Eastman has entered into an agreement with Procter & Gamble (P&G) to further accelerate the transformation of plastics packaging and collaborate on recycling solutions to enable a circular economy.
P&G will use Eastman Renew materials in select products and packaging, supporting both companies’ goals to reduce the use of virgin plastics from fossil resources. Additionally, the companies will collaborate on advocacy initiatives aimed at reducing reliance on virgin plastics and enabling a circular economy for many products.
“Eliminating waste plastics from our environment is a complex global challenge that requires a comprehensive, collaborative approach across the entire plastics lifecycle,” explained P&G’s senior vice president of R&D, Lee Ellen Drechsler. “P&G is taking a thoughtful approach to addressing the collection, processing, revitalisation, and reuse of materials. That’s why we selected Eastman’s molecular recycling technologies which enable former waste to be transformed into useful products.”
Eastman Renew materials are made via Eastman’s molecular recycling technologies using waste plastics that would otherwise end up in landfills. These advanced recycling technologies are a complement to traditional recycling, expanding the types and amounts of plastics that can be recycled. This gives materials an extended useful life and diverts plastics waste from landfills or the environment.
In addition to packaging innovation, P&G and Eastman will collaborate on initiatives addressing the infrastructure needed to increase plastics recycling rates. These efforts will complement the current recycling streams in the US. The two companies will work to expand the collection of hard-to-recycle plastics, further diverting waste from landfills. These expanded recycling streams will be used to create new materials via Eastman’s molecular recycling technologies.
“Eastman is excited to have P&G as a partner to put molecular recycling into practice,” said Scott Ballard, Eastman’s division president of Plastics. “Together, we can create value from waste and show the world what’s possible through innovation. The value created will help drive the critical changes in our recycling infrastructure that are necessary to solve the plastics waste crisis.”
Eastman is constructing one of the world’s largest plastics-to-plastics recycling facilities at its Kingsport, Tennessee, location, with completion expected in 2022. The molecular recycling facility will consume over 200 million pounds (90,718 tonnes) annually of landfill-bound waste plastics in the making of Eastman Renew materials.
