Techmer PM Introduces Improved Pigment for the Sorting and Recycling of Black Plastics

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Black plastic, widely used in food trays and other consumer packaging, causes endless headaches for plastics recyclers. That’s because the carbon black pigment typically employed to attain the black color in such products absorbs the near-infrared (NIR) light employed by recyclers to effectively sort the material stream. That brings about tons of mixed plastics not becoming properly sorted, this means they cannot become recycled and instead end up in a landfill.

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Techmer PM's new NIR Black pigment allows black plastics to end up being accurately sorted using near-infrared sorting equipment, which improves the recyclability of such previously problematic plastics. It possesses earned a “Recommended” rating from the U.S. Association of Plastic Recyclers and is normally FDA compliant. (Photo: Business Wire)

Techmer PM, LLC, the Clinton, Tenn.-based compounder and materials design firm, is going to be taking steps to handle this challenge. The company has only introduced new, increased grades of an NIR-sortable black colorant. This technology permits NIR reflection to allow accurate sorting at the recycling facility, while maintaining the product’s black color.

The merchandise has earned a “Preferred” rating from the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) and is FDA compliant, which allows because of its use in food containers. By enabling verifiable recycling of black plastic, it also permits brand owners who use carbon black within their products to better meet sustainability goals while preserving their wanted brand identity.

Techmer PM says the technology, while generally tested thus far found in HDPE, also works effectively with polypropylene and PET resins, and all are suitable for FDA applications. Techmer can custom tailor solutions for every single application, with variables to include such factors as resin grade, thickness, and the amount of post-consumer recycled (PCR) content.

“Techmer already is focusing on next-generation technology which will offer better still opacity, allowing for improved coverage of PCR while using less color concentrate,” according to Steve Smith, Techmer PM’s rigid packaging market manager. That product should to enter the market in merely a few months.

While other NIR-sortable black colorant solutions exist on the market, Techmer PM says its latest offering provides best-in-class coverage, using the latest colorant technology. Additionally, the business can bring its decades of formulation expertise to bear on the specific areas of each application.

“We formulate with multiple components to improve after the offerings from the raw material suppliers producing a blacker black,” notes Kimberly Williamson, color innovation and technology manager at Techmer PM’s Clinton headquarters. “We're able to quickly iterate inside our lab using analytical technology to measure reflectance in the NIR region ourselves, instead of needing to wait weeks for every submission to go through the official APR test.”

“Meanwhile,” says Smith, “Techmer PM is with the capacity of manufacturing our new NIR black products in almost all of our existing seven UNITED STATES facilities to permit faster delivery.”
Source: https://www.oaoa.com

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