EDITORIAL BOARD

ChairmanARUN LAHOTI

MembersM. JAYADEVJ. VENUGOPALANIL NAGDAA.RAVINDRA BABU

Published byANDHRA PRADESH PLASTICSMANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION304, Raghavaratna Towers, Chirag Ali Lane,HYDERABAD 500 001Phone: 23203191 Fax: 040-23204211Email: info@appma.org.inWeb: www.appma.org.in

OFFICE BEARERS:PresidentM. JAYADEV

Vice President - ISURESH SOMANI

Vice President (Rural)DAYAKAR A.

Hon. SecretaryJ. VENUGOPAL

Joint SecretaryK. NARAYAN REDDY

Joint Secratary (Rural)V. SRINIVAS

TreasurerNARENDRA BALDWA

Back Cover 8,000IInd & IIIrd Cover 6,000Full Page 4,000Half page 2,500Quarter Page 1,500Classified 300

All payments should be made by cheque/draft drawnfavouring the A.P. Plastic Manufacturers Association,payable at Hyderabad. Service Tax will be charged extraas applicable. Cash will not be accepted.

DISCLAIMERAll the information published in this issue has beencollected/gathered from various sources. APPMAdoes not hold responsibility for any error or omissionand is not liable for any legal consequences.

ADVERTISEMENT TARIFF

Dear Members

This issue will be in your hands when all of us in thestate of A P will be debating the hot topic of unity ordivision. Individually, we may be having our ownindependent opinion, but collectively as an industrywe should emphasize for a peaceful atmosphere forthe industrial sector.

Plastics industrial sector, even though on a growth path, is facing many anups and downs. Plastics, even though the most widely used material in theworld and also most useful material for the developing countries, has neverfound the admiration from the ruling powers. Thus leading to manyerroneous orders which not only affect the industry but are curtailing theconsumer's right to choose.

In it's over zealousness to introduce environment friendly measures, thepowers are not only killing a legitimate industry but unknowingly (orknowingly) promoting alternate materials which are more damaging to theeco system. May wisdom prevail and things are set right. Till that time letus pray to almighty, seek his blessings and take the blessed prasadam inpaper made out of the chopping of don't know how many trees. And watchlakhs of people enjoying their small cup of tea in paper cups albeit coatedwith plastics. What an eco friendly step.

We will be failing in discharging our social responsibility, if truth is notrepresented to the decision makers and it is also our most importantresponsibility to adhere to the prescribed norms in manufacturing and notcompromise on standards set by the Government for which the industryhas agreed. Thicker micron Films and Bags are the need of the day and letus strive to earn our bread honestly, then only it will be sweet and nutritious.Happy New Year.

Propagating for an environment which is plastic free,But at a cost of felling of don't know how many trees.

Arun LahotiChairman-Website & Bulletin Committeeeditor@appma.org.in

Editorial

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Contents :3 Editorial4 President writes5 Secretary's Report7 APPMA at Work - Report on Awareness on Plastics and

Social Activity9 Report on K by Members10 New Members List11 APPMA at Work-Report on Awareness on Plastics and

Social Activity.13 Government Notification.14 News Updates40 Classified Advertisements.53 Article-Indian Plastic Industry where Sun will never set.

AP Plastic TimesVol 5 Oct-Nov-Dec 2010 No.3

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President Writes...

Dear Members,

Firstly, I would like to wish all the members A VERY HAPPY AND PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR 2011. On

behalf of Andhra Pradesh Plastics Manufacturers Association I would like to congratulate the Hon'ble

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Sri.N.Kiran Kumar Reddy on taking charge as the new Chief Minister

of the state.

The 8th PLASTIVISION INDIA 2011 International Plastics Exhibition is being held at Goregaon ( E )

Mumbai from January 20th to 24th. This exhibition has an area covering 55,000 Sq Mtrs and is expected

to have 1000 exhibitors including 180 overseas exhibitors covering 5000 Sq mtrs. Seventeen countries

are participating in this exhibition. I request all members to avail of this golden opportunity by

visiting and interacting with these international exhibitors and in the process gain knowledge about

the latest international technologies and implement these technologies in improving their business.

The Members Directory is in the completion stages and it is being compiled by dedicated members of

the Member Directory Committee. I thank all the members who helped us in updating the details of

members by sending in their change of address etc. on time. I would also like to take this opportunity

to thank the sponsors who came forward to support APPMA in bringing out the Directory.

We have been receiving complaints of harassments from many of the members of Tenali, Guntur,

Eluru, Kurnool, Mehboobnagar, Kakinada and Srikakulam regarding harassment and burning of plastic

carry bags. I would like to assure all members that APPMA is taking all steps to help the members in

which ever way possible. We have sent memorandums to Collectors and Municipal Commissioners not

to harass the members and to follow the GOs passed by the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh. Our members

have visited Vizianagaram and Bobbili and handed over memorandums personally to the collectors

and Municipal commissioners. I request all members through this forum to adhere to rules laid by the

government and do legal business so that the plastic industry does not suffer.

M. Jayadev

President

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Secretary Report ...Dear Friends,

The year 2010 has come to an end and the year 2011 starts. At the outset I wish you all AVery Prosperous and Happy New Year 2011. Also there is a change in leadership in the stateGovt. On behalf of APPMA we would like to congratulate Shri N.Kiran Kumar Reddy Garu on taking charge as theHon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Recession has ended and a new beginning for the economy seems tobe on the cards. I wish you all the best for your businesses.

We have successfully taken a delegation of 40 members to K2010 Exhibition at Duesseldorf, Germany. We havealso submitted all the required documents to MSME, Delhi, for the reimbursement of a part of the airfaresincurred by the delegates for visiting the exhibition.

Plastivision Exhibition will be conducted in Mumbai from January 20 -24th. We had proposed to take a delegationfrom APPMA and sent letters to all members regarding the same. The delegation will be leaving on January 21,2011 and after visiting the Exhibition will return on January 23rd, 2011.

Of late, we have been continuously receiving complaints from many of our members from Tenali, Guntur,Eluru, Kurnool, Mehboobnagar, Kakinada and Srikakulam regarding harassment and burning of plastic carrybags. Steps have been taken by the Association to bring to the notice of the concerned authorities about theharassment. Representations and memorandums have been sent to all the municipal commissioners andcollectors. We will be visiting the concerned district collectors and municipal commissioners to hand overmemorandums personally and request them to follow the GOs laid by the AP Govt. and stop harassing ourmembers. On our part we should all stick to the rules and do permitted business and not create problems forour brothers in the industry for the sake of traders demand. I hope all members will cooperate and see that theplastic industry survives.

We are in the process of bringing out the Members Directory in the month of January 2011 with lots of newmembers. We have sent out letters requesting them to give us any change of addresses contact nos. etc. Hopeby now every one must have informed about the same to the Association.

Once again Wish You All A Very Happy And Prosperous New Year.

Wishing you all the Best

J. VenugopalHon.Secretary

Visit www.appma.org.in for latest development in website.For all archives of A.P. Plastic Times,

kindly visit www.issuu.com/plastictimes

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REPORT OF AWARENESS ONPLASTICS AND SOCIAL ACTIVITY

Report of Awarenesss on Plastics and Social Activityheld on 8th December, 2010 at Saraswati VidyaMandir School, KARWAN, Hyderabad

Mr.B.V.Srinivas Rao, Chairman-Campaign &Awareness Committee along with Mr.V.Suresh,Chairman-Social Welfare Committee and other WCMembers Mr.Bhaskar Reddy, Md.Abdul Aleem alongwith the Hon.Secretary, APPMA Mr.J Venugopal,conducted an awareness program on plastics anda social activity on 8th December, 2010 at SaraswatiVidya Mandir, Karwan, Hyderabad.

The representatives of APPMA spoke at length onthe advantages of using plastics in the assemblyof the school which consisted of 400 students tocreate awareness in the young minds. Essaywriting competition was also conducted on thesame day. 100 students participated in thecompetition. Prizes were given to all the 3 winnersand 2 runners.

In the Social Welfare activity conducted on the

same premises at the same time, exam pads andpens were distributed to all the students alongwith snacks.

Two Big Dust Bins and 40 small plastic chairs weredonated to the school.

The Chairman, Mr.B.V.Srinivas Rao, thanked themanagement of the school, The Hon.Secretary andthe members who participated in the program andhelped in making the event a grand success.

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REPORT ON K BY MEMBERSDear members,The 18th K exhibition 2010 of Plasticand Plastic products organised by messeduss eldorf gmbh from 27th oct to 3rdNov 2010 was a great turning point inmy life.according to me this was anopportunity which everyone should gofor atleast once.

The amazing things in the fare werefully automatic machinery with veryadvanced technology that require lessman power, less power consumption andtremendous out put.

The displayed machines and tools werepolishing equipments for moulds anddies, machine vices, measuring

equipments, solid carbide tooling, milling cutters, mouldcomponents, turning lathes, cncmachines, laboratory testequipments.

Plastic manufacturers and suppliersalso showcased plastic processingmachinery, blow moulding, injectionmoulding machines, chillers,converting equipments, extrutionequipments, feeders, processing aids,recycling equipments, plastic pet,stretch blow single stage machines.

The fare was very well organised formore than 3000 visitors.

M.A.ALEEMKhandieworks@yahoo.com

Congratulations

Meela JayadevSudhakar Polymers Ltd.

V. Anil ReddyNayastrap Pvt. Ltd.

for being elected asmanaging committee members

(South Zone) ofAll India Plastic Manufacturers Association

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New Members List

Sl. Name of the Member Representative Ph.No. Line of Activity

1. SUDHAKAR IRRIGATION SYSTEMS PVT LTD Meela Jayadev (MD) 9848053795 Manufacturers of PVCBalaram Thanda Meela Ravishankar 9848112944 Pipes & Fittings.Near Industrial Estate, Suryapet – 508214, (Director)Nalgonda (Dist.);

2. PRAGATI POLYPLAST INDIA PVT LTD : Nitin Sanghi 9849302409 Mfrs of HDPE containersPlot no 11/3, CIEEPg, Gandhinagar, from 100ml to 210 LtrsBalanagar, Hyderabad – 500037;

3. RAJESHWARI ENTERPRISES: G Harinath 9866496533 Plastic Moulding4-42-1012/A, Paparayudunagar, components supplyKukatpally, Hyderabad – 500072 to various defence

organizations.

4. KRISHNA POLYMERS Girdhari Lal Singhal 984973415 Plastics Articles/ House hold5-81, Fathenagar, Hyderabad; Vishnu Kumar Agarwal 9391059774 articles.

5. SHALIMAR PLASTICS Ahmed Mohiuddin 9989502587 HM/ LLD Polythene Bags. E-2, Industrial Estate, KAttedan, ZubariHyderabad – 500 077

6. MECKLA POLYMERS PVT LTD M. Ravinder Reddy 9849866656 Pet Recycling.9-1-66/3, S D Road, 3rd Floor, (Director) 9348113131Opp. Oriental Bank of Commerce, V Ramesh ReddySecunderabad 500003 (Exec. Director)

meckla.polymers@gmail.com

7. AMINA CONTAINERS MD. Mustafa Hamed 9849032150 HDPE Containers & Carry bagsPlot no. 15-B, Phase-II, Dinesh Vishwakarma 9394012308IDA Patancheru – 502319 S Pavan Kumar 9346329260

aminacontainers@gmail.com

8. PATEL & CO. Deraram Patel 040-64511857 Plastics articles &15-8-448/2, Feelkhana, Hyderabad -12 components mfrs.

9. NEHA POLY PACK Mfrs of Polythene plastic6-5-114/1, Babul Reddy Nagar, bags, tubes, sheets, rolls andKattedan, Hyderabad – 500 077 carry bags etc.

