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Nova Chemicals releases “Syndigo” line of lower-emission, recycled products

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Flexible packaging, heavy duty sacks (salt, mulch bags) and blow molded bottles for home and personal care

News release from  NOVA Chemicals

NOVA Chemicals Launches New Circular Solutions Business to Meet Growing Demand for Recycled Plastics

CALGARY — NOVA Chemicals Corporation (“NOVA Chemicals”) today announced the establishment of NOVA Circular Solutions, a new line of business focusing on lower-emission, recycled solutions that will help reshape a better, more sustainable world. NOVA Circular Solutions will be home to the SYNDIGOTM brand, the company’s newest portfolio of recycled polyethylene (rPE).

NOVA Circular Solutions is led by a team of experts in plastics development, recycling technology, additive science, packaging design, and regulatory compliance. It is headed by Alan Schrob, recycling director, who has nearly 30 years of experience in plastics, manufacturing, health, safety, and the environment.

“Plastic products play a critical role in our daily lives, and industry and consumers are placing higher value on products that contribute to the circular economy. They want products that can be recycled, reused, and reimagined,” said John Thayer, NOVA Chemicals senior vice president of sales and marketing. “Today’s announcement underscores NOVA’s commitment to be a leader in sustainable polyethylene production. We are investing time, resources, and world-class technical knowledge into this new line of business and the SYNDIGO brand.”

SYNDIGO rPE is designed to support recycled content and decarbonization goals of converters and brands while setting new industry standards for driving the transition towards a circular economy for plastics. There is a growing demand for recycled products and the SYNDIGO resins are poised to meet those needs in North America.

Commercially available products under the SYNDIGO brand include:

  • EX-PCR-WR3 resin, mechanically recycled, sourced from polyethylene (PE) agricultural film, and ideal for e-commerce mailers, can liners, carry-out bags, protective packaging, and shrink.
  • EX-PCR-NC4 resin, mechanically recycled, sourced from back-of-store distribution center PE stretch film and front-of-store consumer drop off, and ideal for heavy-duty sacks, e-commerce mailers, stretch wrap, collation shrink, protective packaging, and industrial films.
  • EX-PCR-HD5 resin, mechanically recycled, sourced from HDPE milk jugs, and ideal for flexible packaging, heavy-duty sacks and small-part blow molding.

“Converters and brand owners are incorporating more recycled materials into their packaging and products to meet their sustainability goals and the demands of consumers. These important steps support our customers and drive towards a plastic circular economy, helping to protect the planet for future generations,” said Greg DeKunder, NOVA Chemicals vice president of polyethylene marketing & circular polymers. “At NOVA Chemicals, we are excited to leverage our technical knowledge, unmatched customer experience, and relationships throughout the value chain to drive recycled content adoption and demonstrate that plastics circularity is truly achievable.”

For more information on SYNDIGO, click here.

About NOVA Chemicals Corporation
NOVA Chemicals aspires to be the leading sustainable polyethylene producer in North America. Our driving purpose is to reshape plastics for a better, more sustainable world by delivering innovative solutions that advance a circular economy. Through these efforts, we strive to make everyday life healthier and safer while acting as a catalyst for a low-carbon, zero-plastic-waste future. NOVA Chemicals sets itself apart by offering superior product quality, proprietary high-performance resins, recycled and recyclable polyethylene, value chain collaboration, and exceptional customer experience. These benefits enable customers to use our resins to create flexible and rigid products that serve a variety of end-use applications. Our employees work to ensure health, safety, security, and environmental stewardship through our commitment to Sustainability and Responsible Care®.

NOVA Chemicals, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has nearly 2,500 employees worldwide and is wholly owned by Mubadala Investment Company of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Learn more at www.novachem.com or follow us on LinkedIn.

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Feds open to cutting plastic production but global agreement will be hard: Guilbeault

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Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault responds to a question during a news conference following meetings Friday May 26, 2023 in Ottawa. Guilbeault says he is not opposed to cutting back on how many plastic products are made as the world works towards a global treaty to eliminate plastic pollution.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

OTTAWA — Canada is open to the idea of including a requirement to cut back on the production of plastic in a new global treaty to eliminate plastic pollution, Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said Friday.

