OMV Technology Sustainability Story
OMV Technologies is a turnkey machinery manufacturer of plastic packaging machinery, and our primary focus is sustainability. Our sustainability story starts at the design process where our packaging products are designed for sustainability and with a focus on closed loop recycling This allows our customers, (the final converters) of fossil based, and bio-based materials to manufacture food service, commodity and medical packaging with the utmost efficiency. The energy consumption and therefore the carbon footprint of our manufacturing process further ensures that the minimal impact on the environment and reduction in manufacturing costs.
#1
The process starts with the selection of either Fossil based polymers that are fully recyclable, or Bio based Polymers that are intended for end of life, biodegradability in compost environments.
#2
Note, that although Bio and fossil-based polymers cannot be intermixed, the OMV equipment is fully capable of converting either polymer stream into useful products in the most efficient way.
#3
The Polymer is blended and conditioned for the sheet extrusion process. In the case of APET, (a hydroscopic resin), that absorbs moisture from the atmosphere, is blended and then crystalized and dried before entering the extrusion system. See #10 for Post Consumer Regrind (PCR) usage.
#4
The extruder converts the polymer into usable sheet by melting and mixing using a specially designed screw in a barrel and various downstream components before the homogeneous melted materials enters a flat sheet die and is then passed through cooling rollers where it is sized for the thermoforming process. Once the plastic sheet enters the thermoformer, the sheet surface is reheated before being formed into molds and then trimmed at the end of the forming cycle. The finished product is moved to a stacking system and out to a bagger and case packer for shipment to the customer.
#5
The left-over skeletal sheet is fed directly into a grinder and the flakes are blown directly in a closed loop back to the blender, at the extruder feed throat, where it is mixed in pre-programmed proportions with the virgin resin. For round containers, approximately 50% regrind flake is generated and reused, while square containers can be as low as 20% regrind generation.
#6
The final product, in this case is clear, mono material drinking cups, (mono material, clear materials are preferred for recyclability). The unique and patented thermoforming Tooling features offered by OMV ensure a lighter, stronger cup produced with minimal energy. The unique air savings technique and unique tooling design ensure the minimal use of high energy demand utilities such as compressed air and chilled water.
#7
Process losses – Any start-up products that do not meet the Quality Control requirements for the end-product are channeled back into the process, through the same grinder system, thus ensuring zero waste to the landfill. It is OMV’s philosophy, that if we cannot fully control our process waste, we have no hope in controlling our recycled waste.
#8
The final product (in this case clear drinking cups) is packed into a sleeved carton to prevent contamination or automatically counted, stacked and packed into sleeves and individually sealed. The product is then shipped to the retailers and finally into the hands of the consumer.
#9
The OMV design team are fully capable of designing products and selecting the correct polymer grades for reusable products. These are usually heavier and capable of sustaining at least top rack dishwasher safe washing requirements.
#10
Closed Loop recycling – When the product such as the clear drinking cups can be collected at venues such as football stadium and then channeled to a specific collection and recycling center, the cups are ground and washed and dried and made available to the converter. This is known as PCR (Post Consumer recycle) and in the case that it is recycled back into the same usable drinking cup, the process is known as circular recycling.
OMV is working closely with 3rd party machinery manufacturers, who can enhance the IV (Intrinsic viscosity) of RPET (in this case) with the use of Solid-state polymerization (SSP) in a reactor, which raises the IV of the RPET (recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate) to various levels as required to reprocess it into functional, food safe, clear drinking cups. This is incorporated into the closed loop system offered by OMV. The OMV Equipment is designed to accommodate 100% PCR flake with no reduction in output or efficiency while converting that the high content of PCR plastic into clear functional drinking cups, or any other product as needed. Legislation is now being passed where single used products are taxed according to the virgin content percentage in the final product. For this reason, OMV are poised to ensure that our customers (the converters) can circumvent these taxes wherever possible. OMV are the only Plastics Machinery manufacturing company that offer a closed loop, turnkey solution to meet the plastics recycling directives.
#11
Open loop recycling – Hopefully, the consumer will responsibly place the finished product in a recycling bins at the retailer store or in totes for curbside collection, so that it can be properly sorted at the MRF (materials recycling facility). The materials that are accepted by these MRF’s are unfortunately controlled by each individual facility and each State, county and city often have different rules. It is best to consult with your municipality to determine exactly which plastics and bio-materials are accepted.
#12
All Bio Based Polymers cannot be intermingled with Fossil based Polymers. Bio based products such as PLA (polylactic Acid, derived from Corn) must be diverted to an industrial compost environment. It is NOT reusable and therefore cannot be recycled back into useful products.
#13
Open loop recycling into other products - Many different plastic grades are sorted at the MRF’s and reused in other useful products such as clothing, plastic components in automobiles and plastic lumber.
