SABIC INTRODUCES NEW CAPS & CLOSURES MATERIAL, OUTLINES STRATEGIES FOR GROWTH AND THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY AT THE BERLIN PLASTIC CLOSURES INNOVATION 2018

SABIC is reinforcing its activities in the plastics caps and closures (C&C) market. At the Plastic Closures Innovations Conference in Berlin on May 22-24, where SABIC is the headline sponsor, the company will discuss its new Caps & Closures Industry segment, launched at the beginning of the year. It will also introduce its latest materials and solutions for drink, food and non-food packaging caps and closures, and outline its latest measures for addressing issues in the circular economy.

“With our extensive range of polyethylenes and polypropylenes, SABIC has already built a strong position in caps and closures,” says Hans Pierik, SABIC’s global Caps and Closures segment leader. “But the Caps & Closures market is growing and changing all the time, and we are moving quickly to respond to current and future developments.” SABIC will present on the final day of the conference, which is organized by UK-based consultant AMI.

SABIC’s goal is to extend its application coverage across food and beverage and non-food areas alike, especially detergents, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. “SABIC’s Caps & Closure portfolio spans all types of polyethylenes and polypropylene (PE, PP), through to engineering plastics like polycarbonate,” Pierik says. “Many of these have a long track record, but the important thing is to never stand still. This year we will be adding more innovative materials, including a new HDPE that makes it possible to cut weight in caps for carbonated soft drinks (CSDs).”

SABIC has developed a new multi-modal grade of HDPE with excellent organoleptics for this major application. It combines an excellent environmental stress cracking resistance (ESCR) with good flow, allowing cap manufacturers to design very lightweight closures. SABIC® HDPE CCX027C polymer exhibits strong shear thinning, which means that even though it has a relatively low MFI (0.8 g/10 min, 2.16 kg), its flow characteristics during injection molding are similar to those of a unimodal HDPE with an MFI more than three times higher.

“Having a new global segment organization for Caps & Closure shows our commitment to a customer-driven strategy and industry focus,” says Ahmed Al-Musfer, Director of Global Marketing & Industry Solutions at SABIC.
 
“On the development side, it will help us bring innovations to market more quickly, while our improved and dedicated sales and technical support people will be able to respond more effectively to service needs of customers and OEMs.”

SABIC is now addressing several trends in the market related to sustainability issues. Improvements to ESCR and physical properties like stiffness and impact strength will enable extra lightweighting; reductions in required processing temperatures will help processors save energy and cut cycle times; and even better organoleptics will meet needs for caps that have no effect on the taste of packaging contents (especially important for bottled water).

The company is also contributing to a more sustainable packaging industry by partially replacing crude oil with renewable feedstocks in its production of polyethylenes and polypropylenes. Properties of the partly bio-based plastics are identical to those made from non-renewables alone.

As the company announced at the 2018 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, SABIC is the first in the industry that is committed to scale up high-quality recycling processes for chemical recycling of mixed plastic waste to the original polymer. SABIC has the know-how, the resources and the resolve to help reduce the waste-stream.

NOTES TO EDITORS

• SABIC and brands marked with ™ are trademarks of SABIC or its subsidiaries or affiliates.
• High-resolution photos are available upon request.
• SABIC should be written in every instance in all uppercase.
• © 2018 Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC). All Rights Reserved.
• Any brands, products or services of other companies referenced in this document are the trademarks, service marks and/or trade names of their respective holders.

ABOUT SABIC

SABIC is a global leader in diversified chemicals headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We manufacture on a global scale in the Americas, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific, making distinctly different kinds of products: chemicals, commodity and high performance plastics, agri-nutrients and metals.

We support our customers by identifying and developing opportunities in key end markets such as construction, medical devices, packaging, agri-nutrients, electrical and electronics, transportation and clean energy.

SABIC recorded a net profit of SR 18.4 billion (US$ 4.9 billion) in 2017. Sales revenues for 2017 totaled SR 149.8 billion (US$ 39.9 billion). Total assets stood at SR 322.5 billion (US$ 86 billion) at the end of 2017. Production in 2017 stood at 71.2 million metric tons.

SABIC has more than 34,000 employees worldwide and operates in more than 50 countries. Fostering innovation and a spirit of ingenuity, we have 11,534 global patent filings, and have significant research resources with innovation hubs in five key geographies – USA, Europe, Middle East, South Asia and North Asia.

The Saudi Arabian government owns 70 percent of SABIC shares with the remaining 30 percent publicly traded on the Saudi stock exchange.

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This release was published on openPR.