More and more globally focused plastics industry companies, including producers, converters, compounders, and distributors, are being rewarded for their efforts toward making their portfolios and operations more sustainable.

Many of the sector’s top names have now gained the Plus status conferred by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) system. This certifies compliance with two broader concepts. The first calls for establishing a chain of custody method that allows fossil-based and renewable feedstock to be mixed in production but kept separate financially (mass balance) while the second creates a system for certification of biomass and bioenergy (see Plasteurope.com of 24.03.2022).

Reaching the end goal requires substituting sustainable raw materials for fossil resources and guaranteeing the supply chain is transparent and fully traceable from start to finish. With certification, companies can prove their output meets the sustainability goals of international, national, or regional legislative initiatives.

The ISCC Plus status of the French Carling Saint-Avold platform run by US-based Cray Valley (Exton, Pennsylvania; www.crayvalley.com) has been extended. The company said this enables continued production and commercialisation of certified renewable resins the speciality business unit sells to the automotive industry. Feedstocks supplied by the TotalEnergies subsidiary are guaranteed to be bio-based or derived from advanced recycling materials.

The site run by Covestro (Leverkusen, Germany; www.covestro.com) in Map Ta Phut, Thailand, has achieved ISCC Plus status, allowing the company to market large volumes of mass-balanced polycarbonates in the ASEAN region. The certification extends to the resin maker’s Makrolon RE compounds, as well the PC films it produces with alternative raw materials.

Since receiving the ISCC Plus certification for two of its European sites at the end of 2020, Covestro has been supplying polycarbonates partly sourced from renewable feedstock and using the mass-balance approach to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the end-product.

Following the 2021 certification of several group companies that are part of K.D. Feddersen (Hamburg, Germany: www.kdfeddersen.com), and with the recognition of the K.D. Feddersen Holding, additional units in Germany, France, UK, and Scandinavia have now been certified with ISCC Plus. Adding K.D. Feddersen Ueberseegesellschaft puts a number of its non-European holdings on to the list, the distributor said.

Following further successful audits by certification specialist DQS CFS, German plastics distributor Albis (Hamburg; www.albis.com) has received ISCC Plus certification for bio-circular plastics in four additional regions, including Austria, the Benelux, the Nordics & Baltics, and the UK.

The new recognitions add to the certification the plastics distributor received earlier for Germany and France and those for Italy and Switzerland it expects to receive shortly. Certification of more sales regions is expected for 2023, the family-owned company said.

US-based Nelipak (Cranston, Rhode Island; www.nelipak.com), a globally active manufacturer of solutions for medical devices, pharmaceuticals, and other applications, has received ISCC Plus certification for its US facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, and Whitehall, Pennsylvania. The company said it expects to expand the mass balance model to other sites in North America and Europe to provide healthcare customers with sustainable packaging solutions.

Italy’s Guala Closures (Spinetta Marengo; www.gualaclosures.com), a manufacturer of closures for spirits, wines, water, beverages, and edible oil, has received its third ICSS Plus accreditation – this time for its plant in Kirkintilloch, Scotland. The recognition issued by testing and certification company Bureau Veritas verifies that the company’s circular packaging and bio-circular packaging are sustainable thanks to control of the entire supply chain from raw materials to finished product.

German processor Röchling Industrial (Haaren, Germany, www.roechling.com) now has six sites in Germany and the Czech Republic certified as ISCC Plus. The company said the certifications form the basis for further expansion of its range of bio-based materials, and it is currently “working intensively” to become one of the leading suppliers of bioplastics and recycled materials by 2035.

Röchling’s sites in Geeste-Dalum and Troisdorf, Germany, are slated to be certified in accordance with ISCC Plus this year.

Dutch IT specialist Circularise (The Hague; www.circularise.com) is at the forefront of developments in mass balance accounting. The firm specialises, among other things, in streamlining the process for production companies.

Circularise has launched a joint project with the ISCC system, in which resin makers and refiners including Neste, Asahi Kasei, Borealis, Trinseo, and Shell, as well as OEM brands Marubeni, and Itochu, are testing a new blockchain system.

The IT firm’s new software creates a public blockchain that enables authentication, decentralisation, and encryption of data verifying material flows and related sustainability attributes but differs from processes in which companies use a private blockchain operated by pre-selected participants.

“This makes it virtually impossible for companies to appear more sustainable than they really are by reusing the proof of a sustainability claim across assets,” Circularise said.

During the tests, material traceability and verification of data at individual sites and across the value chain are being guaranteed by ISCC Plus certification of each facility.

Two industry heavyweights have won certification for reducing the carbon footprint of their products. US PA maker Ascend Performance Materials (Houston, Texas; www.ascendmaterials.com) recently secured ISCC Plus certification for its use of bio-based materials. Ascend said it also has made its global compounding operations carbon neutral, becoming the first integrated polyamide producer to do so.

German speciality chemicals and plastics producer Lanxess (Cologne; www.lanxess.com) said it has become one of the first polymer producers to offer converters of its PA and PBT material certified values for the carbon footprint of the base resins. The certification also extends to PA 6 precursor caprolactam as well as the glass fibre reinforcement the company manufactures in Antwerp.

Lanxess said it wants to use the certified carbon footprint reduction to identify ways to minimise output of greenhouse gases during plastics production. One focus is on extending the use of new grades of its ISCC Plus-certified PA and PBT that contain a significant proportion of sustainable raw materials or have a carbon footprint considerably smaller than conventional products.