Nonmetallics Department

SPE Accepts Award Nominations
The Plastics Environmental Division of the Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE, www.sperecycling.org) is seeking nominations for its Environmental Stewardship Awards.

The awards, which carry the theme “Sustainability & Recycling: Raising the Bar in Today’s Economy,” are designed to recognize corporations and other institutions “that have demonstrated environmental leadership and excellence through significant achievements” in several categories, according to SPE.

Awards will be presented during GPEC (Global Plastics Environmental Conference) 2010, scheduled for March 8-10 at The Florida Hotel & Conference Center in Orlando, Fla.

Nominations for awards are being accepted in these categories:
• Daniel Eberhardt Environmental Stewardship;
• Plastics Recycling Technologies and Applications;
• Plastic Materials from Renewable Sources and Applications;
• New Environmental Technologies in Conventional Plastics Materials;      
• New Technologies in Processes;
• Enabling Technologies in Processes and Procedures;
• Emerging Technologies in Materials, Processes and Applications;
• Design for Sustainability;
• Significant Patent in the Environmental and Recycling Areas in Conventional Plastics Issued in 2009; and
• Significant Patent in Plastics From Renewable Resources Issued in 2009.

Nomination forms can be downloaded at www.sperecycling.org and sent to the attention of Gwen Mathis of SPE by Nov. 30 via fax at (706) 295-4276 or via e-mail at Gwensmathis@aol.com.

Florida Tire Recycling Launches Subsidiary
Florida Tire Recycling Inc. (FTR), Port St. Lucie, Fla., has announced the launch of FTR Polymetrics, a subsidiary focused on producing ultra-fine recycled rubber powders in 80-mesh, 140-mesh and 200-mesh sizes.

FTR Polymetrics will collect and prepare 100 percent of its feedstock through closed-loop programs with customers. “With the formation of FTR Polymetrics, manufacturers now have a viable, economic alternative for incorporating sustainable materials into the manufacture of rubber, plastics and specialty chemical products,” the company states in a press release. 

“There are more than 300 million tires discarded in the U.S. every year and each of those tires can be recycled and reused in a myriad of manufacturing applications,” states Anthony Cialone, COO at FTR.

In addition to its portfolio of affordable ultra-fine rubber powder, FTR Polymetrics also offers companies a closed-loop product life cycle solution that takes scrap materials, by-products or finished product scrap and recycles those materials into useable crumb and powder rubber raw materials to be introduced back into the manufacturing process.