Benvic’s definition of sustainable compounding is something that - above all - gives its customers a competitive advantage, as customers interface more directly with the consumer – and are therefore more subject to the market’s changing trends. They help lead the way with efforts to develop, supply support the circular economy, with Benvic's role being to support that development with materials that promote this goal.
The circular economy is clearly growing and here to stay. ISO 14001 is fast becoming a minimum condition for manufacturers and businesses to trade and win business, and customers, specifiers and users are all looking to use sustainable materials. These can be described in various ways - 2nd life enabled, filled with recyclate to certain percentages or simply bio based.
In the case of the latter, Benvic now has its Plantura range of PLA compounds competing successfully in the area of technical parts and, for example, entering automotive production via its BioBoom partnership with BASF and Röchling.
In the case of 2nd life and polymer recyclates, the company’s Ereplast subsidiary is helping drive recycling technology and competence in all areas, as shown by its participation this year for the first time in the Plastics Recycling Exhibition in Amsterdam, 10-11 May, 2023.
Subsidiaries such as Benvic Dugdale, for example, have long been leaders in profitably developing recycled ProVinyl recycled compound that comes from and returns to the building and construction sectors. And in recent years, Benvic has been able to offer its customers material choices across an increasing range of polyolefins, pvcs, tpes and their recyclate variants.
Meanwhile the story in the circular market place is that plastics processors are winning business with those materials that give their OEM customers enhanced environmental performance - and credentials.
For Benvic, the focus is on ’the fit-for-purpose’ nature of the compounds, both in technical and environmental terms; the low environmental impact of such compounds throughout the supply chain; and the end of life solutions for these compounds.
To that end, the company has increasingly worked to ‘curate’ its materials generation and materials supply chain, documenting and certifying data relating to the environmental performance, provenance, traceability and other credentials of these materials.
Sustainable polymer compounding is bespoke, and driven according to the needs of the customer. This is, in turn, determined by the changing demands of their OEM customer within the objectives of the circular economy. Simply put, sustainable compounders supply sustainable customers who, in turn, supply a sustainable circular economy.
Eric Grange is the product marketing manager at Benvic.