ITPLAST Aprile 2022 | Page 61

MATERIALS AND APPLICATIONS
Above : production facilities
Left : research & development activities do not stop at VP Italy
the quality and competitiveness of their offering . In those years some of the major companies were born in our country that over time have become an international point of reference for recyclers and compounders . In the future , however , the whole sector could be heavily penalized by the changes taking place today .“
PRICES AND AVAILABILITY OF RAW MATERIALS The policies aiming at the taxation of premium plastic materials , in addition to encouraging recycling and recovery of all types of waste , will lead all operators in the sector to pay greater attention to the management of waste materials . The producers of waste will need to reduce waste as much as possible as a result decreasing
their availability on the market . This could trigger a resounding reversal of the trend on the prices of recycled and regenerated materials . In some cases , the prices of the latter could be even higher than premium materials . This trend can already be seen in a market segment that already shows a virtuous activity in the field of recycling , i . e . PET , which from the production of bottles with virgin material , through a consolidated collection and recycling chain , is reused in the production of new items for the packaging , textile and automotive markets . In fact , the secondary raw materials obtained from the recycling of PET bottles today have already reached higher prices than virgin PET . It will therefore be inevitable that this phenomenon
, in the years to come , will propagate to other recycled materials .
A RESPONSE TO SHORTAGES A similar trend , even though for different reasons , is being recorded with regard to engineering polymers and polyolefins in general . Gatto continues : „ Even the world of premium virgin materials is suffering , already from the end of 2020 , from the lack of availability of any type of raw material .“ The globalised market has meant that over the years many European polymer production plants were decommissioned in favour of new sites in Asian countries . For a long time this relocation of production capacity , also endorsed by the European market , did not represent a real supply
Italian technology plast / April 2022
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