9. CHANDRA PLASTIC INDUSTRIES Shiv Kumar Gupta Mfr of HM, PP, LD,LLD6-5-114/1, Babul Reddy Nagar, Kattedan, plastic bags, tubes, and sheets.Hyderabad – 500 077

10. JAKHOTIA POLYSACKS PVT LTD : Balhisham Jakhotia 040 – 23441969 Machinery of PP Woven sacks.3-5-864, Hyderguda, Hyderabad – 500 029 Omprakash Jakhotia 9849044377

9440022890

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New Members List

Sl. Name of the Member Representative Ph.No. Line of Activity

11. JAKHOTIA POLYFIBRE PVT LTD Omprakash Jakhotia 040 – 23441969 P P Woven sacks.3-5-864, Hyderguda, Anup Jakhotia 9440022890Hyderabad – 500 029; 9440422400

12. INNOVATIVE MOULDING SOLUTIONS Suresh Nagadevera 040- 23191034 Traders in Machinery,Plot No. 72, Ushodaya Colony, Proprietor 9908123835 Auxiliary, Moulds, Products.Near UMCC, Hyderabad – 500055;

13 SIAME G Sreenivas 040 – 32935004 Traders in Machinery.2-2-1125 / 187 / A, New Nallakunta, Business Manager 9892541264Hyderabad – 500 044

14 ASIAN PLASTICS S. Srinivas 040 – 65968427 Mfrs. Plastic ContainersBlock No. A- 28/1, Plot No. 3, S. Nagaraj 9247216610 Jerry cans, etc. with printing.Road No. 15 / D, Industrial Park, Partners 9440563187Nacharam, Hyderabad – 500076

APPMA at Work

Report of Awarenesss on Plastics Program held on 30thDecember, 2010 at Mahaboobiya Junior College for Girls,Abids, Hyderabad and Tagore School, Secunderabad

Mr.B.V.Srinivas Rao, Chairman-Campaign & AwarenessCommittee along with Mr.V.Suresh, Chairman-Social WelfareCommittee and other WC Members Mr.Bhaskar Reddy,Md.Abdul Aleem along with the Hon.Secretary, APPMA Mr.JVenugopal, conducted an awareness program on plasticson 30th December, 2010 at Mahaboobiya Junior College forGirls, Abids, Hyderabad at 11 AM.

The representatives of APPMA spoke to the principalMr.Satyanarayana Reddy and explained in detail theactivities of APPMA. The chairman of Social WelfareCommittee Mr.V.Suresh enquired about the school'srequirement and proposed to give computers to the schoolas part of Social welfare Activity. On 7th January anawareness program will be conducted for the school

children. Four big size bins were handed over to theprincipal and explained about their usage.

Another awareness program was conducted in TagoreSchool, Secunderabad at 12noon on the same day. Themembers met the principal and teachers and conductedan interactive meeting with 40 students and teachers.Mr.Vellore Suresh addressed the students and the membersclarified their doubts regarding usage of plastics.

The principal expressed his happiness for conducting theinteractive session. The members assured the principal thatmore programs would be conducted in the same lines. Fourbig bins were handed over to the principal of the school.

The Chairman, Mr.B.V.Srinivas Rao, thanked themanagement of the school, The Hon.Secretary and themembers who participated in the program and helped inmaking the event a grand success.

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INDUSTRIES WITH 10 EMPLOYEESUNDER EPF PURVIEW NOW

Vithlesh YaduvanshiNEW DELHI: The Central Board of Trustees of the EmployeesProvident Fund Organisation (EPFO) on Saturday approvedthe reduction of threshold limit for establishments coveredunder the Employees Provident Fund and MiscellaneousProvisions Act (EPF & MP Act), 1952. With this,establishments employing even 10 people will be coveredunder the Act and would have to contribute towardsEmployees Provident Fund accounts as against the existing20, barring cooperative institutions functioning withoutpower, where the limit has been reduced from 50 to 20employees. This decision was approved at the first meetingof the newly constituted EPF Board. This is the first timein 48 years that the threshold limit has been changed.However, the Board meeting, chaired by Minister of Statefor Labour and Employment (independent charge) OscarFernandes, deferred a decision on fixing the rate of interestfor the EPF for the current financial year. The second LabourCommission and the Standing Committee on Labour hadalso recommended reducing the threshold limit in order toreduce the gap between coverage under EPF & MP Act,1952 and the total workforce of the country. The socialsecurity benefits provided under the Employees StateInsurance Corporation (ESIC) Act are already applicable toestablishments with 10 or more employees. Therefore, thisapproval would bring parity with the ESI Act with regard tocoverage and would help in unifying the social securityefforts of the government. It will also help in channellingthe registration of establishments and members of boththe ESIC and the EPFO.Source : www.epfindia.com, www.epfindia.com

PLASTICS VS. PAPER/JUTE/TEXTILEBAGS

THE ORIGIN OF PAPER BAGS:Paper comes from trees - and lots of them.

The paper grocery bag is an American innovation and wasdesigned in 1883. It's made from kraft paper - the word'kraft' coming from the German language meaning 'strong'.Kraft paper is known for its strength and course texture.It's strength lends to its reusability.

According to the American Forest & Paper Association, 2007marked an all-time high of 56% for the recycling of paperconsumed in the U.S. Curbside paper collection is easy andreadily available in most parts of the country. While Iapplaud the consumer and the industry for reaching thisgoal and beyond (the industries goal is 60% by 2012) I'd liketo point out that the manufacturing of paper products,like plastic, consumes natural resources and createspollution. As a matter of fact, the production of a paper

bag consumes 1 gallon ofwater (yep, per bag) equatingto 50 times that of plasticbags. Yikes!

How does a paper bag getfrom forest to grocery store?Trees are found, marked andfelled. Machinery is then usedto remove the logs from theforest floor - whether bylogging or, in more remoteareas, helicopters.

Machinery requires fossil fuelsand roads (which destroyhabitat) thereby creating stresson the forests' inhabitants (evenlogging a small area has a largeimpact on the entire ecologicalchain in surrounding areas).Mega-machinery comes in toremove the logs from what usedto be forest, either by loggingtrucks or even helicopters inmore remote areas. Thismachinery requires fossil fuel to

operate and roads to drive on, and, when doneunsustainably, logging even a small area has a large impacton the entire ecological chain in surrounding areas.

Paper comes from trees -- lots and lots of trees. The loggingindustry, influenced by companies like Weyerhaeuser andKimberly-Clark, is huge, and the process to get that paperbag to the grocery store is long, sordid and exacts a heavytoll on the planet. First, the trees are found, marked andfelled in a process that all too often involves clear-cutting,resulting in massive habitat destruction and long-termecological damage.

Trees must dry at least three years before they can beused to make paper. Once aged, machinery is used to stripthe bark, which is then chipped into 1 inch squares andcooked under tremendous heat and pressure. This woodstew is then 'digested' with a limestone and sulfurous acidfor eight hours. The steam and moisture is vented to theoutside atmosphere, and the original wood becomes pulp.It takes approximately three tons of wood chips to makeone ton of pulp.

The pulp is then washed and bleached, both stages requiringthousands of gallons of clean water. Coloring is added tomore water, and is then combined in a ratio of 1 part pulpto 400 parts water to make paper. The pulp/water mixtureis dumped onto a web of bronze wires, the water showers

News Update

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through, leaving the pulp to dry. This final product is thenrolled into paper.

Whew! What a lot of resources to just make the paper. Wemust include all of the chemicals, electricity, and fossilfuels used in the shipment of this raw material and in theproduction and shipment of a finished paper bag.

THE PLASTIC BAG - A BIT OF HISTORYThese days, most plastic bags are made from a type ofplastic called polyethylene. 80% of polyethylene is producedfrom natural gas - an abundant, yet non-renewableresource. Polyethylene, as a raw material, can bemanipulated into any shape, size, form or color. It'swatertight and can made UV resistant. It can be printedon and reused many, many times.

An argument can be made that plastic decreases landfillmass. Plastics, as a whole, make up 18% of waste by volumeand 7% by weight (plastic bags themselves are light andtake up very little space). If plastic were to be replaced byother materials, trash weight would increase by 150%,packaging would weigh 300% more and energy consumedby the industry would increase by 100%.

Plastic not being recycled can be burned yielding roughly10,000 to 20,000 btu per pound, most of which can beused to create electricity. This can help to reduce theoverall sulphur emissions from coal.

According to Boustead Consulting & Assoc. Ltd whoproduced a recent report for the Progressive Bag Alliance,polyethylene uses less energy, oil and water (potable) thanpaper bags made with 30% recycled fibers. Their study alsoshows that plastic grocer y bags emit fewer greenhousegases and less solid waste.

PAPER OR PLASTIC: A LOOK AT THE FACTS ANDNUMBERSFurther insight into the implications of using and recyclingeach kind of bag can be gained from looking at overallenergy, emissions, and other life cycle-related costs ofproduction and recycling. According to a life cycle analysisby Franklin Associates, Ltd, plastic bags create fewerairborne emissions and require less energy during the lifecycle of both types of bags per 10,000 equivalent uses --plastic creates 9.1 cubic pounds of solid waste vs. 45.8cubic pounds for paper; plastic creates 17.9 pounds ofatmospheric emissions vs. 64.2 pounds for paper; plasticcreates 1.8 pounds of waterborne waste vs. 31.2 poundsfor paper.

A SCIENTIFIC COMPARISON BETWEEN PAPER ANDPOLYETHYLENE IS SHOWN BELOW:Environmental burden Polyethylene PaperEnergy (GJ) for manufacture 29 67

Air pollutionSO2 9.9 28.1NOx 6.8 10.8CHx 3.8 1.5CO 1 6.4Dust 0.5 3.8Waste water burdenCOD 0.5 107.8BOD 0.02 43.1(Source: Fabbri, A in Scott, G and Gilead , D., editors,Degradable Polymers, Principles and Application, Chapman& hall, 1995, Chapt.)

PLASTIC AND JUTE BAGSA comparison of Plastic Bags with Jute Bags in terms ofLife Cycle Analysis reveals that" Energy Saving during manufacture of raw materials,

production and transportation of plastic bagscompared to jute bags is 81%.

" Environmental Burden with respect to Air and Waterpollution during Production of Raw Material and Bagsfor Plastic Bags and Jute bags are given below:

Environmental Burden Jute Bag Plastic BagAir EmissionCO kg 54.3 0.6CO2 kg 6610.2 760.0SOx kg 134.8 5.2NOx kg 68.1 4.8CH4 kg 39.5 3.2HCl kg 5.3 0.0Dust kg 67.6 1.4Water EmissionSuspended Solids kg 352.3 0.2Chlorides kg 4535.5 0.1

The values are for packaging of one lac MTs of Atta. Source:Centre for Polymer, Science and Engineering, IIT - Delhi

"CONSIDER THE ENORMOUS ENVIRONMENTAL BURDENGENERATED BY JUTE BAGS, WHICH ARE NOT VISIBLE TONAKED EYES THOUGH, IN COMPARISON TO PLASTICBAGS!"

