🏭 The Column: March 7, 2025

Good morning. Today we’re talking about how Syensqo is making meat packaging films more recyclable and why its a sizable opportunity for them. Lots of big news in the Other Things Happened section at the bottom as well!

Things Happened:

Making meat packaging more recyclable

A few years ago I came across an article about how SC Johnson chose to phase out their market leading polyvinylidene dichloride (PVDC)-based Saran wrap because of recyclability concerns, and it really stuck with me. Mechanical recyclers of plastic really don’t like PVDC in their feedstock because PVDC degrades at lower temperatures than stuff like polyethylene, leading to equipment fouling and a recycled product with worse properties. Tragically, PVDC is actually very useful in the world of food packaging because of its excellent water and oxygen barrier properties (i.e. it prevents packaged meat from spoiling), so it’s frequently used in multilayer films for that purpose. Syensqo—Solvay’s specialty chemical spin off—just demonstrated that if you use their special grade of PVDC in a PE/EVA/PVDC/EVA/PE multilayer film, it can be recycled without any issues. This might be a big deal for them in Europe, because the EU penalizes consumer brands for selling products with non-recyclable packaging—so if Syensqo is the only producer capable of making PVDC-containing films recyclable, then they might be able to take a large share of that end market. That being said, I don’t know whether these films are dominant in Europe today, i.e. I’m not sure whether brands are currently paying fees for selling meat in non-recyclable packaging, or if meat just spoils sooner in Europe. But either way there’s a value proposition to be made here: Syensqo will either be able to cut costs for brands, or they’ll enable brands to sell meat that lasts longer. Of course, it’s all contingent on whether or not Syensqo actually did something novel with their PVDC. If there’s no real differentiation, then the recycling demonstration they did would just be a win for the environment (or for resource efficiency, if that reason suits your personality better). [LINK]

A Word From Our Sponsors:

Get a 5% discount on conference fees using the code: WPC2025ChemShow5%

Other Things Happened:

Idemitsu is going to build a lithium sulfide plant in Japan for solid-state lithium batteries. LyondellBasell is expanding its propylene production at its Channelview complex. Shell might divest all of their chemical assets in the US and the EU. Evonik is licensing its hydrogen peroxide technology to a company in China (again). Sumitomo is selling chemically recycled PMMA to electronics and automotive companies. LG Chem announced a process innovation in cathode material production that skips a step. Innospec is expanding its production of drag reducing agents at its plant in Pleasanton, Texas. ADNOC and OMV are merging to form a $60bn chemical company.