Hydropol polymer is enabling product functionality whilst providing multiple end-of life and recyclability options.
In the week that the second progress report for The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment was published, global signatory, Aquapak Polymers Ltd has confirmed its support and shared how its technology is enabling firms to accelerate the upscaling of products supporting the circular economy.
Watch CEO Mark Lapping confirm Aquapak’s support:
Hydropol™ is an innovative polymer solution that helps to promote the circular economy and Aquapak Polymers is proud to be one of the few raw material supplier signatories. We support organisations across the globe that are looking for real solutions to achieve speedier results that tackle the 2025 plastic pollution targets as called for in the report by The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UN Environment Programme.
Explaining, CEO Mark Lapping said, “Hydropol™ acts as an enabler for maintaining product functionality whilst providing multiple end of life options required by the Global Commitment for the New Plastics Economy as they are designed to eliminate plastic pollution at source. As a signatory, we are committed to innovation to ensure that the plastics we produce are reusable, recyclable, or compostable, and to enable them to keep materials in the circular economy and out of the environment.
“In combination with other materials, Hydropol™ also enables the redesign of currently hard to recycle products, making them recyclable by allowing disassembly and recovery in combination with an environmentally better solution.”
Solutions already in the market using Hydropol™ include garment bags, laundry and infection control bags, PPE such as aprons and gloves. The company also has development projects and production trials in progress for a wide range of applications where Hydropol™ film is either laminated or extrusion coated onto paper to enable full paper recycling.
Mark Lapping continued, “Made from PVOH, Hydropol™ is inherently non-toxic, marine safe and biodegradable. Aquapak’s intellectual property means it is dissolvable at temperatures between 40C-80C allowing it to be produced in pelletised resin pellet form. This means it can replace traditional plastics and used in standard thermoprocessing machines. Our technical transfer teams cover the EU, APAC and USA to support customers wanting to make real progress against quantitative circular economy targets”.
A young but growing company, Aquapak Polymers’ patent-protected technology (Hydropol™) is produced at scale in its purpose-built, modern 50,000 sq. ft. compounding production facility in Birmingham, UK. Whilst the site is designed to have an initial total capacity to produce in excess of 30,000 MT, it can be easily be scaled to 50,000 MT by expanding the same location. Aquapak also has a research laboratory in North Wales and the plan is to ultimately set up compounding production facilities close to the point of use of its customers and serve each of its main geographical markets.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UN Environment Programmes’ second progress report on the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, showed that whilst progress has been made between 2018 and 2019, much more must be done, and at greater speed, to achieve the 2025 targets and tackle plastic pollution. The report also sets out a ‘call to action’ for businesses/governments), including the need for ambitious reduction targets and the creation of an international framework on plastic pollution.