PLASTIC AND TEXTILE BAGSWhen plastics and textile are compared, following data isrevealed:" Plastics manufacturing consumes 400 kwh/mt while

composite textile mills consume 1310 kwh/mt." Textile contributes 30% SOx (Second Highest by Any

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Sector) and 23% NOx (Highest by Any Sector) (Source: Warmer Bulletin, July 01) Millions of KW of energyis saved and the atmosphere is less polluted whenPlastic Carry bags are used in place of Textile bags.

WHAT IS THE REAL ISSUE?MYTH: Plastic bags choke drains in monsoon resulting infloodsTRUTH:" The root cause is dumping of all types of waste by

public into open sewers & drains." Plastic bags form a miniscule % of the dumped waste.

Other objects like waste tyres & rubber products,discarded footwear, metal cans, bricks, mortar andgarbage have been found dumped in drains & sewersleading to chokage.

" Ultra-thin carry bags are exported from India toGermany / other countries but these are not foundlittered on streets due to good civic sense andsupportive waste management systems.

" Most countries have adopted two bin culture -segregating dry and wet garbage.

" Plastics industry in India has been pleading with localgovernments for proper segregation systems andprovision of bins.

" This will help avoid littering and ensure recycling ofwaste plastics.

" Industry has already donated plastic bins in citieslike Delhi, Calcutta & Tirupati.

" ICPE along with government is committed to launchpublic education campaigns to enhance civic sense.

"Infrastructure and system support is a must for properwaste management. Remember, plastic do not litter butpeople do. The solution lies in proper waste management& timely cleaning of sewers & drains before monsoons."

MYTH: PLASTICS BAGS HAVE NO REUSETRUTH:" The thick gauge bags are retained by consumers for

multiple secondary usage over extended period oftime.

" Thereafter they are collected and recycled into veryuseful products like the barsati film, nursery bags,etc.

"FOR VERY THIN BAGS, INDUSTRY HAS ALREADYACCEPTED INCREASING THE MINIMUM THICKNESS TOMAKE REUSE AND RECYCLING VIABLE."

ANALYSIS & CONCLUSIONOur poor littering habits coupled with insufficientinfrastructure for waste management has created thedisposal problem of solid waste, including the plastic wastein the urban areas. However, available data reveals thatthe MSW in major cities in India contains around 5% plasticswaste, balance being Paper, Compostable Matters, Sand,

Silt, Sanitary Diapers and Construction Debris etc. HencePlastic Bags cannot be singled out as the sole reason forclogging of drains or deaths of live stocks.

Discontinuation of Plasticbags is no solution and willrather multiply the problemmany fold. This will add tothe woes of common man asthe so called alternativesare unviable, costly andplace greater burden on theenvironment.

To discourage illogical useand to encourage the wastepickers for collection andrecycling process, theregulatory bodies havealready specified theminimum thickness and sizeof plastic carry bags.

Therefore, the challenge facing us is to improve the solidwaste management system and address littering habits ofmasses by educating them and creating awareness. Thesolution lies in Segregation of Waste at Source andarrangement for Recycling of all recyclable waste. PlasticsBags are 100% recyclable.

(Source: Indian Centre for Plastics in the Environment(ICPE))

Now the decision is yours!Happy Thinking! Thank You!

A LANDMARK ORDER BY HON'BLEDELHI HIGH COURT AFFECTING GOVT.

PURCHASES FROM MSMESThe Hon'ble High Court of Delhi has delivered a landmarkjudgment recently which will have far reaching implicationsfor government purchases from MSMEs. The whole Govt.machinery has been directed to extend price preferenceto the extent of 15% over large suppliers in the matter ofpurchase of goods besides providing free tender document,not charging Earnest Money, waver from security depositetc.

You are aware the issue has been a bone of contention foryears, with most Govt. departments and PSUs refusing tofollow the circulars issued by the Ministry of MSMEs. Theplea put forward was that the circular is at bestdiscretionary and not binding. With the latest judgmentthis alibi has been smashed, hopefully for ever.

With PM Taskforce on MSMEs recommending a 20% set-aside

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target in Govt. of India purchases, the judgment could nothave been received at a more opportune time.

We in FISME think it is now up to the affected product/industry groups to take recourse to this judgment (whichhas disposed off the above oft repeated objection of Govt.purchasers of the provision being discretionary) and pressfor their legitimate rights.

Let us share both cases of success stories and obstacles soas to gain from each others experiences.

REPORT ON K2010Strong impulses for further growth of the plastics and rubberindustries: exceptionally strong willingness to invest amongthe over 220,000 trade visitors. Trade fair clearly exceedsexpectations / Exhibitors report of numerous contractsconcluded. The positive market trend clearly felt in theimmediate run-up to the world's biggest trade fairs for theplastics and rubber industries also characterised the courseof K 2010 Düsseldorf and made for an excellent moodamongst the 3,102 exhibitors. Companies reported anoverwhelming volume of contacts, a marked willingnessamongst trade visitors to invest, promising new customercontacts and many, also sometimes quite, spontaneousbusiness deals. The verdict from Ulrich Reifenhäuser,Chairman of the Exhibitor Council for K 2010, is thereforecorrespondingly positive: "K 2010 was held at the right pointin time and has provided all areas of our industry with newimpetus. The many and sometimes quite unexpectedlyspecific contract negotiations entered into at the tradefair speak for themselves!"

Delighted by the good results Werner Matthias Dornscheidt,CEO & President of Messe Düsseldorf, said: "Registeringmore than 220,000 trade visitors K 2010 has clearlyexceeded expectations in the sector given the crisis nowfinally drawing to an end! We are very satisfied that thetrade fair succeeded in providing strong impetus for furthergrowth and that our exhibitors were able to do businesswith numerous international customers of high decision-making competence."

Compared to the previous event in 2007 visitor attendancewas down by nine percent. But then the industry was in aboom phase, which came to a sudden end soon after as aresult of the global economic and financial crisis.

It was especially the wealth of new technical developmentspresented by raw material producers, machinerymanufacturers and producers of technical components thatenthused the trade visitors travelling from over 100countries to visit K 2010 in Düsseldorf. Commenting on thisUlrich Reifenhäuser said: "It can be clearly felt that aninvestment backlog formed during the global economic andfinancial crisis. Now demand is rising on a global scale and

we register overwhelming customer interest in our buyersectors. The innovations launched at K 2010 are stimulatinga powerful thrust in orders taken. Companies are nowbenefiting from also having consolidated their strengths inhard times, developing innovations and decisivelystrengthening their competitive edge!"

Close to 60% of K visitors came from outside Germany. Theexperts came from far more than 100 nations and allcontinents - they even travelled to the Rhine from Ethiopia,Costa Rica, the Ivory Coast, the Falkland Islands, Mauritius,New Caledonia and Turkmenistan. It became clear thatamongst the international experts attending a further shifttowards overseas visitors has taken place. At K 2007 57% ofall foreign guests still came from Europe; this year thispercentage was down to 54%. This means the proportionof experts from overseas rose to 46% of all internationalguests. The biggest group here came from Asia - withapproximately 30,000 experts. With about 11,000 gueststhe Indian subcontinent again accounted for the largestshare of Asian visitors. A substantial increase was alsoregistered in the number of trade visitors from Turkey andfrom Israel with 4,100 and 3,600 business people,respectively (compared to 2,800 and 2,300 at the previousevent). Compared to K 2007 there were also more visitorsfrom Egypt, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates.

With 10,500 business people the number of guests fromLatin America as a whole has remained unchanged; to thetune of 6,800 trade visitors came from the USA and Canada.

Visitors from neighbouring European countries weredominated by France and the Netherlands (with approx.7,000 visitors each) followed by Italy, Belgium and Austria.

For roughly two thirds of all the visitors polled machineryand equipment building ranked first in terms of interest inranges. 48% - and hence 7% more visitors than at K 2007 -stated their interest in raw materials and auxiliaries whilefor 26% semi-finished products and technical plastics andrubber components were the major reason for theirattendance (multiple choices possible). 62% of all visitorsrepresent top and middle management.

K 2010 got full marks from visitors for the ranges on displayin the 19 exhibition halls. 97% of all experts praised theevent saying they fully achieved the aims of their visit.

Plastics can look forward to a bright future as a materialfor creative ideas, particularly in the field of energyefficiency and saving resources. This insight was not onlyreflected by numerous examples on show at the exhibitors'stands from 56 nations. The Special Show "Visions inPolymers" also picked up on this theme meeting with greatinterest among experts from throughout the world. Filmsequences, selected exhibits and discussions with experts

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from industry and science highlighted the developmenttrends on the horizon and the novel applications the futurecan bring. The German plastics industry was responsiblefor the organisation of "Visions in Polymers" under the aegisof PlasticsEurope Deutschland e.V. and Messe Düsseldorf.The next K Düsseldorf will be held from 16 to 23 October2013.

PLASTIC TECHNOLOGY CENTRE TOCOME UP IN ORISSA

Hemant Kumar RoutTNN, Oct 29, 2010,

BHUBANESWAR: Orissa will have the country's first AdvancedPlastic Processing Technology Centre (APPTC) at Balasoresoon. The Planning Commission has approved theestablishment of APPTC at a total project cost of Rs 15crore.

Official sources said, CentralInstitute of Plastics Engineeringand Technology (CIPET) would bethe apex body directing andcontrolling the project activitiesas per the directives of thedepartment of chemicals andpetrochemicals.

"Around 70 percent of theplastics industries of Orissa aresituated in and around Balasore.So the government of India hasdecided to set up the centre inthe coastal district. The Stategovernment has also agreed to share 50 percent of its costand provide land for setting up of the APPTC," said anofficial of CIPET.

Due to globalization of trade and cost pressure, plasticsindustry in Indian context is looking forward to exploit theopportunities available in the export as well as domesticmarket. This would facilitate establishment of large-scaleproduction facilities and processing plants to cater to therequirements.

"It is also envisioned that during the end of XI Five YearPlan, around 100 more plastics processing industries areexpected to be established. Establishment of plastics parkand the upcoming plastics processing industries in andaround Balasore will boost the requirement of well trainedtechnical manpower for the plastics industry," he said.

APPTC will in fact fill up the demand and supply gap ofskilled manpower of the processing industry in the easternregion of the country by conducting long-term and short-term training programs in the areas of Plastics ProcessingTechnologies (PPTs).

"The technology centre will meet the increasingrequirements of the trained technical manpower for theplastic industry. Establishing APPTC will not only result infulfilling the requirement of additional skilled technicalmanpower in the area of plastics processing but also willfacilitate in rendering the Technology Support Services(TSS)," said local MP and Minister of State for Chemicalsand Fertilizers Srikant Jena.

"The raw materials availability for the plastic industries inBalasore can further be increased to ensure sustainabledevelopment as one petrochemical complex is also comingup at Paradeep to be developed by Indian Oil Corporation(IOC)," he informed.

Source said, the centre may come up at Baliapal, nearly30 km from Balasore, where government buildings built at

the cost of Rs 4.5 crore duringthe late 80s are lying unutilised.Last year an experts' team fromCIPET had visited the spot andsubmited a report to thegovernment. The infrastructurehas been built on around 150acres of land under therehabilitation package duringthe proposed National TestRange (NTR) which was stalledin 1992 due to vehementopposition.

