In a strategic move to anticipate customer needs quicker around the globe, DSM Engineering Plastics has shifted global headquarters to Singapore. The Company, which has development, sales and manufacturing facilities located in The Netherlands, USA, Japan, China, Taiwan, India, Belgium and Russia has moved a number of its key functions to Asia in order to underline its commitment to the Asian market which is expected to represent the major share of the company’s growth in the coming years. According to Roelof Westerbeek, President DSM Engineering Plastics, the move – which was pre-announced in 2010 – is making good progress and will be completed in 2012: “This is a significant step as it puts us right at the heart of the fast-growing Asian marketplace.

Mexichem S.A.B. de C.V. and Wavin N.V.

Penford Corporation, a company with significant business and expertise in specialty starches and sustainable bio-products and Novomer Inc., a new materials company pioneering a family of high-performance plastics and polymers using renewable feedstocks such as carbon dioxide, announce that they have entered into a Joint Development Agreement that will leverage the two companies’ core technologies and expertise. he new alliance was created to accelerate the development and commercialization of innovative Starch-Polypropylene Carbonate polymer composites

UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, has been selected by The Dow Chemical Company to provide technology to produce propylene at a Dow production site in Texas. Dow Texas Operations will use Honeywell UOP C(3) Oleflex™ technology in a new propane dehydrogenation unit to convert shale gas-derived propane to propylene, a product used in the production of packaging, adhesives, coatings, cleaners and many other end-use applications. The facility will produce 750,000 metric tpa of polymer-grade propylene

The Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) recently repaired half a km of the road outside Hutchings High School by integrating plastic with tar known as polymer-modified bitumen, thus making good use of discarded plastic and preventing further damage to the environment. This move has been carried out with the advocacy of Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to prevent the persistent problem of potholes on the roads and to increase the resistance to water at a lower construction cost.

Kuraray America, Inc. has announced the approval of a project to increase its EVAL™ production capacity by 8,000 tpa at a cost of US$49 mln. The project is a response to continued global growth in demand for EVAL™ (ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer resin) of over 10% per year.

The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR), The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR), and the PET Resin Association (PETRA) announced today the release of the “2010 Report on Post Consumer PET Container Recycling Activity” and a 2010 Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) container recycling rate of 29%. This is the seventh straight year that the United States’ recycling rate has increased. Total PET collected for recycling was also highest to date, as was the use of recycled PET in end-use applications, at over 1.5 and 1 billion lbs, respectively.

Officials at Mitsubishi Polyester Film, Inc. have initiated another major capital upgrade at its location in Greer, South Carolina

The Plastic industry in India symbolizes a promising industry and is creating new employment opportunities for the people of India. The per capita consumption of plastic products in India is growing and is moving towards 2.5 times GDP growth