“Nate is a great addition to our sales team,” said Gary Urbanski, business unit manager, Liberty Plastics, Inc. “He brings a deep knowledge and understanding of the plastics industry combined with an innovative sales approach. He will be instrumental in our company’s continued growth.”

Cranston sees teamwork as the key to establishing strong customer relationships and truly making a difference for them. “Customers know that if they call Curbell Plastics in Moorestown, NJ or Syracuse, NY, they’re going to get a team of people who want to help them and have their best interests in mind,” he said.

Hensley doesn’t just see customers, vendors and his Jackson team as partners, but as family. “The relationships you make will last a lifetime. They become your extended family,” he said.

“Nate is a great addition to our sales team,” said Gary Urbanski, business unit manager, Liberty Plastics, Inc. “He brings a deep knowledge and understanding of the plastics industry combined with an innovative sales approach. He will be instrumental in our company’s continued growth.”

The updated AXYZ website amplifies the connection between the AAG corporate site and the AXYZ and WARDJET brands. It is also designed to provide easier access to information about their growing line of routers, along with router options, software and support. The new website features a modern design and is easy to navigate, faster and more intuitive. The new look will be visible throughout the company’s marketing materials and social media platforms.

Roechling Industrial Gastonia announced a new commitment to sustainability. The company will start to use FlexRNG in 2023 to address their natural gas consumption with the goal to offset their greenhouse gas emission and targeting carbon neutrality by 2030. FlexRNG is a new and accessible energy option from Gas South. “We are proud to partner with Gas South on our investment to reduce our environmental impact,” said Tim Brown, president of Roechling Industrial North America. “We are making strides with our holistic decarbonization strategy and are energized by the vision of a carbon neutral Roechling Industrial.”

Roechling has set a company-wide goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2030. By investing in FlexRNG, it will ensure there is no net release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere when it burns natural gas. FlexRNG is a multifaceted offering that works by offsetting natural gas emissions with verified carbon offsets and by displacing a portion of natural gas consumption with renewable natural gas (RNG). It includes verifying, tracking and retiring renewable thermal credits and carbon offset credits in the company’s name.

Röhm has agreed to acquire the Functional Forms business of SABIC, subject to customary consultation with the respective works councils and approval of the antitrust authorities. Röhm thereby adds polycarbonate sheets and films to its existing range of PMMA sheets and films.

“We are very excited to have found a strong partner with whom we can grow together,” explained Röhm’s CEO Michael Pack. “By adding the polycarbonate resin extrusion business to our portfolio, we will sustainably strengthen our competitiveness in our sheets and films business. With the combined competencies — in sales and in the development of materials, products and applications — we will become a better business partner for our customers.”

The Functional Forms business is a global manufacturer offering a broad portfolio of high-quality polycarbonate film and sheet products, predominantly marketed through the LEXAN™ brand which is globally recognized. Functional Forms has an extensive global presence with about 700 employees, operations in 19 countries and through various production sites located across all continents.

The new combined business will have sales of more than €700 m, command a strong operational global footprint across 14 production sites and benefit from its complementary activities in similar but distinct markets: both Röhm and SABIC’s Functional Forms business manufacture high-quality sheet and film products that are used across a wide variety of industries, ranging from building and construction, consumer electronics, medicine to aviation. The acquisition is a key cornerstone of Röhm’s strategy to develop its transparent semi-finished products business into a leading global multi-polymer company.

Consultation with applicable works councils and unions in Europe is expected to be finalized in the upcoming months. Subject to regulatory approvals, and completion of the carve-out of the business from the rest of SABIC’s operations, the transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2024.

Interstate Advanced Materials announced the retirement of Dean Farley in December 2022 after 10 years with the company. With more than 40 years in the plastics industry, Farley was instrumental to the success and continued growth of the Interstate Advanced Materials Des Moines, IA USA branch. As a plastics veteran, his expertise and determination inspired and helped guide his co-workers. Interstate Advanced Materials wishes him a happy and peaceful well-earned retirement.

From humble beginnings as a two-person operation in a trailer in 1973, A&C Plastics, Inc. has grown to nearly 100 employees across three locations with more than 335,000 square feet of warehouse space. By focusing on customers big and small and stocking hard-to-find colors for all to access, founder and CEO Carolyn Faulk was able to earn the title of the “distributor’s distributor” — a title that has held true throughout the years. The company has a service-first mindset, putting the customer experience above all else as the top priority of their staff.

2020 was a turning point for the company, with the COVID-19 pandemic shocking the world and causing a sharp increase in demand for plastic sheeting — and A&C was ready for the challenge. The company quickly became the go-to distributor for clear sheets and turned its attention to helping the greater Houston community by partnering with the Faulk Foundation to provide personal protection equipment to those in need. During this time, the new A&C headquarters in Houston was under construction and was completed later that year.

“We’ve worked so hard to build a company that represents our values and are thankful for the work of every employee who’s been a part of our team over the past 50 years. We wouldn’t be where we are today without them,” says President Katie Clapp. A&C Plastics, Inc. would like to thank every customer, supplier and team member for their loyalty to the company.