However, during the first year ofits establishment, the centre is

expected to train and develop around 150 students in thefield of plastic processing through long-term academicprogrammes and around 100 participants through shortduration training programmes in the areas of plasticprocessing technology.

Once the APPTC become full-fledged, the total intake ofthe students for long term courses will be 480 for threelong term courses. In addition, the APPTC will also train250 technical personnel from plastic industry every yearthrough short term technology upgradation programmes.

The centre will also play a catalytic role in providingtechnology support services to the plastic and alliedindustries in and around Balasore. Further, it is expectedthat more than 150 plastics processing/allied industriesare likely to be started. This will boost the skilled manpowerrequirement in the area of plastics processing.

Moreover, as Balasore is well connected with other partsof the State and also the neighbouring States, the industrieslocated at these places will also utilize the services of theproposed Balasore plastics park.

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DOW INTRODUCES ECOSMOOTH™CONDITIONING POLYMERS AT IN-

COSMETICS ASIANext-Generation Conditioning Polymer Technology for HairBANGKOK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Dow Personal Care, a businessunit of The Dow Chemical Company, today introducedEcoSmoothTM - a new family of conditioning polymers thatprovide outstanding benefits without the use of silicone inshampoos. Unveiled at In-Cosmetics Asia 2010 in Bangkok,Thailand, EcoSmooth Silk Conditioning Polymers offer anexcellent blend of cost and performance benefits informulations.

"EcoSmooth Conditioning Polymers are different - theyrepresent a completely new approach to providingconditioning benefits in personal care products, and are avaluable tool in the formulator's toolbox. The polymers arenot cationic, which is the predominant conditioningtechnology today," said Courtney Fretz, strategic marketingmanager for hair care, Dow Personal Care.

Especially effective with Asian and European virgin (non-dyed) hair types, EcoSmooth Silk Conditioning Polymershave been proven externally to match silicone in wet anddry combing, as well as minimize hair breakage comparedwith silicone-containing shampoos. EcoSmooth SilkConditioning Polymers do not use the traditional co-acervation mechanisms associated with cationicconditioners. They bind hydrophobically to the hair shaftand replace fatty acids stripped from the cuticle.

In a series of comparative performance tests, formulationscontaining EcoSmoothTM Silk Conditioning Polymers wereshown to prevent product build-up on the hair, resulting inno volume-down effects, as compared to silicone-containingshampoos. "Build-up on hair is a common consumerconcern," said Fretz. "The performance benefits offeredby EcoSmooth Silk Conditioning Polymers represent adistinct benefit to formulators looking to address the issueof build-up or foam stability as they develop newformulations."

NEW POLYMERS COULD MAKE LIFETOUGH FOR BACTERIA

Ben CoxworthNew Mexico, researchers from two different researchinstitutes presented new types of antibacterial materials.One could allow users to kill bacteria by simply flipping onthe overhead lights, while another does so by combiningmodern technology with ancient medicine.

LIGHT-ACTIVATED PLASTICA representative from the University of New Mexicopresented her teams' findings on using a new polymer,"conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE) with an arylene-

ethynylene repeat-unit structure," to kill antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria - S. aureus is

responsible for about 19,000 deaths every year in the U.S.alone.

Although CPE does have antibacterial qualities, theresearchers found that some types of the polymer are inerttowards bacteria in the dark, thus allowing for thepossibility of CPE-coated countertops that could besterilized simply by turning on regular fluorescent roomlights. Although it was previously not known if CPEs wereharmful to the cells of people or animals, in-vitro testinghas so far indicated that they are safe.

A COATING THAT WON'T WEAR OFFFindings from the University of South Australia were alsoshared regarding research into getting antibacterialsubstances to adhere to medical devices. Antibacterialsgenerally don't stick well to smooth surfaces on their own,but some polymers do. The solution? Develop a polymerthat can be permanently applied as an ultrathin film toglass, metal and other plastics, that also acts as a scaffoldthat the antibacterial molecules can to bind to.

The scientists have had success with several types ofantibacterials, including antibiotic compounds, silvernanoparticles, and diterpene compounds derived fromAustralian traditional medicine.

"We believe that no solution will be universal so we wantto establish an array of approaches," said researcher HansGriesser. "The new diterpene compounds that we are testingare structurally quite different from establishedantibacterial compounds, and they are effective againstmethicillin [antibiotic]-resistantStaphylococcus aureus.That is what got us excited about them."

Cosmetics Asia or visit www.ecosmoothsilk.com.

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TWO INDIAN PROJECTS GET $100,000GRANT EACH FROM GATES

FOUNDATIONKounteya Sinha

TNN, Nov 10, 2010NEW DELHI: Two unique ideas from India -- one a non-surgical and completely reversible alternative to tubectomyand another the development of a biodegradable polymerto coat copper T intrauterine devices -- have won theprestigious Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant forbeing "novel ideas to improve global health".

Both these projects, the first by Prof Sujoy Guha of theIndian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and the other byAbi Santosh Aprem of HLL Lifecare Ltd will each receive$100,000 in grant to help further their research work.

Prof Guha has found a novel drug -- a magnetic polymerwhich, when inserted through the vagina and placed insidethe fallopian tube of a woman with the help of radiofrequency, kills or incapacitates both sperm and ovumpassing through it.

The procedure -- Transcervical Reversible FemaleContraception -- has shown 100% efficacy in small animaltrials like on rats and rabbits and will go into trials onlarge animals like goats in a few months before being triedon humans in a year.

It has several benefits over tubectomy. While tubectomy isa surgical procedure and a permanent method ofcontraception where the fallopian tubes (FT) are blockedso that the ova or eggs are prevented from travelling tothe uterus from the ovary, Prof Guha's procedure is non-surgical and reversible.

This means whenever a woman wants to conceive, the drugcompound placed inside the tube is removed, restoring thewoman's fertility.

Prof Guha told TOI, "The FT is inside the peritoneal cavity(PC) which is very susceptible to infection. Tubectomy canonly be done in an operation theatre by a trainedgynecologist. It is also irreversible. In my procedure, thereis no entry into the PC and no surgical incision is required.It is safe and the drug FerroCept can be removed wheneverthe woman wants to conceive."

So how long can the drug protect against pregnancy? "Wejust need to insert the drug through the vagina into theuterus. The novel compound is delivered to the fallopiantubes in liquid form, changed to a semi-solid form with anexternal application of radio frequency. The compound canstay inside the FT for the entire reproductive period of thewoman," he added.

Meanwhile, Aprem's project attempts to eliminate the side-effects associated with copper T intrauterine devices (IUD)by coating the copper with biodegradable polymers. Thepolymers could prevent bulk shedding of copper ions thatcause bleeding, cramping and pain, leading to increasedacceptance of this highly effective contraceptive device.

The IUD is a long-term birth control method. It is a small,T-shaped plastic device that is wrapped in copper orcontains hormones. The IUD is inserted into the uterus buthas risks. About 12% of women have the copper IUD removedbecause of increased menstrual bleeding or cramping. In 1out of 1,000 women, the IUD will get stuck in or puncture(perforate) the uterus. About 2% to 10% of IUDs are pushedout (expelled) from the uterus into the vagina during thefirst year.

The Foundation announced 67 grants to support projectsin 16 countries with ideas as diverse as a TB vaccinedelivered in a traditional Asian bean dish, a mobile phonetool to identify complications for community health workerscaring for pregnant women and newborns, and solarpowered, therapeutic blankets of light for newbornssuffering from jaundice.

VIBRANT GUJARAT TAKES SOLARFLIGHT

Prashant RuperaTNN, Sep 30, 201

VADODARA: When the world's first manned solar poweredairplane took off from a Switzerland airfield recently,Gujarat had a role to play in its maiden flight. Some specialpolymers used in this airplane were manufactured at thePanoli plant of Solvay Specialities India Pvt Ltd in Bharuch.The company is the Indian arm of Belgium-based Solvaygroup, whose consolidated sales clocked 8.5 billion euroslast year.

A prototype of the plane will be showcased at the VibrantGujarat summit scheduled in January 2011 at Gandhinagar.

India is set to contribute more towards Solar Impulse, aproject to prove the business viability and profitability ofrenewable energy. As a technology partner of the project,Solvay plans to carry out further research on specialisedpolymers at it R&D centre in Savli near Vadodara.

"One of the most sophisticated speciality polymers producedat our Panoli facility, (polyether ether ketone, or PEEK)was used for this project," said Roger Kearns, region generalmanager Asia Pacific and member of the executivecommittee of Solvay group.

The high temperature metal replacement polymer is lightyet tough and was used in throttle housing of the airplane,he said.

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The solar plane, which is currently on display at World Expoat China, will leave Shanghai on November 1. "The goal isthat this solar plane should take a world tour," said Kearns.

The group plans to invest around Rs 650 crore in Gujarat,including Rs 120 crore for research and development inSavli and Rs 500 crore towards upgrading its existing unitsat Panoli plant.

MANGALORE DC WANTS TO SET UPRECYCLING CENTRE

If Mangalore deputy commissioner V Ponnuraj has his waythe city corporation could set up a recycling centre forplastics and glass discarded as rubbish. Mr Ponnuraj, whohas come up with the idea, explains that recycling of suchwaste can help both the authorities and the people keepthe city clean. Buying the recyclable scrap fromMangaloreans could make them more environmentconscious in the process, in his view.

"The city corporation could set up the recycling centre andinvite people to bring whatever plastic and glass productsthey want to throw away, and buy them as scrap," MrPonnuraj says. The staff at the recycling centre could buythe plastic and glass by weight and then sell them to scrapdealers, he points out.

"But this is only a suggestion, it is upto the corporation toimplement," the DC adds. He is, however, obviously keenon the idea because he feels that if this practice is startedit will help in solid waste management as people will thensegregate their waste at home to sell the plastic and glassto the recyclable centre.

" We could start with glass and plastics and then dependingon the response extend the scheme to other materials," hesuggests.

THE GREEN CONNECTJaydip Majumde

Green lovers have found a unique way to connect. At atime when people across the world prefer to stay connectedthrough Facebook, environment lovers, too, are no differentand are keeping in touch through innovative blogs onFacebook.

If you Google 'environmental lovers' on Facebook, you getat least 20 different results of communities - allenvironment lovers who prefer to twitter on various issues.Take, for instance, Environmental Working Group (EWG) -an online community for environmental lovers, which wasfounded in 1993 and has above 65,000 members. Membersexchange information and wax eloquent on a variety oftopics ranging from the toxins found in cosmetics to variousspecies under threat.

The latest area that has evoked a huge response from theseenvironment lovers is BPA research. BPA is a component insome plastics and environmentalists are not very sure ifthe chemical is eco-friendly. Naturally, green lovers are upin arms about the harmful effects of BPA and are pointingout that although there has been constant research doneon BPA for more than a decade now with millions of dollarsbeing spent, there is really no consensus about thecomponent's safety. With dialogues flowing thick and faston the pros and cons of products, the general consensus byeco warriors is that big corporations are taking the ordinaryman for granted.

Another eco community that is making its impression felton Facebook is the Ryerson University's community entitledRyerson Environment Lovers. The community describesitself as the kids who pick up trash from the floor and "yell"at their friends who litter. Go green is the community'smotto. Here individuals have come together to 'talk'vociferously about issues like toxic waste in Alberta. Thecommunity also informs about the formation of a greenparty on campus and its members are hopeful that theparty will be able to bring environmental concerns to thepublic eye.

