European project yields recycled-content ABS

La Canonja, Spain-based ELIX Polymers says its collaboration with two other companies has led to the production of styrene and butadiene from chemically recycled postconsumer scrapthat ELIX says can be used to make 100 percent recycled-content acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic.

The firm says the process consumes plastic scrap and in some cases “bio-circular raw materials from used cooking oil.” ELIX has collaborated with Spain-based petrochemical company Repsol and Netherlands-based chemicals firm AnQore to develop the process.

The products created by the process are being marketed under the E-LOOP CR name and they hold International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) Plus certification, according to ELIX.

“Furthermore, ELIX’s E-LOOP CR can help reduce the CO₂ footprint by promoting sustainable and circular feedstocks, which have lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions than conventional materials,” states ELIX.

For the toy industry, producers can use a version of acrylonitrile available from AnQore, while Repsol offers styrene and butadiene made from chemically recycled postconsumer scrap and used cooking oil.

ELIX Polymers says it signed agreements with both AnQore and Repsol in 2020 designed to help ensure supplies of more sustainable materials.

“All three companies believe that long-term partnerships across the entire supply chain are necessary in order to achieve sustainability goals and offer products that are manufactured using more sustainable materials to the society.,” the state, adding that customers “will not notice any change in the properties of their products, yet they will be participating in responsible, circular consumption.”