Polyethylene terephthalate

It's called Cubo, and it isn't... a paper product.

It can be polypropylene, PET, or RPET.

So it's a square package rather than your typical round package for food.

And it has quite a few advantages when you look at it from a sustainability and a marketing standpoint.

So there was a session with Billerud where they discussed some of the more advanced fiber-based packaging technologies coming out right now, especially barrier coatings, because we know that's really crucial in order to give paper the same properties as you would have with plastic for moisture resistance, grease resistance, and still hopefully, ideally, being recyclable.

And then there was also a discussion on ARPET, which has come up a lot lately in different Conferences, because over the last year or so, maybe half of the recyclers, PET recyclers in the U.S. have gone under.

I think there were only maybe six or seven to begin with.

So how

are people trying to replace virgin PET with ARPET to meet these goals? Are they going to be able to find it, essentially?

It's not even that.

The fact is that they are finding it.

And they're buying virgin materials because they're cheaper right now.

And he is a plastic recycler.

And he's a broker, a middleman, where he brokers recycled plastic pellets called PET.

And it's polyethylene triceratops.

The T, you could interchange with T-Rex or pterodactyl.

No one can pronounce the T in PET.

But he will buy PET pellets and then sell the PET pellets to people that make new Adirondack chairs or whatever they do.

And every now and then, he'll have to buy in shipping containers of PET from...

Another country and then broker and resell them.

Tissue engineered prostheses.

For better or for worse, say most ascending aortic replacements are still made with Dacron.

Why? Because Michael DeBakey picked it up off the shelf and he just sort of guessed that it was going to work.

And it did.

But what's happening is all the disposable textiles that, you know, synthetics especially, that just got worn and thrown away, have gone into landfills, have gone, you know, have been burned and/or are just palletized and shipped to beaches in Ghana and Africa and Third World countries, right? And so, you know, as the industry and consumers have woken up to all of this, there's now a movement not only to find fibers that have the properties of synthetics.

The first chapter of that was, we call recycled poly rPET, but most people don't realize rPET is plastic bottles that are actually broken back down to pellets and then turned into yarns and re-spun 'cause polyester is polyester, I mean, is-- plastic is plastic, and it's turned back into polyester yarn, and then it's made into textiles.

So a lot of people are wearing rPET thinking, "Wow, I'm wearing sustainable fashion because I'm wearing rPET," but it's basically plastic bottles.

Why are we using the waste stream of another industry in our industry? There's enough plastic clothing out there that we need to use.

So finally, the industry's waking up and going, "We gotta stop using plastic bottles and start collecting all this old synthetic, cheap, you know, fast fashion, synthetic textiles." We need technologies that can break apart the fibers and separate the cottons from the polyesters 'cause there's a lot of blends out there.

So there was a session with Billerud where they discussed some of the more advanced fiber-based packaging technologies coming out right now, especially barrier coatings, because we know that's really crucial in order to give paper the same properties as you would have with plastic for moisture resistance, grease resistance, and still hopefully, ideally, being recyclable.

And then there was also a discussion on rPET which has come up a lot lately in different conferences because over the last year or so, maybe half of the recyclers, PET recyclers in the US, have gone under.

I think there were only maybe six or seven to begin with, so it's a pretty big-

So how are people trying to replace virgin PET with rPET to meet these goals? Are they gonna be able to find it, essentially?

It's not even that.

The fact is that they are finding it.

Maybe sail materials.

Dacron, would that be in by then? Plastics evolved in the '40s.

Uh, that's the kind of the, the big rise of, um, of, uh...

Oh, blimey, what are they called? Uh, DuPont, of course.

You know, like Bermuda rig would be in, would you be into composites? Not composites yet, right? But maybe more modern methods like, um, double lap strike.

Is that a word or carvel or cold molded? Or do I know any words to do with how boats are built in the forties and fifties? I don't know, but equipment would be changing radio direction, finders, different places to go for maybe sail materials, Dacron, would that be in by then? Plastics evolved in the 40s.

That's the kind of the big rise of, oh, blimey, what are they called? DuPont, of course.

Everything suddenly is plastics.