Another vocal environmental group on Facebook is To beor not to Be that feels strongly about the fact that richcountries alone have access to resources. The desire togain more and more profits - they feel - is the main reasonbehind the pollution of the environment.

And if all these communities were not enough to whet yourappetite to go green, there is the Environment Page whichsays that if you have a shared passion for the environment,you can become a member.

However, the question that arises is - can environmentalactivism really change the face of the earth? Social activistand environmentalist Subhas Datta observes, "Such effortsare definitely commendable but it remains to be seen ifsuch online activism really has any impact on the groundlevel or not." Definitely, such activities create awareness.However, unless translated to actual work on the ground,we may never be able to gauge the impact any of theseonline communities are making.

The author is an environmental enthusiast

BEER COULD BE DESTINED FOR PETAnthony Clark

PLASTICS & RUBBER WEEKLYMANCHESTER, ENGLAND :PET could be the future ofpackaging in the brewing industry, delegates to theInternational Brewing Convention in Manchester were toldthis week. Geoff Giles, a fellow of the Institute of Packagingand a consultant with idiPac, gave a lecture to the

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convention on innovations in packaging.

Among the trendsand ideas her e c o m m e n d e ddelegates shouldmonitor over thenext few years is thedevelopment of PETpackaging for beer.

"You can do things with PET that you cannot do with othermaterials," he said. "The market for PET bottles has thepotential to grow. If carbon foot-printing becomes moreimportant and you have to publish environmental data onyour packaging, this could give a competitive advantageto PET.

"Waste management may also be a key driver in the futureand PET's recyclability will be important."

During his presentation he specially mentioned thedevelopment of PET kegs for the bulk packaging of beer byspecialist plastics packaging technology business PetainerLidköping AB, which had a stand at the exhibition linked tothe convention. Petainer has recently launched a family ofPET kegs for beer and other beverages.

Giles also mentioned the use of decoration on PET bottlesas possible a boost to sales. He illustrated his theme witha bottle that Petainer developed for Galatea, one of thelargest suppliers to Swedish state monopoly alcohol retailerSystembolaget.

ALLIANCE POLYMERSHAS PLANS FOR ASIA

Frank EspositoPLASTICS NEWS STAFF

AKRON, OHIO -- As it celebrates its first birthday, resindistributor Alliance Polymers & Services LLC already hasinternational aspirations.

The Romulus, Mich.-based firm -- which distributesthermoplastic elastomers for BASF Corp. and PolymaxElastomer Technology Co. Ltd. -- hopes to open a salesoffice and warehouse in Asia during the first half of nextyear, officials said in a recent interview in Akron.

"Our business model has been very successful, and we'dlike to see if it can work in Asia or Europe," principalStephane Morin said. "But we want to remain only in TPE.We want to have inventory and be a great resource."

Alliance can supply thermoplastic polyurethanes from BASFand styrenic block copolymers from Polymax in drums,boxes or 55-pound bags - in most cases, within 24 hours.

The firm has benefited from this year's auto industryrebound, as U.S. car and light-truck builds are expectedto increase to 11.5 million - 3 million more than wereproduced last year.

"The third quarter was really good for us, and it shows nosigns of slowing down," Morin added.

Replenishing of inventories of recreational vehicles andother large vehicles also gave Alliance a boost in its firstyear of operation.

Alliance supplier Polymax also has been enjoying fastgrowth, to the point where the Nantong, China-based firmhoes to have its own production plant in North Americawithin the next two or three years, co-owner Martin Lusaid in Akron.

Although Polymax is not basic in SBC production, the 5-year-old firm can produce up to 1,000 specialized gradesof those materials, Lu said. Polymax employs 110 inNantong.

Alliance also is looking to add its own compounding capacityin the near future, either on its own or as part of a jointventure with Polymax. Alliance now employs 10 and hopesto add employees and sales representatives early next year.The firm occupies a 15,000-square-foot location.

Morin and co-owner Roger Huarng launched Alliance in late2009 after lengthy careers with BASF.

USE OF RECYCLED PET RISES TORECORD LEVEL

Mike VerespejPLASTICS NEWS STAFF

WASHINGTON -- Despite the continuing sluggish economy,the use of recycled PET in food, beverage and non-foodcontainers is rising dramatically, as retailers and consumerproduct companies continue to make more commitmentsto packaging that uses recycled resin.

The amount of recycled PET used in food and beveragebottles jumped 44 percent in 2009 to 203 million pounds -- the first significant increase in four years and its highestlevel ever, according to the PET recycling report issuedjointly by the National Association for PET ContainerResources, the Association of Postconsumer PlasticRecyclers and the PET Resin Association.

Similarly, although it wasn't as large of an increase, theamount of recycled PET used in non-food packaging bottlesrose 18 percent-from 55 million pounds to 65 million poundsin 2009, slightly more than its previous high-water marketin 2004 and 2005.

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What's more, a record 937 million pounds of recycled PETwere used in manufacturing applications, up 2.4 percentfrom a year-ago, despite drops in recycled PET usage,related to the economy, in strapping and in fiberapplications, which remains the largest end-market forrecycled PET.

"There is a concerted effort touse more recycled content infood and non-food containers,"said Dennis Sabourin, executivedirector of NAPCOR, in a phoneinterview. "Demand isoutstripping the supply ofbottles, driven by sustainabilityinitiatives from retailcompanies and consumerproduct goods, and publicdemand."

In addition, the PET recyclingrate, which had fallen as lowas 19.6 percent in 2003,increased for the sixth straight year to 28 percent - itshighest level since 1997. "The recycling rate is still trendingupward," Sabourin said.

Clearly, part of that increase in the recycling rate can beattributed to less resin used in PET bottles and containersfor the second year, because of lower sales in a weakereconomy and continued lightweighting initiatives.

PET resin used in bottles and jars that was available forrecycling dropped by 4 percent, or 217 million pounds, in2009. That follows a drop of 5.6 percent, or 317 millionpounds, in 2008. That dropped the amount of resin used to5.149 billion pounds, the lowest level since 2005 when 5.075billion pounds of PET were used to make PET containersand bottles.

Despite the continued climb in the recycling rate the lasttwo years from 24.6 percent to 28 percent, the amount ofPET bottles recycled, in pounds, remained essentially flatat 1.444 billion pounds. That's down slightly from 2008,when 1.451 billion pounds were recycled and only slightlyhigher than the 1.396 billion pounds of PET bottles andcontainers recycled in 2007.

Approximately 725.7 million pounds of that recycled PETwas purchased "mostly by Chinese traders," along withapproximately the 22.7 millions of recycled PET Chinapurchased as part of mixed plastic bales, according to theOct. 20 report. That means 55.6 percent of all recycledPET bottles and containers are exported, almost all of it toChina - which is similar to a year ago - and the fourthstraight year that China has purchased more than half ofthe PET bottles collected in the United States.

Canada purchased 53 million pounds of recycled U.S. PETin 2009.

Still, the volume of PET purchased by U.S. recyclers, afterdropping slightly in 2008, bounced back to 642 millionpounds, the second-highest amount ever, exceeded onlyby the 681 million pounds purchased in 2005.

But those purchases of domesticrecycled PET remain well below whatwould be needed to run all the PETreclamation plants in the U.S. at fullcapacity. NAPCOR estimated that U.S.PET reclamation capacity was 1.029billion pounds at the beginning of 2009and 1.247 billion at the end of 2009.

In addition, more than 200 millionpounds of PET reclamation capacitycame online in 2010, with morecapacity scheduled to come on-streamin 2011. More than half of theindustry's PET reclamation plant can

produce food-grade PET, a dramatic change from just afew years back.

As a result of the capacity and available supply imbalance,the industry still continues to need to buy recycled PETfrom Canada, Mexico and South and Central America, andto use alternative PET feedstock such as pre-consumerbottles, post-consumer strapping and other unprocessedindustrial scrap, said the report.

The amount of PETbottles collected andrecycled in the U.S.could meet the demandlevels and satisfy thecapacity of PETreclamation plants inthe U.S., but not aslong as China continuesto purchase more than55 percent of the PETcollected.

"China is still continuing to use a significant percentage ofthe PET bottles collected and recycled and that is not likelyto change anytime soon," Sabourin said. "There is nothingto show that they are backing away from the market."

As a result, the report said "the [PET] recycling rate willneed to increase to at least twice what it is this year" or toabove 56 percent, "to provide the market with the[recycled] PET it needs, at sustainable pricing - both nowand in the future," assuming China continues to buy at thesame levels.

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That could create supply shortages or lead to market priceincreases for recycled PET in the future. "This combinationof high demand and inadequate supply means higher pricingis likely to come - possibly in excess of" prices for virginmaterials, said the report.

However, Sabourin remains encouraged by PET recyclingcollection trends.

According to the report, more than 46 new collectionprograms began in the U.S. in 2009. In addition, the reportsaid there were six major programs expansions and 52program expansions/conversions to single-stream recyclingaffecting more that 3.7 million households.

"Those 46 new collection programs will continue to generatenew material," Sabourin said. "The industry is continuingto promote recycling activities as the supply of existingbottles continues to be outstripped by demand."

The report further notes that there is "renewed interest inrecycling - driven both by the business sector's embracingof the sustainability ethic and by the public's concern aboutthe environment."

"[That has] led to the creation of more container recyclingcollection opportunities, both residential and away fromhome [and] helped offset the reduced volume of PET bottlesand jars available for collection," said the report.

The challenge, Sabourin said, is to bring into the recyclingstream products such as thermoformed PET packages "thathave not been part of the typical packaging recyclingstream." Both NAPCOR and APR are working on initiativesto increase the recycling of thermoformed PET packagesand eliminate technical barriers to processing and recyclingsuch packages.

The use of recycled PET in the U.S. rose 2.4 percent led bythe gains in food and beverage bottles and non-food bottles.However, recycled PET used in fiber applications, declined12 percent in 2009 and the use of recycling PET for strappingfell 16.7 percent.

"As the economy improves, all end-user categories will comeback," Sabourin said.

Overall, fiber remains the biggest end market for recycledPET at 344 million pounds, accounting for 36.7 percent ofall recycled PET used. But food and beverage has leapedinto second place among end-use categories and now usesmore than 21.66 percent of all recycled PET resin collectedand recycled. Sheet and film remains the third-largest end-market.

Sabourin said the recent investments in PET reclamation

capacity "are a positive sign that this industry is robustand only capped by its ability to recycle more materialfrom the waste streams."

"Companies continued and are continuing to invest" in asluggish economy and when much of the raw material theyneed is being exported, mostly to China, Sabourin said."The use of recycled PET has a favorable carbon footprintand recycled PET has positioned itself as a sustainablepackage of choice."

This is the fifth year that NAPCOR, APR and PETRA havepartnered to produce the annual recycling report, and the15th year that NAPCOR has issued the report in its currentformat. Data for the report came from data internallygenerated at NAPCOR, PETRA and the International BottledWater Association, as well as from surveys conducted byMoore Recycling Associates and HDR Inc.

Recycling data for high density polyethylene and othercontainers are expected to be released shortly by the APRand the American Chemistry Council.

