Kraton Corporation, a producer of specialty polymers and high-value biobased products derived from pine wood pulping co-products, has announced that it has joined the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR).
APR is the national trade association for recyclers in North America. It represents companies handling more than 90 percent of the post-consumer plastic processing capacity in North America. Its membership includes independent recycling companies of all sizes.
With a portfolio of products that, as the company phrases it, are “engineered for the circular economy”, Kraton is well-positioned to drive success in this space, said Bob Hall, senior director, Global Marketing at Kraton.
The company's new CirKular+ line of additives enables upcycling of post-consumer recyclate by enhancing the mechanical properties of the material, thus supporting a monomaterial design. Modified resins show better reusability after undergoing multiple cycles of mechanical recycling due to minimal degradation of physical properties in comparison to the unmodified resins.
As compatibilisers, the additives minimise phase separation of the recyclates during processing, enabling the compatibilisation of previously incompatible materials and difficult-to-recycle engineering polymers. This makes multi-resin compatibilisation in a wide range of applications possible -for virgin materials, bioplastics and industrial plastic and PCR streams.
APR strongly advocates the recycling of all post-consumer plastic packaging. Kraton will contribute to advancing recycling developments through value chain collaboration and cost-efficient solutions, expanding end-use applications for various PCR streams, said Hall.