The contracted volumes of advanced recycled circular products from Nexus will support Braskem’s strategic objective to sell 300,000 metric tons of products with recycled content by 2025 and 1 million metric tons by 2030. Braskem America’s CEO Mark Nikolich said, “We look forward to a long and growing partnership with Nexus to secure high-quality feedstock for the production of Braskem’s certified circular PP resins. This supports our corporate initiative to develop a carbon neutral circular economy for plastics while supporting our clients’ goals for plastics with recycled content.”

This project will add to Braskem America’s existing sustainable PP and PE portfolio, which currently consists of nine post-consumer recycled (PCR) products including two PCR PP grades that can be used in a wide range of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) food contact applications where PP is used today. Braskem’s full range of PCR solutions can be used in a variety of PP and PE applications, including but not limited to consumer packaging, caps and closures, durable goods, automotive and consumer housewares.

Nexus Circular is a commercial leader in advanced recycling with proven proprietary technology and a leading process design that converts landfill-bound films and other hard-to-recycle plastics into high-quality feedstocks, which are then used to produce virgin-quality sustainable plastics. Since 2018, Nexus has been consistently supplying commercial volumes of ISCC Plus-certified circular liquid products, having diverted more than 8 million pounds of used plastics from landfill.

Nexus CEO Jodie Morgan confirmed, “This long-term commercial contract builds upon the strong foundation of our growing relationship. We are excited to partner with Braskem to accelerate our impact and ability to address the complex challenges of plastics accumulation in the environment.”

Arkema has a unique know-how in the chemistry of the castor plant, a non-edible plant, from which a wide range of high-performance long-chain biosourced polyamides (Rilsan^® polyamide 11 range). Many finished products are already made from these biopolymers: soles of sports shoes, eyeglasses, casing of cell phones, auto parts, etc.

In September 2022, Arkema and its partners announced the impact of the sixth year of Pragati, the world’s first sustainable castor bean program. The founding members of the Pragati project for sustainable castor crop — Arkema, BASF, Jayant Agro-Organics along with implementation partner Solidaridad launched the project in May 2016. Here is how the program is making a difference:

• More than 6,200 farmers have been trained, audited and certified
• More than 50,000 tons of certified castor seed have been cultivated
• Year six yield is 22 percent higher than the yield published by the local government for this re-gion
• More than 6,000 hectares are being regularly farmed in accordance with the SuCCESS^® sustainable castor code (www.castorsuccess.org) — more than 19,000 hectares cumulatively; Pragati farmers are increasing their land dedicated to castor farming as it is seen as a profitable crop
• Water consumption has been lowered by approximately 30 percent in the demo plots where accurate measurement and control is in place
• Farmers from more than 80 villages in North Gujarat, India, now participate in the program

The project was driven by a baseline survey of more than 1,000 castor farmers in Gujarat, India, where most of the world’s castor supply originates. The original baseline study highlighted the fact that farmers see castor as a highly remunerative and profitable crop — easy to grow, and easy to sell. The goal of the project has been to enable sustainable castor crop production by:

• Using good agricultural practices to increase yield and farmer income
• Efficiently using water resources and maintaining soil fertility
• Driving adoption of good waste management practices
• Enabling better health and safety practices and respecting human rights

Arkema is pleased to share these results and actively invites customers and downstream stakeholders to join the sustainable castor association and to continue supporting the journey toward sustainability.

Ensinger has published its first sustainability report. This document reinforces the family-owned company’s commitment to a sustainable approach and comprises four areas: strategy and processes, environment, social affairs and corporate governance. “To ensure consistency on our journey towards sustainability, we have decided to also include unresolved issues and recognized shortcomings,” explained Sustainability Manager Klaus Ensinger. “Our actions should be measurable. This report serves as a self-evaluation in relation to the goals and milestones on our journey toward socially and environmentally compatible management.”

In the previous reporting year 2021/22, Ensinger calculated the greenhouse gas emissions for its three German sites for the first time and summarized these in a balance sheet. Step by step, its factories and branches abroad are also going to be included in future assessments. From the corporate climate strategy, CO₂ reduction targets are derived which Ensinger will soon be submitting to the Science Based Target Initiative (SBTi) for inspection.

Klaus Ensinger is firmly convinced that sustainable actions can be reconciled with today’s challenges. “Engineering plastics contribute to saving weight and therefore fuel, they help avoid the use of lubricant oils and greases and reduce maintenance costs. By this means the polymer materials reduce the ecological footprint of the components in which they are used. A particularly important example of a sustainable product is our insulating profile insulbar RE, which is made from recycled polyamide and ensures efficient thermal insulation in metal window systems.”

The 250,000+ square-foot distribution center will incorporate health and safety best practices and technologies — including scanning and material handling equipment and pedestrian safety equipment. The new facility will require the addition of 20 full-time employees with a projected opening in the spring of 2023. IPEX has started hiring from the local area. This expansion complements IPEX’s other strategic investments, including the company’s new molding facility in Pineville, NC, USA that is currently under construction. Future growth plans for IPEX in 2023 include additional DCs in the southern and western United States.