December 2024 Blow Molding Blog
Looking for Blow Molding Consulting? Check out our Team. Click here.
December 10, 2024
Driving Innovation in Sustainable Packaging: ExxonMobil’s Enable™ 4002 Polymer Solution
Driving Innovation in Sustainable Packaging: ExxonMobil’s Enable™ 4002 Polymer Solution
ExxonMobil, a global leader in energy and innovation, continues to address complex challenges in sustainable packaging through its Signature Polymers portfolio. By combining advanced materials and tailored solutions, ExxonMobil helps businesses meet rising environmental standards and performance demands. A recent collaboration with Blowplast, a bottle manufacturer in Nairobi, highlights this commitment.
Blowplast faced difficulties integrating higher post-consumer recycled (PCR) content into blow-molded lubricant bottles, as local brand owners required a minimum of 25% PCR content. Existing HDPE materials made the bottles brittle, risking structural failure. To overcome this, ExxonMobil introduced Enable™ 4002 performance polymer as a complementary solution to HDPE HYA 600.
Enable™ 4002 improved bottle durability and impact resistance, enabling PCR content to exceed 50% without compromising strength. The solution utilized a 3-layer blow molding application, placing PCR material in the core and Enable™ 4002 in the outer layers. Enhanced flexibility and stress-crack resistance, combined with lower extrusion temperatures, also delivered energy savings during production.
Testing confirmed the solution’s success: the bottles passed drop, load, and leak tests, maintaining structural integrity, visual appeal, and performance under rigorous conditions.
This collaboration not only met sustainability goals but set a new standard for durable, eco-friendly packaging. The innovative use of Enable™ 4002 demonstrates ExxonMobil’s ability to drive impactful change in the polymers industry, enabling partners like Blowplast to thrive in a sustainability-focused market. Learn more about this topic here.
Blowplast faced difficulties integrating higher post-consumer recycled (PCR) content into blow-molded lubricant bottles, as local brand owners required a minimum of 25% PCR content. Existing HDPE materials made the bottles brittle, risking structural failure. To overcome this, ExxonMobil introduced Enable™ 4002 performance polymer as a complementary solution to HDPE HYA 600.
Enable™ 4002 improved bottle durability and impact resistance, enabling PCR content to exceed 50% without compromising strength. The solution utilized a 3-layer blow molding application, placing PCR material in the core and Enable™ 4002 in the outer layers. Enhanced flexibility and stress-crack resistance, combined with lower extrusion temperatures, also delivered energy savings during production.
Testing confirmed the solution’s success: the bottles passed drop, load, and leak tests, maintaining structural integrity, visual appeal, and performance under rigorous conditions.
This collaboration not only met sustainability goals but set a new standard for durable, eco-friendly packaging. The innovative use of Enable™ 4002 demonstrates ExxonMobil’s ability to drive impactful change in the polymers industry, enabling partners like Blowplast to thrive in a sustainability-focused market. Learn more about this topic here.
December 23, 2024
Coca-Cola's Sustainability Goals: A Setback for Packaging Progress
Coca-Cola's Sustainability Goals: A Setback for Packaging Progress
Coca-Cola’s recent update to its sustainability goals has sparked sharp criticism, particularly regarding its approach to packaging. Environmentalists and circularity experts have labeled the changes a retreat from the company's earlier commitments, with many accusing the beverage giant of greenwashing.
One key area of contention is Coca-Cola’s reduced ambition for recycled content. Previously, the company pledged to use at least 50% recycled content in its packaging by 2030. Now, it aims for 35% to 40% recycled materials by 2035. The revised timeline and lowered target have been viewed as a significant step back, especially given that nearly half of Coca-Cola’s packaging is plastic, primarily PET bottles.
Critics are also dismayed by the lack of a quantifiable target for refillable packaging. Coca-Cola had earlier committed to ensuring 25% of its beverages globally were sold in refillable or returnable packaging by 2030. The new plan vaguely promises investment in refillable infrastructure without providing measurable goals, raising concerns about accountability.
Recycling goals have similarly shifted. The previous aim to collect and recycle one bottle or can for each one sold by 2030 has been replaced with a less ambitious target of a 70% to 75% collection rate.
Consumers condemned the updates, with some calling them a “masterclass in greenwashing.” The rollback of packaging commitments reflects poorly on Coca-Cola’s sustainability credibility and raises questions about its commitment to tackling plastic pollution. Environmentalists demand a stronger, more transparent plan to address the global plastic crisis. Learn more about this topic here.
One key area of contention is Coca-Cola’s reduced ambition for recycled content. Previously, the company pledged to use at least 50% recycled content in its packaging by 2030. Now, it aims for 35% to 40% recycled materials by 2035. The revised timeline and lowered target have been viewed as a significant step back, especially given that nearly half of Coca-Cola’s packaging is plastic, primarily PET bottles.
Critics are also dismayed by the lack of a quantifiable target for refillable packaging. Coca-Cola had earlier committed to ensuring 25% of its beverages globally were sold in refillable or returnable packaging by 2030. The new plan vaguely promises investment in refillable infrastructure without providing measurable goals, raising concerns about accountability.
Recycling goals have similarly shifted. The previous aim to collect and recycle one bottle or can for each one sold by 2030 has been replaced with a less ambitious target of a 70% to 75% collection rate.
Consumers condemned the updates, with some calling them a “masterclass in greenwashing.” The rollback of packaging commitments reflects poorly on Coca-Cola’s sustainability credibility and raises questions about its commitment to tackling plastic pollution. Environmentalists demand a stronger, more transparent plan to address the global plastic crisis. Learn more about this topic here.
© Copyright BHC Associates, Inc., 2020 - 2024. All rights reserved.