NOBEL WINNERS IN CLOSE CONTACTWITH BASF

December 10, 2010 is a special day in the lives of Ei-ichiNegishi, Akira Suzuki and Richard Heck: on this date, thetwo Japanese and the American will receive the Nobel Prizein Chemistry for having pioneered Palladium-catalyzed crosscoupling. The technology is used to synthesize complexorganic molecules used as active ingredients inpharmaceutical and plant protection products.

BASF is also delighted at the Nobel selection committee'sdecision: BASF is in close contact with Ei-ichi Negishi andAkira Suzuki. In fact, both scientists are regulars at theBASF boron conferences to discuss the latest developmentsof boron and zinc chemistry.

For many years now BASF has been using the scientists'revolutionary discoveries for their own syntheses. Boscalidis a good example. In terms of volume, the production ofthis fungicidal is the single largest industrial application ofSuzuki coupling. Boscalid protects fruit and vegetables froma variety of fungal strains and is now being used with greatsuccess to treat cereal and oilseed crops.

In addition, BASF creates numerous building blocks usedfor cross coupling reactions. The Inorganics division (CA)recently launched organozinc halides. These are used forNegishi couplings. Production of these compounds, as wellas various boric acid esters for the Suzuki reaction, takeplace at the BASF site in Evans City near Pittsburgh,Pennsylvania. In addition, BASF research scientists arelooking into new applications and basic elements for thistechnology.

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POLYMER AND RUBBER INNOVATIONLIGHTEN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

OF AUTOMOBILES22 October 2010 16:50 [Source: ICB]INNOVATIVE PRODUCTS AREREDUCING THE WEIGHT ANDCUTTING THE ENVIRONMENTALBURDEN OF AUTOMOBILESThe automotive industry is drivingtoward lightweight materialsbecause of an increasing focus onemissions reduction and increasedfuel economy. This trend hasopened up an array ofopportunities for plastics,including high-performancematerials, in the automotive industry.Currently, plastics account for a share of around 20% byweight among the materials that are being used inpassenger vehicles. However, the evolution of new-agemodels and the increasing focus on designing vehiclesefficiently have compelled the material designers and theoriginal equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to look beyondtraditional plastics. This in turn has propelled plasticsmanufacturers to focus on product innovation and also toevaluate opportunities for high-performance plastics in awider arena of automotive applications.

In under-hood applications - one of the high-growth areasfor automotive plastics - there is an increasing need forhigh temperature-resistance plastics because of downsizingand reduction of engine space. This has given rise to a fewnoteworthy innovations in the marketplace.

For example, Austria-headquartered Borealis has designeda glass-filled polypropylene (PP) for air intake manifoldsto be used as a replacement for GF PA in VW models. PP isa highly versatile material, but it may lack some keyproperties such as high temperature and chemicalresistance.

However, Borealis's unique patented composition of PP withglass fiber reinforcements is offered as an alternativesolution with an ideal balance of properties such astemperature resistance and dimensional stability. The useof the material in vehicles also leads to significant weightreduction.

Another example of under-the-hood plastics innovation isUS group DuPont's Zytel HTN. The semi-aromatic chemicalstructure of the polyamide offers a profile of balancedproperties and can be used as an alternative for traditionalplastics. Some other examples of high-performancepolyamides in under-the-hood applications are Switzerland-headquartered EMS Grivory'sGrilamid L, France-basedArkema's Rilsan HT andBelgian group Solvay Advanced

Polymers' Amodel.

Another significant innovation that has propelled the useof plastics in oil pans by the leading OEMs, is from Germanengineering group Mann+Hummel in 2008. These plasticpans weigh about 60% less than traditional materials andalso lead to significant reductions in production costs.Germany-based BASF's Ultramid B3ZG7 OSI, used for oilpan modules, is also an innovation in this area. This impact-grade plastic matches the performance of cast aluminum.

AUTOMOTIVE APPLICATIONS ACCOUNT FOR ONLY 3% OFTOTAL VOLUME CONSUMPTION IN THE BIOPOLYMERSMARKETSustainability is another mega trend that is drivinginnovations in the field of auto motive plastics, with bio-based polymers gaining increased acceptance in the automotive industry.

EMERGENCE OF BIOPOLYMERSUS automaker Ford Motor has decided to use soy-basedurethane foam in the seats of its next-generation Explorersport utility vehicles. The firm was the pioneer in usingsoy-based urethane in the Mustang in 2007. Currently, thepolymer blend contains about 5% of soy bean oil and isused in seats, seat backs, headliners and other interiorparts. The company also has plans to use corn-basedpolylactic acid (PLA) for its vehicles in the future.

Japan has emerged as a pioneer for bio-based automotiveplastics. Mazda Motor has launched a biofabric made outof PLA through a joint venture between Mazda and Japan'sTeijin Fibers, for applications such as seat covers and doortrims for its Premacy Hydrogen RE Hybrid. Toyota is alsoinvestigating the use of PLA in the interiors of its vehicles.

The need for superior performance has gradually increasedthe attention on biobased polymers, even in the space ofhigh-performance plastics. For example, Arkema's RilsanHT, a polyamide-based plastic, is a bio-based high-performance polymer that has up to 70% renewablecontent. It is the first one to replace metals in tubing forhigh-temperature applications.

This flexibility and its ability to lower overall system costsby 50% makes it an attractive polymer. Arkema is workingwith Toyobo, a Japanese producer of specialty polyamides,for the launch of another bio-based polyamide gradesuitable for automotive applications.

Japanese industrial group Mitsubishi, in collaboration withJapan's Aichi Industrial Technology Institute, has developeda biopolymer based on polybutylene succinate (PBS) andbamboo fibers for use in automotive interior applications.

Currently, automotive applications account for only 3% of

Gareth JJ Burgess

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total volume consumption in the biopolymers market.Processing difficulties and the lack of high-performanceproperties have limited the use of biopolymers in autos.However, with expected breakthroughs in polymerizationtechniques and processing technology, biopolymers are setto gain significant opportunities in the market.

Taking this as a cue, the plastics industry, including resinmanufacturers, additive suppliers and compounders, isstreamlining product development initiatives towardsachieving high-performance grades of biopolymers.

INNOVATIVE TIRESThe global tire industry is huge, with manufacturingprojected to reach 1.7bn tires by the end of 2010, up from1.4bn in 2005. Tires have lost their commodity image andmajor innovations in the rubbers and plastics used are nowbeing seen.

Some recent trends and legislation in the tire industry thathave been fueling innovations in the polymer industry are:" Usage of lightweight and green materials" Tire durability and performance" Tire-labeling legislation and rolling resistance

legislation" The "Go green" trend to bring eco-friendly materials

to the forefront.

A major challenge faced by the rubber industry is theavailability of petroleum-based raw materials such asbutadiene (BD) and isoprene. To overcome this,manufacturers are seeking greener alternatives. Oneoutcome is US-based Goodyear's bio-isoprene, made frombiomass.

In the tire cords segment, Korea's Hyosung has developedLyocell filament yarn for increased tire cord strength,dimensional stability, adhesion, plus improved performanceand driving stability of the vehicle.Lyocell is a cellulose-based fiber. Sustainablity has thus become the buzzwordin manufacturing tire components.

TIRE DURABILITY AND PERFORMANCEIncreasing durability has been a major issue for the rubberand plastics industry. Companies have been developingnewer materials to cater to the durability needs of theend-users.

Germany's LANXESS is producing polybutadiene rubbersusing catalysts such as lithium, cobalt and neodymium,which provide reduced heat buildup, improved abrasionresistance and fatigue resistance.

US major ExxonMobil has introduced Exxcore DVA resin forthe inner liner. The resin has the low permeability of plasticand the flexibility and low temperature durability of rubber.

It is used with an adhesive. Goodyear developed an SIBR(styrene isoprene butadiene rubber) polymer withcontrolled composition and microstructure for high-performance tires.

In the tire cord sector, US firm Honeywell hascommercialized a high-tenacity/high-modulus polyethylenenaphthalate cord under the trade name Pentex. This tirecord is developed as a substitute for the synthetic fiberRayon.

Tire labeling and rolling resistance legislation governs theusage of certain types of raw materials, such as solutionstyrene butadiene rubber (SBR). Companies such asLANXESS, Goodyear and Firestone of the US have movedtowards replacing emulsion SBR with solution SBR, as thelatter shows high performance and lower rolling resistance.Manufacturing capacity has been boosted for solution SBR,which is projected to grow by 5-6%/year. Solution SBR forpassenger car tire markets in North America is expected togrow at a rate of 3.8%/year between 2009 and 2016,generating revenues of around $2.3bn €1.6bn) by the endof 2016.

K Deepan Kannan is an industry analyst for Frost & Sullivan'sglobal chemicals and materials practice in Chennai, India.He has three years of consulting experience in globalchemicals

Shree Vidhyaa Karunanidhi is a research analyst for Frost& Sullivan Global in Chennai, India specializing in marketingand marketing research and with expertise in the chemicalsector

Author: K. Deepan Kannan Shree Vidhya Karunanidhihttp://www.icis.com/Articles/2010/10/25/9403881/polymer-and-rubber-innovation-lighten-environmental-impact-of.html

'UK'S SMALL COS KEEN ON INDIAIMPORTS'

Sudeshna SenLONDON

IN THE Midlands, home to Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) and theheart of Britain's manufacturing industry, small and mediumbusinesses are as likely to have trade links with India asbig companies - companies with a turnover of less than £1million are more likely to import from India than mediumor larger firms. In a survey spanning exporting and importingbehaviour patterns for over 2,000 British companies, asurprise Derby and Leicester top the charts for doing themaximum business with India - ahead of places likeBirmingham.

The survey, commissioned by the Indian High Commissionin London, finds that while 4% of the companies currently

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export products to India, around 8% actively import and27% want to increase their exposure. Sectors with themaximum demand for imports from India are for dressingand dying of fur, textiles, electrical machinery, motorvehicles like trailers, and furniture. Raw materials,components, and equipment are likely to form the bulk ofimports.

On the export side, maximum exports are in other transportequipment, rubber, plastic products and basic metals, withparts, machinery, plastics and systems emerging as the mainitems.

In order to tap into the latent demand among the SME sectorin the Midlands, the Indian High Commission along withIndian industry associations are focusing on bringingtogether SMEs in both countries as an ongoing focus area,starting with an initiative to bring together Indian SMEswith their counterparts in Birmingham later this week.Indian SMEs, according to industry bodies, are keen onmodern and cutting-edge technologies.

According to the survey, about half of the respondents areinterested in selling technology to Indian firms, with thekeenest sectors being in medical, precision and opticalinstruments, post and telecommunications, fabricatedmetal products and textiles.

PLASTICS RESTRICTED INSABARIMALA

Nov. 3:The Kerala High Court has on Wednesday imposedrestrictions on the use of plastic during the three-monthlong Sabarimala pilgrimage season, commencing this month.

A Division Bench comprising justice Thothathil B.Radhakrishanan and Justice P. Bhavadasan ordered thatplastic waste should not be dumped in and around thetemple area and also specified the minimum thickness forcarry bags.

It directed the authorities to ensure that restrictions wereenforced effectively at Sabarimala, Pamba, Nilackka,Erumeli, Chalakayyam and other pilgrim centres connectedto the famous hill shrine.

By another order, the bench directed police authorities toensure that no donkeys are transported from Tamil Naduand other states to these places, violating prevention ofcruelty to animals and traffic of Animal rules.

