JANUARY 31, 2008
SPE Names Recipients of GPEC 2008 Achievement Awards
Awards recognizing environmental leadership and excellence will be presented at March conference.
Brookfield, CT – The Plastics Environmental Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) is pleased to announce the recipients of the Global Plastics Environmental Conference (GPEC®) 2008 Achievement Awards, recognizing "Sustainability and Recycling for a Greener Environment."
The conference takes place March 11-12, 2008 in Orlando, Florida, at the Florida Hotel & Convention Center. The awards will be presented at a banquet on March 12.
Through these awards, SPE’s Plastics Environmental Division recognizes corporations and other institutions that have demonstrated environmental leadership and excellence through significant achievements in a variety of categories.
The recipients of the 2008 GPEC® Awards:
Interface, Inc. of Atlanta, Georgia, for "Emerging Technologies in Materials, Processes and Applications" – for developing technologies to separate and purify carpets, particularly nylon 66-based carpets, recovery and purification of the nylon, making new fibers and new carpets.
Nextek Limited & Waste and Resource Action Program (WRAP) of London, United Kingdom, for "Plastic Recycling Technologies and Applications" – Nextek and WRAP proved that post-consumer milk bottles could be safely recycled back into food-contactquality milk-bottle applications on a commercial scale, through use of the latest developments in polymer decontamination.
Cascade Engineering Container Group of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for "New Technologies in Process" – Cascade Engineering Container Group launched EcoCart™ large multilayer containers with high (30%-50%) post-consumer resin content. The company developed and optimized the specific coinjection technology that enabled the containers to provide superior performance, comparable to that of containers made from virgin HDPE resin.
Soliant LLC of Lancaster, South Carolina, for "Enabling Technologies in Processes and Procedures" – for developing Soliant Fluorex® bright film, a sustainable, recyclable alternative to chrome plating, for applications on plastic components in the global automotive industry. In addition to eliminating the hazards of chrome plating, this technology, by eliminating metal, contributes to the development of lighter-weight vehicles, for potentially better fuel economy. It can further reduce VOCs, improving air quality.
Ford Motor Company of Dearborn, Michigan, and Lear Corporation of Southfield, Michigan, for "Plastic Materials From Renewable Sources and Applications" – for their development, implementation, and commercialization in production vehicles of the first polyurethane molded-foam seating utilizing polyols made from soy oil, a renewable raw material.
Tietek, LLC of Houston, Texas, for "New Environmental Technologies in Conventional Plastic Materials" – for developing a technology to produce high-performance and environmentally attractive railroad ties based on low-end, recycled high-density polyethylene. The product has proven effective in freight and passenger service and has become commercially successful.
Tandus of Dalton, Georgia, for "Design for Sustainability" – Tandus designed and commercialized C&A’s ethos™, a non-chlorinated, high-performance backing for commercial carpet utilizing recovered polyvinyl butyral (PVB) bonding film obtained by recycling of used automobile windshields.
Hewlett-Packard Company of Corvallis, Oregon, is the recipient of the "Dan Eberhardt Environmental Stewardship Award" – Hewlett Packard has shown leadership in closed-loop plastics recycling and improvement of the environment for more than a decade. In particular, it has established an elegant system for recovering used ink cartridges, and has been exemplary in involving other companies as partners in the process.
CRITERIA
To be considered for the GPEC® 2008 Achievement Awards, an entry had to meet the following criteria:
- Must involve plastics.
- Must contribute to environmental improvement.
- Must have been commercially adopted or accepted in 2007.
- Must promote leadership in environmental areas.
- Contribution should be verifiable.
- Should facilitate innovation, standards, regulations, etc.
- Must demonstrate leadership in a specific area—technology, marketing, legislation, education, community, etc.
- Must demonstrate creativity and originality.
- Must have significant impact, showing value for its intended purpose.
New Environmental Technologies in Conventional Plastic Materials
TIETEK, LLC. - RECYCLED PLASTIC COMPOSITE RAILROAD CROSSTIES
TieTek has developed a plastic composite railroad tie that replaces creosote-treated hardwood ties in heavy freight and transit track. The TieTek™ tie is produced from recycled High Density Polyethylene combined with reinforcing fillers and fibers to provide required stiffness, compression strength, impact tolerance and fastener holding power. This innovative polymer product has several beneficial environmental impacts: uses 50 million pounds of recycled HDPE annually; consumes rubber from 1 million recycled tires annually; preserves 75,000 mature hardwood trees annually; avoids the need for toxic wood preservatives; product is recyclable at end of useful life. Continuous production requires technology in compounding, extrusion and molding, surface treatment and quality assurance. The initial compounding step uses an intensive mixer to produce a homogeneous and very viscous fluid from a combination of plastic pellets, flakes, ground parts, and densified film with a wide range of melt flows, combined with rubber particles, fiber and minerals. The resultant compounded material is extruded into an automated molding/cooling process where the ties are formed, cooled, extracted and quality assurance testing. The TieTek™ composite tie is a product innovation that uses recycled plastic, plastics technology, plastics equipment and the cooperation of many companies in our industry to make a real difference in creating a greener environment. |