#14
Chemical recycling - With chemical recycling technologies, the industry has developed complementary solutions to existing mechanical recycling to recycle mixed or contaminated plastic waste that otherwise would be incinerated or sent to landfill. These technologies can break down plastics and transform them into valuable secondary raw materials to produce new chemicals and plastics with the same quality as those made from fossil resource. Chemical recycling creates value in previously unrecyclable plastic waste by breaking down these plastics into petrochemical feedstock, which can then be reused as building blocks for new virgin-quality polymers. Chemical recycling processes create a bridge between the petrochemical and waste management industries and may serve as an incentive for the waste management and petrochemical industries to develop relationships to create a circular value chain for plastics. Multilayer plastics are essential to provide longer shelf life for products such as meat and dairy products. A tray produced from multilayer, barrier sheet is essential to minimize food wastage, but these products are labeled with the #7 recycle code rending it non-recyclable. Chemical recycling is the only viable solution for these multilayer, multi materials products and the resulting polymer can be added to the fossil fuel-based supply. OMV can produce 7-layer sheet structures for barrier tray applications and educating the customer on the benefits of chemical recycling is therefore paramount to help direct the PCR (#7) materials to where they can be properly recycled.
#15
Unfortunately, due to littering and poor recycling practices, much of the plastic, glass, cans and paper end up in our oceans and environment. Plastics is the only packaging that floats and therefore is demonized, while cans bottles and paper lie silently on the riverbeds, lakes and ocean reefs causing havoc. Designing plastic products for recycle by light weighting and selecting mono materials (non multilayer barrier materials) wherever possible will minimize the amounts of plastic products ending up in the environment. Educating the consumer, ramping up recycling initiatives and improving sorting methods at the MRF’s will all help to curb the large amounts of litter reaching our oceans.
#16
Because of poor curbside collection and sorting methods at many of the material recycling facilities, fully recyclable plastics are often not separated and end up in our landfills to be entombed forever.
#17
Because of the large amounts of BTU’s that can be generated by fossil fuel-based plastics, many countries around the world are seeking more and more plastic products to be used for incineration and turned into useful energy. Unfortunately, despite the claims of advanced scrubbing methods, the carbon emissions from these facilities are very high and are thought to pose a greater threat to our environment.
#10
Closed Loop recycling – When the product such as the clear drinking cups can be collected at venues such as football stadium and then channeled to a specific collection and recycling center, the cups are ground and washed and dried and made available to the converter. This is known as PCR (Post Consumer recycle) and in the case that it is recycled back into the same usable drinking cup, the process is known as circular recycling.
OMV is working closely with 3rd party machinery manufacturers, who can enhance the IV (Intrinsic viscosity) of RPET (in this case) with the use of Solid-state polymerization (SSP) in a reactor, which raises the IV of the RPET (recycled Polyethylene Terephthalate) to various levels as required to reprocess it into functional, food safe, clear drinking cups. This is incorporated into the closed loop system offered by OMV. The OMV Equipment is designed to accommodate 100% PCR flake with no reduction in output or efficiency while converting that the high content of PCR plastic into clear functional drinking cups, or any other product as needed. Legislation is now being passed where single used products are taxed according to the virgin content percentage in the final product. For this reason, OMV are poised to ensure that our customers (the converters) can circumvent these taxes wherever possible. OMV are the only Plastics Machinery manufacturing company that offer a closed loop, turnkey solution to meet the plastics recycling directives.
#11
Open loop recycling – Hopefully, the consumer will responsibly place the finished product in a recycling bins at the retailer store or in totes for curbside collection, so that it can be properly sorted at the MRF (materials recycling facility). The materials that are accepted by these MRF’s are unfortunately controlled by each individual facility and each State, county and city often have different rules. It is best to consult with your municipality to determine exactly which plastics and bio-materials are accepted.
#14
Chemical recycling - With chemical recycling technologies, the industry has developed complementary solutions to existing mechanical recycling to recycle mixed or contaminated plastic waste that otherwise would be incinerated or sent to landfill. These technologies can break down plastics and transform them into valuable secondary raw materials to produce new chemicals and plastics with the same quality as those made from fossil resource. Chemical recycling creates value in previously unrecyclable plastic waste by breaking down these plastics into petrochemical feedstock, which can then be reused as building blocks for new virgin-quality polymers. Chemical recycling processes create a bridge between the petrochemical and waste management industries and may serve as an incentive for the waste management and petrochemical industries to develop relationships to create a circular value chain for plastics. Multilayer plastics are essential to provide longer shelf life for products such as meat and dairy products. A tray produced from multilayer, barrier sheet is essential to minimize food wastage, but these products are labeled with the #7 recycle code rending it non-recyclable. Chemical recycling is the only viable solution for these multilayer, multi materials products and the resulting polymer can be added to the fossil fuel-based supply. OMV can produce 7-layer sheet structures for barrier tray applications and educating the customer on the benefits of chemical recycling is therefore paramount to help direct the PCR (#7) materials to where they can be properly recycled.
#5
The left-over skeletal sheet is fed directly into a grinder and the flakes are blown directly in a closed loop back to the blender, at the extruder feed throat, where it is mixed in pre-programmed proportions with the virgin resin. For round containers, approximately 50% regrind flake is generated and reused, while square containers can be as low as 20% regrind generation.