Donkeys are used to transport goods, grocery and all otherarticles from Pamba to Sabarimala hills. The court clarifiedthat no donkeys be used except with certificate of theDistrict Animal Husbandry officer.

No vehicles carrying donkeys should be permitted without

proper certification of the concerned authorities. At entrypoints also certification was needed. The bench alsodirected police and temple administration to levy chargefrom contractors for feeding donkeys.

MJ WAS ADDICTED TO FACE JOBS:MOM

London: In a frank TV interview with Oprah Winfrey, MichelJackson's mother Katherine has opened up for the first timeabout her son's obsession withplastic surgery, saying shehad to plead the doctor to stop working on her son's face.Katherine said that she secretly met the surgeon out ofdesperation after a stern chat with her superstar son hadno effect, Contactmusic reported.

"I hear that people get addicted to plastic surgery and Ithink that's what happened to him. I had told him, 'That'senough. Why do you keep going?' I even talked to this plasticsurgeon, saying, 'If he comes in and he wants you to workon his nose, just tell him you did it... and don't change it,'"the Jackson family matriarch said.

Katherine also claimed that her son's admission that hehad only two nose jobs was not true.

"He had more than two, but he was just embarrassed (toadmit it)... (His nose was) too small, like a toothpick atone time," she added. PTI

CHINA'S SEPTEMBER PETCHEMIMPORTS SLOW AS ECONOMY COOLS

DOWNJudith Wang

SHANGHAI (ICIS)--China's imports of most petrochemicalproducts in September registered annual declines due tothe high base last year and a slight moderation in overalleconomic activities, analysts said on Monday.

The country's GDP expanded at a decelerated pace of 9.6%in the third quarter from an 11.9% clip in the second quarter,as the government continued to rein in credit to cool downthe property sector.

Based on data from China Customs, China imported 8% lessof ethylene at 74,924 tonnes compared to the same periodlast year, while imports of propylene and butadienerecorded significant declines of 33% to 81,455 tonnes and61% to 7,587 tonnes, respectively.

Massive new capacity additions from state-ownedpetrochemical giant Sinopec in Tianjin and Zhenhai hadhelped bring down China's olefins import requirements thisyear, said Wang Qiang, an analyst fromXiang Cai Securities.

The crackers in these two locations that started up this

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year have capacities of 1m tonnes/year each and wereexpected to boost supply of olefin derivatives such aspolyethylene and polypropylene in the domestic market,Wang said.

Meanwhile, the recent spike in chemical values, on theback of crude price gains, also deterred buyers fromprocuring materials through imports last month, analystssaid.

"Buyers were cautious about purchasing as most chemicalprices were increasing in September," said an analyst frombrokerage Guolian Securities in Jiangsu, who declined tobe named.

The case was different for polyvinyl chloride (PVC), whichwas priced lower when imported given that the domesticmarket was in short supply, analysts said, citing powerrestrictions at selected provinces that cut production at anumber of China's petrochemical plants.

China's imports of PVC in September increased 35% year onyear to 142,376 tonnes, based on official data.

Its monoethylene glycol (MEG) and purified terephthalicacid (PTA) imports, on the other hand, were stable at543,776 tonnes and 489,095 tonnes compared to the sameperiod last year, according to China Customs.

NEW DEVELOPMENT IN RANDOM POLYPROPYLENE BY (HPL)

Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. has recently developed new PPRandom Copolymer Grade PP M212S which is equivalent toRIL's PP SRM100NC and R120MK.

HPL make PP M212S is of 12 MFI PP Random Copolymermaterial with high clarifier for Injection Moulding.Saidmaterial is ideal for making High Clarity Containers,Houseware, Syrings and ISBM products.

Material is also available for trial purpose for processing.

Source:HPL's agent's news letter

CEMENT FROM PLASTIC BOTTLES TOHELP BUILD A GREEN WORLD

Washington: Researchers have converted discarded plasticbottles in combination with soil to form a porous cementlike substance that could be the construction material ofthe future.

It could also considerably ease ecological hazard causedby billions of plastic bottles discarded every year.

Naji Khoury, assistant professor of civil and environmentalengineering at Temple University in US, says the

t r a d e m a r k e dproduct is called'Plastisoil'. Khourysaid that it takes30,000 of thebetter qualityrecyclable bottlesto make onetonne of porousPlastisoil. He

hopes to be able to use different types of recyclable plasticbottles in the future, according to a Temple statement.

Besides, Khoury said that an energy analysis shows that ituses less energy to produce one tonne of Plastisoil thanone tonne of cement or asphalt. Khoury said that Plastisoilcould ease environmental problems created by stormwaterrun-off because stormwater can filter through it into theground below.

The material could be used to form sidewalks, bike/joggingpaths, driveways and parking lots. "We are currently testingthe porous Plastisoil to see if we could also remove orreduce pollutants like motor oil from the water as it filtersthrough," he said.

He added that preliminary results also show porous Plastisoilto be cheaper to manufacture than existing technologies/products. Khoury first developed Plastisoil with a co-inventors while at the University of Oklahoma, but hecreated the material after moving to Temple in 2008. IANS

ULTRA-LOW MAINTENANCE WOODPLASTIC COMPOSITES

SpecialChemJennifer Markarian

Wood plastic composites (WPCs) are used broadly in outdoordecking and railing as well as applications like fencing,siding, and outdoor furniture. WPCs have long beenmarketed as 'low maintenance', especially compared topressure-treated wood, because they do not require routinestaining or painting to protect the surface. However, WPCmanufacturers have struggled with aesthetic issues suchas color fade, poor scratch resistance in some formulations,and stains. Stain problems include oil or food soaking intothe WPC as well as mold and mildew growth. Suppliershave used additives such as biocides, UV stabilizers, andimproved colorants to attack these problems. In March,PolyOne Corporation announced development of a patent-pending fiber treatment technology aimed at enhancingresistance to weathering, scratching, and staining. Additivesolutions may have a place, but the current industry trendis to use either a coextruded capstock based on weatherableacrylic-type polymers to completely cover the wood-containing core or to eliminate wood altogether by using

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cellular PVC. These 'ultra-low maintenance' solutions stillneed periodic washing, but they eliminate the problems ofscratching, staining, and color fade, said Steve Van Kouterenof Principia Partners, which recently hosted their annualexecutive conference on the Wood-Plastic and Natural FiberComposite industry.

Mike Haubert, Partner and Director - Technology at MosaicColor and Additives, a compounder with a focus on theWPC industry, said that additives still play an importantrole. "Although capstock takes away some of the weatheringproblems, we continue to take wholistic approach in whichwe design from the inside out. Both the core and the capmaterials needantioxidant and UV protection," he addedand went on to say that using a capstock allows formulatorsto increase sustainability by putting more recycled materialor more wood flour or natural fibers in the core, since thecap supplies physical properties found at the surface andprotects any exposed wood.

In addition to low maintenance, consumers look for highquality, aesthetically pleasing products. Haubert sees atrend towards specialty pigments including variegatedsurfaces and multichromatic colors that are seen asdifferent colors from different viewing angles. Consumerscontinue to have a preference for darker colors andsimulated woodgrains, say experts. Infrared (IR)-reflectingpigments, available for some darker colors, can be used tohelp reduce heat build-up. Simulated woodgrains, whichbegan in vinyl siding and moved into WPC decking, areexpected to continue to expand to other plastic applicationswhere consumers prefer an appearance that mimicstraditional wood. Products include PolyOne's OnColor™ linewith streaker technology to simulate tropical hardwoodsand Mosaic Color's Mojo™ natural wood grain effects."Simulated woodgrains, in which you are aiming for aconsistently inconsistent pattern, are a combination of artand science," said Chris Piazza, Business Director and GM -Extrusion at Americhem. The company branded theirnGrain™ simulated woodgrain effects in 2008, and hasrecently focused on the science of variegated pigmentation,going back to the lab to better understand how the pigmentformulation, composite formulation, and compositeprocessing conditions work together to control the end-product appearance.

CHINA AND INDIA ARE MAINDRIVERS OF INCREASING ETHYLENEDERIVATIVE CONSUMPTION: CMAI

SpecialChem - Dec 1, 2010

HOUSTON, TX -- Chemical Market Associates, Inc. (CMAI)announced the completion of the 2011 World Light OlefinsAnalysis, an annual global study that covers historical trendsand future projections for supply, demand, production,capacity, trade, pricing and profitability of the global

Ethylene and Propylene (RG/PG/CG) industry for the period2005 to 2015.

Included with each analysis is 12 months access to CMAI'sonline capacity and supply/demand databases with a mid-term supply/demand update, incorporating CMAI's latestmarket outlook. The 2011 edition, for the first time,features CMAI's market sector forecasts on vehicleproduction and construction as well as projections of themiddle class size in the BRIC countries. The analysis is anecessary resource for business managers and planningprofessionals who need to make strategic business decisionsin a rapidly changing global economic and marketenvironment.

CURRENT MARKET SITUATIONThe current market situation still reflects a mixed globaldemand growth environment - that is rapid expansion indeveloping regions and slow growth in developed regions -following the severe global economic recession in late 2008and the first half of 2009.

As has been anticipated for the past few years, massiveamounts of new steam cracker capacity have come on-linein the Middle East and Asia in 2008-2010, resulting innameplate operating rates below 85 percent during theseyears. However, the full impact of these new capacitieshas yet to be felt in the olefin markets, because Asiandemand growth has been better than expected in 2009/2010 (due to the successful Chinese economic stimuluspackage) and because many of these new projects weredelayed many months beyond their planned start-up datesand/or were slow to achieve high utilization rates.

MARKET OUTLOOKThe full impact of the current capacity wave is expectedto be realized in the market in 2011, when global nameplateoperating rates will remain below 85 percent and profitmargins will move to cyclically low levels for marginalproducers. Absorption of surplus capacity will proceedgradually aided by strong projected demand growth, a sharpdecline in future capacity additions as well as closures ofsmaller, less efficient facilities. A recovery is expected tobegin in 2012-2013 with peak operating rates and profitmargins returning in 2014-2015.

Growth in ethylene derivative consumption will be mainlydriven by the rapid economic development of numeroustransition countries; in particular China and increasinglyalso India. Per capita consumption in North America andWest Europe already stagnated or barely grew during thelast decade, and a recovery from the sharp declines duringthe global recession will likely be limited by imports offinished goods, mainly from Asia.

Propylene's higher future price valuations are expected to

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reduce the cost advantage of its primary derivative,polypropylene, thus shifting its competitive advantage toits performance as a polymer. Consequently, longer termgrowth rates will remain below the fast pace of expansiontypically associated with polypropylene in the past. Otherpropylene derivatives that are expected to registersubstantial demand growth over the next five years, includeacrylic acid, cumene/phenol, and propylene oxide.

PARLE GOES PLASTIC FREEVOLUNTEERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN SUBURB

Manthan K Mehta

Mumbai: A major factor in the July 26, 2005 delugewas plastic bags clogging the city’s storm water drains. Inthe ensuing years, after a ban onplastic less than 50 micronsthick, the BMC seized 1.05 lakh kg of the material. Butnow the municipality is at its wits’ end about disposing ofthe detritus.

If only Mumbaikars were as environmentally conscious asthe residents of Vile Parle, this situation would not haveoccurred. Owing to the residents’ organised effort anddetermination, the suburb has experienced a plastic-freeexistence for almost two years now.

