Printing Our Way to a Flexible Future:
Environmentally-Sensitive Plastics and Other Trends in the Plastics Industry
Written by:
Matthew Wilson, Technical Writer
The past year has seen Canadian news headlines dominated by the European (and increasingly global) migrant crisis, extreme weather conditions pointing to the ongoing effects of climate change, and debates over possible recessionary trends in domestic markets emanating from the Federal election campaign trail. Unsurprisingly, these same news stories have had significant impacts on the Canadian plastics industry, especially due to the industry’s global reach and close ties to other industries.
In response to these environmental and economic pressures, the plastics industry has worked to develop innovative lightweight automotive components, aiming to help improve automobile fuel efficiency, and to find cost effective ways to better protect and extend the shelf life of food products, thereby reducing food loss and waste. The industry has also begun to move toward an increased reliance on renewably sourced bio-based polymers as a means of avoiding raw material pricing volatility. In June, Coca-Cola unveiled the PlantBottle 2.0, the world’s first PET plastic bottle made entirely from plant materials. The packaging, made of sugarcane and waste from the sugarcane manufacturing process, uses patented technology which converts these natural sugars into the ingredients for plastic bottles that look, function, and recycle like traditional PET.
The plastics industry has also seen continued leaps forward in additive manufacturing technology, with the development of new approaches to manufacturing and 3D printable polymer systems with a wide range of physical properties. One such approach is Continuous Light Interface Production (CLIP), which employs chemical reactions to transform liquids into solids with increased control through a continuous layering process that greatly increases production speed and material strength.
Of course, businesses operating at the cutting edge of their industries face technological challenges on an almost daily basis through their ongoing product development initiatives. Projects related to the development of new additive manufacturing technologies, lightweight automotive components, and plant-based polymers thus represent excellent candidates for the Scientific Research & Experimental Development program. Smaller-scale innovations, such as advancements in the processing of post-consumer and post-industrial material, are likewise eligible.
