NEWS
Shepherd Color Mentioned in September Edition of Compounding World
Pigments With Purpose
In the September edition of Compounding World, Jennifer Markarian reports on how new pigments give compound and masterbatch suppliers colourful options as well as addressing sustainability. Many companies are sourced, including The Shepherd Color Company, Americhem, and Avient, just to name a few.
European regulations of pigments and fillers in plastics are also discussed including a risk assessment for nanomaterials, and new regulations, such as the Regulation on Ecodesign Requirements for Sustainable Products (EU) 2024/1781.
A short excerpt from the article is below:
One aspect of plastics sustainability is designing for recyclability. Concerns have been raised about the limitations of carbon black in recycling systems that use near infrared (NIR) reflectance for sorting. However, black pigments with infrared reflectance that allow NIR sorting are available. Several new products have been introduced in the past few years, as has been discussed in Compounding World November 2023 issue.
Mark Ryan, Market and Product Manager at Shepherd Color Company, said that he sees growing interest in the company’s Arctic IR reflective pigments in food packaging because they increase sortability. There is also growth in the more traditional application of darker colours for building products, where the pigments offer weathering stability. The company recently installed a new production line and has debottlenecked other processes.
Shepherd Color’s Arctic Infrared Reflective Pigments
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- Plastics using Arctic Infrared Reflective pigments reflect light and are sorted to be recycled
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- Black plastic being recycled and not entering a landfill
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- Black plastic trays can use Arctic black pigments and be recycled
Common Goals to Promote Sustainability Principles
The article also states that the Color Pigments Manufacturers Association (CPMA) announced the launch of a Sustainability and Innovation Committee this May. The initiative will work with the colour pigments value chain to promote sustainability principles and solutions in North America. One of the committee’s first steps will be bringing together members across the value chain – from raw materials suppliers to converters and brand owners – to identify common goals and clarify requirements. Thomas Farrell, VP Sustainability at Penn Color states “In the area of sustainability, we’re all in this together. We want to provide the knowledge and data for brandowners to build sustainability into their designs.”
Read the entire article here!
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The Future of Recycling Black Plastic Packaging
