Axion Polymers, the plastics processing division of parent firm Axion Group, a plastics recycling specialist, has launched the 100% recycled PS sheet as the start of a new range of environmentally friendly products it predicts will find many takers in the market, with initial demand expected most readily in horticulture and cosmetics packaging applications.
Available in varying widths and thicknesses and marketed under the Axfoil brand name, the sheet meets ISO 9000 quality-control standards. The product is being launched as a black PS sheet, but Axion expects to expand the range to include other materials and colors over the coming months, and in fact says it already can supply the sheet extruded from polypropylene.
When extruded from PS recovered from waste electrical/electronics devices, the processor says it generates 93% less carbon dioxide in its manufacture compared to virgin polymer. The sheet can be thermoformed or converted and is supplied in reels up to 950-mm wide and up to 2-mm thick. Potential uses range from horticultural pots to in-store POS displays and collation trays that can eventually be recycled again.
Axion Polymers’ Director, Keith Freegard, notes, “A lot of thermoformed products go into markets where environmental awareness among the end-users is very high, such as cosmetic and horticultural products. The introduction of Axfoil sheet takes the values and benefits of our recycled polymer range one step closer to the end-user, where sustainability is increasingly becoming a key deciding factor at the point of purchase.” He also says the processor can provide potential customers with thermoformed samples of products from its lab thermoformer so clients can have a ‘preview’ of how their product will look in a fully recycled sheet.
Axion’s recycling facility produces and markets plastics it reclaims from 100% post-consumer plastics, such as TV casings and fridges, at its facility in Salford, England. —Matt Defosse
