Sep 15 2017
GreenMantra Technologies, a swiftly growing clean technology company that manufactures high-value polymer products from waste plastics, and Sun Chemical, the largest producer of printing inks in the world, have struck a deal to jointly create polymers from recycled polystyrene waste for use in ink formulations.
The agreement incorporates GreenMantra’s new patent-pending process for converting waste polystyrene into beneficial polymers with Sun Chemical’s distinguished expertise in inks formulation. The goal is to create sustainable styrenic polymers as an alternative for fossil fuel-based materials in some ink applications.
“Our team of scientists has had great success in the lab applying our technology and process to achieve depolarization of waste polystyrene, both rigid and foam, into styrenic polymers suitable for inks and other applications,” said Domenic Di Mondo, GreenMantra’s senior director of research and business development. “We are looking forward to working with Sun Chemical’s experts to further refine these materials for commercial use.”
As part of the combined development project, GreenMantra will build a pilot plant at its manufacturing complex in Brantford, Ontario, with a yearly capacity of 1,000 metric tons. This will provide a sufficient supply of converted material for trialing in inks and other end-use applications and for preliminary commercial sales. In the beginning of this month, Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) announced it was offering $2.2 million as funding for building the pilot plant.
This partnership with Sun Chemical is an exciting development for GreenMantra and enhances our continuing efforts to develop commercially viable and valuable products from plastic waste. Our new polystyrene technology, combined with Sun Chemical’s expertise and experience in the inks industry, will help us develop new, environmentally suitable products while beneficially reusing waste material.
Kousay Said, GreenMantra president and chief executive officer
“This work is part of Sun Chemical’s ongoing efforts to develop new ink products that couple beneficial environmental profiles with improved performance,” said Russell Schwartz, Chief Technology Officer, Sun Chemical. “We believe these new polymers may provide enhanced physical properties in select ink applications, while diverting polystyrene from the waste stream.”
Polystyrene plastic in solid and foam form is universally used in food and product packaging, consumer products, and many other applications. It is one of the fastest growing solid wastes in the world, yet has one of the lowest recycling rates of all plastics with a projected 95% either incinerated or disposed of in landfills.