a world without waste.

Now, MacArthur concludes, they have a plan. The circular economy can be scaled up – we can decouple growth from resource restraints – with real commitment from government, businesses and society. Young people have been truly inspired by the circular economy and the opportunities it brings. Their creativity and knowledge will be vital in building a new economic system.

Click here to view the full TED talk.

EasyDo: Enhancing product quality with MBA Polymers’ recycled plastic

With a strong commitment to manufacturing responsible products, household cleaning goods maker EasyDo sought a high quality recycled plastic for its washing-up brush brand, Dishmatic.

In its drive for sustainability, efficiency and product quality, EasyDo asked MBA Polymers to tailor MBA’s recycled ABS plastic to meet its exact needs. It required a robust, high-performing plastic to apply to the plate that attaches to the foam washing-up pad (which clips onto the handle). In particular, the plastic had to form a strong bond with the glue to stop the pad breaking off during use by consumers.

EasyDo had previously been using HIPS (high impact polystyrene) and wanted to select a material with superior performance characteristics. During the testing phase, MBA worked closely with EasyDo to tailor the properties of its ABS plastic for the application in hand, fine-tuning the material to meet the rigorous criteria of Dishmatic’s impact test.

Through this collaboration, EasyDo was impressed by the quality of MBA’s recycled ABS plastic. The material proved to be highly robust and also offered improved bonding properties, allowing the glue to stick to the sponge better. Importantly, the bond was not affected by washing-up liquid.

Since EasyDo made the switch to MBA’s recycled ABS, consumer complaints regarding the bond loosening have reduced, the company has cut its rejected materials rate and lowered machine downtime.

In addition to the high-performing nature of the material, EasyDo values the flexibility offered by MBA during the ordering process and the team’s responsiveness to queries. The sustainability credentials of the finished product are also attractive to its high profile retail customers, while sourcing recycled plastic is helping EasyDo to take further steps to reduce the carbon footprint of its products.

“The MBA team were great at bringing us new materials to try and very thorough in getting the characteristics of the plastic just right,” says Simon Johnson, Production Manager, EasyDo. “If we see any fluctuations in our impact test, we know that we can rely on MBA to provide a rapid solution. This coupled with our flexible, collaborative working relationship makes the company a dream to be working with.”

Looking to the future, Easy-Do plans to continue increasing the proportion of recycled materials it uses across all its brands. Its Eco-force products are already made from at least 90% recycled materials.

World’s first ocean ‘clean-up’ system to launch in 2016

Photo by Hareyuki Yamaguchi

We have previously shared the story of Dutch entrepreneur Boyan Slat’s plans to rid the ocean of plastic waste. Now, the 20-year-old student and CEO of The Ocean Clean-up has revealed that he will begin the journey to make his plans a reality. Speaking at the Seoul Digital Forum in South Korea, Asia’s largest technology conference, he explained that his design to capture plastic waste ‘passively’ by harnessing the power of tidal currents, will be deployed in 2016.

The likely location for the ‘clean-up’ array will be off the coast of Tsushima, an island located in the waters between Japan and South Korea. The feasibility of this location is currently being researched. The array will span 2000m, thereby becoming the longest floating structure ever deployed in the ocean (beating the current record of 1000m held by the Tokyo Mega-Float). It will be in operation for at least two years.

Meanwhile, engineers at Tsushima Island are evaluating whether the plastic could be used as an alternative energy source. Approximately one cubic metre of plastic pollution per person is washed up each year on the island, which has prompted the Japanese government to seek innovative solutions.

Should the venture prove successful, The Ocean Clean-up will deploy arrays of increasing scale around the world. Within five years, it aims to implement a 100km-long system to clean up half of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, between Hawaii and California.

In other ocean plastic news, it is reported that sportswear giant Adidas plans to follow in the footsteps of G-STAR Raw by using yarn derived from ocean plastic waste as raw materials for clothing and potentially footwear. It will collaborate with innovation group Parley from 2016 to develop suitable fibres.

New interactive map shows extent of ocean plastic waste

There are five trillion pieces of plastic floating in the ocean, according to a consortium of 12 research institutions. This ‘plastic smog’ covering the surface of the oceans has a combined weight of nearly 300,000 tonnes, the equivalent of approximately 1,500 blue whales. You can now see were the concentration of plastic is heaviest via a new map published by Popular Science.

The two oceans of the Northern Hemisphere contain 56% of all floating plastic particles and 57% of the total weight. In the Southern Hemisphere, the Indian Ocean contains 1.3 trillion pieces of plastic, a greater particle count and weight than the South Atlantic and South Pacific oceans combined. By combining coastal population figures with plastic consumption and waste management data, scientists have concluded that the majority of the waste has emanated from China.

Welcome to the blue economy

The Economist is holding its third World Ocean Summit in June 2015 to set a new global agenda for the ‘blue economy’ – a vision of the oceans and coasts as a source of economic growth, job creation and investment. The concept of blue growth is far from the traditional ‘take, make, waste’ model that has so far defined conventional economic activity. The proponents of the blue economy see a world in which the goods and services we get from the ocean are balanced by responsible investment in sustainability – creating a ‘win win’ scenario for business, people and the environment.

Companies striving for blue growth would act through enlightened self-interest, according to The Economist, catalysing economic development and making it more profitable to protect the ocean than pillage and pollute it.

This year’s summit will be hosted in association with National Geographic, and will unite more than 250 global leaders from diverse sectors to discuss the way ahead for blue growth. To help get the creative juices flowing, The Economist has launched the Ocean Innovation Challenge, calling on businesses to propose scalable, economically viable and environmentally sustainable innovations that contribute to the long-term health of our oceans. The winner will be invited to the summit to present their idea to business leaders and ocean economy experts.

The World Ocean Summit will take place on 3rd June 2015, just days before the upcoming Plasticity Forum, also due to be held in Portugal.