But he said that may become one of the biggest sticking points in the negotiations, which are supposed to conclude at the end of next year.

“The idea that we might have to commit to reducing the use of plastics will be something that’s going to be difficult for some countries to agree to,” said Guilbeault in an interview.

At the United Nations Environment Assembly in March 2022, 175 nations agreed to launch talks to create a global plastics treaty to eliminate plastic waste by the end of 2024.

The second round of those talks wrapped up in Paris Friday with an agreement to start drafting the treaty, which is supposed to be ready by the end of 2024.

There are three more rounds of talks guaranteed before then, and Guilbeault said Canada is going to host the next round about a year from now.

Plastic pollution has become a global scourge, choking marine life and contributing to biodiversity loss. Less than one-tenth of it is recycled, including in Canada, and scientists believe almost nine million tonnes ends up in the oceans each year. Canadians produce about 2.9 million tonnes of plastic waste each year that isn’t recycled or incinerated.

Canada has set a domestic goal to eliminate plastic waste by 2030.

Environment groups say the only true way to eliminate plastic pollution is to make less plastic in the first place.

“We need significant cuts to production and we need to ultimately phase out virgin production,” said Sarah King, the plastics campaign manager at Greenpeace Canada.

“And we need Canada to get to a place where they’re willing to to support that publicly and to champion that in treaty negotiations.”

French President Emmanuel Macron said at the outset of the Paris negotiations earlier this week that the talks should prioritize reducing the production of plastics.

King said Canada has been supportive of restraining production. But she said what the treaty needs is a direct cap on plastic production and a phase-down over time.

Guilbeault said he is “not opposed” to putting limits on production but is careful to say eliminating plastic pollution means using plastic more carefully, not eliminating its use altogether.

“So the idea of producing plastic and then using it for five minutes or an hour or a day or two weeks and then throwing it away will be something of the past,” he said. “Will it mean that we will consume less plastic? It’s hard to tell, but I think a reasonable answer would be yes.”

NDP MP Gord Johns, who successfully pushed a motion in Parliament five years ago calling for a national strategy to address plastic pollution, said Canada needs to be more clear about its position.

“Right now we hear President Macron take leadership, committing to cutting upstream production,” Johns said.

“And we need that same leadership from the prime minister here in Canada.”

Johns said Canada also needs to show leadership by living up to promises to stop exporting its plastic waste problem.

Following the embarrassment when Canadian plastic garbage was found rotting in the Philippines in 2019, Canada said it would work with the Canada Border Services Agency to halt exports of contaminated plastic. It also agreed to amendments to the United Nations Basel Convention that meant after Jan. 1, 2021, Canada must export plastic waste only to other convention members with consent and confirmation of how the waste would be disposed.

In the two years since, Canada’s exports of plastic garbage have increased — mainly to the United States, which is not part of the convention. That means Canada doesn’t know what happens to its plastic waste and that it could be shipped to the very developing countries Canada has committed to protecting.

The Basel Action Network said Canada’s plastic exports increased 13 per cent in 2021 to 170 million kilograms, and another eight per cent in 2022 to 183 million kilograms.

That’s about the combined weight of 30,000 elephants.

More than 90 per cent in both years was destined initially for the United States.

Guilbeault had said he would direct his department to end that practice more than a year ago. He said Friday an announcement is coming soon.

He also said he intends to launch another update of the Canada Environmental Protection Act that will include stronger powers to tackle that problem. That bill, known as CEPA, is in the final stages of debate in the Senate before it’s expected to pass.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2023.

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Virgin Galactic completes final test flight before launching paying customers to space

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Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson answers students’ questions during a news conference at Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, N.M., on July 11, 2021. Virgin Galactic completed what’s expected to be its final test flight Thursday, May 25, 2023, before taking paying customers on brief trips to space. The company is planning its first commercial flight, a science mission with the Italian Air Force, in late June. (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)

 

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