MBA Polymers UK offers ABS to global market

MBA Polymers UK's latest recycled-content acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) polymer has received a Lower CO₂ label from the London-based Carbon Trust organization.

The designation is based on a life cycle assessment (LCA) comparing MBA’s recycled-content products with the equivalent LCA for its virgin plastic counterparts, confirming the ABS product has an 86 percent lower carbon footprint. In addition to ABS, MBA Polymers makes recycled-content polypropylene (PP).

“We’re very proud to be the first recycling business in the world to have our products achieve the Carbon Trust’s Lower CO₂ label,” MBA Polymers UK General Manager Paul Mayhew says. “It shows our customers that our claims are externally verified and, when using MBA’s products, their efforts to significantly reduce CO₂ emissions are not being misdirected. We spent more than three years developing this material, with its game-changing 95 percent-plus postconsumer recycled content."

He credits the firm’s sorting and reprocessing facility in Worksop, England, as having “the best engineers and scientists” to help accomplish its mission.

MBA Polymers, which is a business unit of Warrington, England-based metals recycling firm EMR Ltd., says the U.K., Europe and broader global market has demand for recycled ABS that outweighs supply.

The firm says it has received global interest in this ABS product and is now exporting to businesses around the world, including the United States and Hong Kong.

"There has been an amazing response to the product, which truly has transformed the market, and I’ve been excited by the interest it has already created among our customers, existing and new," Mayhew says.

“The ABS product is the first of a new range of premium recycled polymers that we will be launching. By 2030, our target is to deliver 100,000 metric tons of recycled plastics content to manufacturers in a range of markets and industries—including high-performance polymers like ABS—and this soon-to-be-expanding range will be key to achieving that.”

As part of EMR, MBA Polymers UK says it benefits from access to “reliable, high-quality feedstock, meaning the supply of end-of-life electronics and electrical equipment needed to create this ABS is secure enough to meet demand.”

“Creative collaboration with our customers played a crucial role in the development of our ABS product," Mayhew says. "Our team worked hand-in-hand with manufacturers across various sectors, particularly the electronics industry, to understand their specific material needs and specifications. This close partnership ensured that the product not only met but exceeded customer expectations and technical requirements.”

In addition to its Carbon Trust certification, the company says it has been benchmarking its recycled-content ABS against the performance and specifications of leading virgin-content ABS polymers.

MBA Polymers UK also has gained UL (formerly Underwriters Laboratories) accreditation for its product, which the firm says verifies the quality, safety and sustainability of recycled plastics so manufacturers, brand owners and end users feel confident in the performance and credibility of the materials.