”We had a dedicated group of volunteers, who went doorto door with a message about the ill-effects of plastic,”said Subash Dalvi, officer on special duty, BMC, responsiblefor implementing the scheme. “We roped in schools,colleges and even cultural organizations—which arenumerous—to ensure that our message was spread wide.”

There has been much enthusiasm for the project. Peoplemade donations, with which about 40,000 disposal bagswere bought. “Plastic is extremely addictive. Just oneperson breaking ranks can derail the entire project,” Dalvisaid. “The reason why it has been a success in Vile Parle isthe fact that we undertake follow-up exercises. Thismotivates the stakeholders to carry forward the initiative.”

A similar exercise was started on Linking Road 12 monthsago by residents’ groups and 120 stall owners, but it failedto elicit the desired response in the shopping haunt. “Ithas been a partial success,” said Aftab Siddique,chairperson, 33rd road advanced locality management.“Those implementing the ban are convinced about thedreadful effects of plastic on the environment, but self-motivation cannot be the sole basis of such a project. Acarrot-and-stick policy too is required. The BMC needs tosend nuisance detectors for random checks to penalizethose flouting the norms.”

In Worli’s BMC market, the anti-plastic carry bag movementhas been more or less successful. “There are about 80hawkers in this market and we have observed the ban for

two years,” said Sunil Jaiswal, a hawker. “But a few havestarted playing truant. They broke away from the projecta month ago.

”The BMC used to send their inspectors to fine people,who kept plastic bags. Since they are not coming now, thetraders are openly defying the ban. When tell such tradersthat a complaint will be filed with the BMC, they tell us togo ahead as they are not scared any more.”

FASHION STREET FOLLOWS SUIT Mumbai: Shoppers visiting Fashion Street will have to bringtheir own carry bags from now on. Following the exampleof their Linking Road counterparts, traders here haveimposed a voluntarily ban on plastic bags.

Nearly 385 traders on Fashion Street, famous for trendygarments and footwear, took the decision after a BMCawareness drive. “We have decided that none of ourmembers will supply goods to customers in plastic bags,”said Lalchand Gupta, president, Fashion Market WelfareAssociation (FMWA). “Any member flouting the directivewill be penalized. The ban will work only if everybodycooperates.”

Subhash Dalvi, officer on special duty, BMC, said: “FashionStreet is a popular shopping destination among both touristsand locals. We felt if the anti-plastic project becomessuccessful here, it will send a strong message against theuse of plastic bags to people across Mumbai and beyond.”

Among BMC officials involved I the project are: SunilDhamne, asst municipal commissioner, A-ward; and MilinSawant, dy municipal commissioner (Zone I).

FMWA member Mohammed Jahangir Sheikh said: “Onaverage, each trader hands over nearly 25 bags per day,costing a total of Rs 20. This means every year, one tradergives out about 9,000 plastic bags. Imagine these endingup in drains, clogging them.”

SC BANS PLASTIC GUTKA SACHETSFROM MARCH 1

Dhananjay Mahapatra TNN

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on TuesdayputtheRs30,000-croregutka,panmasala and chewing tobacco industry,peddling its products in Re 1 pouches and sachets, in acrisis-like situation when it said the makers would have toshut shop if they did not stop using plastic as packagingmaterial for their products by March1 next year.

Linking the order to the fight against cancer, the courtsaid unlike the government, it could not remain a mutespectator to the public health menace. Castigating thegovernment, a bench comprising Justices G S Singhvi and A

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K Ganguly said its affidavit “supported” the gutka industry.“Why is the government allowing the manufacture of gutkaand pan masala? Is it a health tonic? Worldwide, it is knownto be hazardous to health,”it said, adding, “All gutka,tobacco and pan masalamakers areres trained fromusing plastic in their sachets.This direction will come intoforce from March 1, 2011.”

The order will be hailed as aboost for the fight againstcancer. Also, in what couldexpose the industry to moretrouble, the SC ordered theCentre to name anindependentagencytotestthecontentsofthe sachets to evaluate therisk they pose. The panel mustfile its report by March 9.Current pics on puff packs tostay

With tobacco firms halting production over theimplementation of the new rule on gory pictures, theUnion cabinet has decided to stick to the current picturesfor another year. P 19 ‘India becoming cancer capital ofthe world’

The Supreme Court expressed concern that till date thegovernment had made no attempt to find out thecomposition of products inside the sachets and acceptedthe suggestion of solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam thatthese would be subjected to stringent scrutiny by an expertteam from the National Institute of Public Health.

It said that India was fast becoming the cancer capital ofthe world, with 70,000 diagnosed cases of mouth cancer in2008. “The consumption of gutka and pan masala by schooland college children is a matter of serious concern,” itobserved.

The order came on an appeal filed by gutka and pan masalamanufacturers challenging a Rajasthan high court orderbanning the use ofplastic sachets. The court had alsodirected all gutka, tobacco and pan masala manufacturersto strictly comply with the provisions of the Cigarettes andOther Tobacco Products Act, 2003, which came into forceon February 11, 2007.

The Supreme Court had stayed the high court order onSeptember 7, 2007.

On Tuesday, it not only vacated the stay, except the parton the imposition of fine on violators, but also expandedthe ban to manufacturers across the country. When

Subramaniam took pains to clarify that he had brought intofocus the health aspect before the government, the benchsaid he was an exception in the government, which had

overlooked serious publichealth concerns for the sakeof revenue.

The bench directed thegovernment to notify withineight weeks the rules framedo n p l a s t i c w a s t emanagement. Though thedraftPlastic Management andDisposal Rules were framedlast year, it said thegovernment had kept it underwraps for more than a year.

The court was unsparing whenit found that a matter of such

public importance had been listed prior to Tuesday afterthe stay was granted in September 2007.

“This is, of course, a reflection on the functioning of theSC Registry, for the matter was listed for hearing onSeptember 20, 2007 and then on July 12 this year,” it said.

EPFO TO CURB EARLY PFWITHDRAWAL

Quick Withdrawals Hurt EPFO’s Investment Earnings As 70%Of PF Contributions Are Withdrawn Within 3 Yrs

WITHDRAWING your provident fund balance each time youchange your job could soon become a thing of the past.The country’s apex retirement fund, the Employees’Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), has urged thegovernment to bar workers from pulling out their PFbalances easily.

“Every 6 months to a year, you change your job andwithdraw your PF. That makes us more like a bank,” saidCentral PF Commissioner Samirendra Chatterjee.

EPFO’s call for change has been spurred by an alarminginternal study of this year’s PF settlements at the KarnalPF office. As many as 89% of the cases settled at the office,which covers a blend of old and new economy industries,were those of workers withdrawing PF balance afterresigning from a job. Just 0.8% workers opted to transfertheir PF account to their new job.

The settlement amount for 82% of the workers pulling outtheir PF was lower than Rs 30,000. Nearly 65% workerswithdraw their retirement savings before the age of 35.Just 3% EPF members had continuous service of ten years –a prerequisite to be eligible for the pension benefits from

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EPFO. The study inferred that 50% of claims are from peoplewithdrawing their PF at the age of 31.33 after working for2.7 years. They typically take home about Rs 10,000 it said.

“Sure, people need money but they shouldn’t consume alltheir savings at every opportunity,” said Chatterjee.

Existing PF rules specify that an employee can withdrawtheir entire EPF contributions two months after leaving ajob. However, there is a condition that the employeeshouldn’t start working elsewhere in that period. If anotherjob is taken up within two months, the EPF balance mustbe transferred to the worker’s new PF account at her orhis new workplace. But these rules are impossible toimplement as EPFO has no systems in place to preventworkers from getting new PF accounts with every jobchange.

Its accounting systems are archaic and operations are stillbeing computerised incrementally. The PF commissionerhas asked all field offices to do an analysis of theirsettlements over the past year, so that the governmentcan be convinced about the need for change. Otherprovident funds like the Coal Miners’ Provident Fund andthe Seamens’ Provident Fund restrict withdrawals to specialcircumstances, while the New Pension Scheme doesn’tallow any withdrawals before the age of 58.

“The PF account should serve its purpose of social security— having a Rs 15,000 balance at retirement is ridiculous,”Chatterjee said. “It’s in the larger interest of workers tobar withdrawals,” he stressed. The EPFO was set up in

1952 to ensure that India’s workforce is assured of someincome security in old age. The rising claims from youngworkers is detracting focus from more crucial regulatoryfunctions of the EPFO like monitoring defaults fromemployers, conducting audits and scrutinizing returns.Quick withdrawals also hurt EPFO’s investment earnings as70% of PF contributions are withdrawn within 3 years.

For over a decade, the department has tried unsuccessfullyto assign a unique account number for individuals to retainthrough their working lives. In the absence of such a system,even if one changes jobs within a single PF office’sjurisdiction, the department can’t block withdrawal claimson account of resignation.

A few employees do opt for transfers so that theirretirement savings accumulate instead of being fritteredaway. But the transfer process is too tedious, requiringone to co-ordinate between two employers and two PFoffices. The result – most workers simply withdraw suchpiecemeal retirement savings each time they join a newfirm. “Transfers used to take a long time as it’s additionalwork and low-priority even for the employers. Foremployers, you have already left them so they have nointerest in forwarding your application to us,” Chatterjeesaid.

An attempt is being made to streamline transfer of PFbalances from past jobs into workers’ current accounts.Last week, testing began in Delhi and Karnal’s PF officeson new software that would transfer PF balanceselectronically, within a month.

Visit & ParticipateSOUTHERN MSME EXPO - 2011

18TH TO 20TH FEBRUARY, 2011AT NSIC EXHIBITION CUM BUSINESS PARK

ECIL CROSS ROADS, KUSHAIGUDA, HYD

AIM: TO CREATE MARKETING PLATFORM FOR MSME UNITS

PROGRAMMES:1. Vendors Development Programme.

2. 3 Seminars on all 3 days.3. Buyers - Sellers Meetings.

PARTICIPANT INDUSTRIES: FROMAndhra Pradesh | Tamil Nadu | Karnataka | Coimbatore | Yanam

Organised by: FAPSIA with the support of Govt. of A.P., MSME Dept, NSIC.

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GLASS FIBER SURFACE TREATMENT FOR TAILORED PERFORMANCESSpecialChemMark T. DeMeuse

Interfaces are among the most important components of acomposite material. It is certain that the adhesion betweenthe fiber and matrix plays a predominant role in governingthe characteristics of composites. Due to this fact, it isimportant to optimize the interfacial bonding since a directlinkage between fiber and matrix gives rise to a rigid, low-impact resistance material. This is critical for emerginghigh technology applications such as airframe structures,for which other materials are not sufficiently stiff.

The first article (1) in this series on interfaces in compositematerials, is focused on the introduction of the featuresof the interfaces as well as characterization methods, whichare commonly used to understand the features of thepolymer matrix/reinforcing material interface. In thissecond article, discussion will be provided of glass fiber-reinforced plastics from 3B. These materials provide anexcellent example of composites in which the interface isspecifically tailored for a particular application. Specificattention will be paid to surface modification of the glassfiber surface and the impact that modification has on theproperties of the final composite.

3B presently has three main areas of interest for itsproducts. These three areas are wind energy,thermoplastics and specialty markets such as military andparamilitary uses. Within each of these areas, the glassreinforcement material is tailor-made to meet the processand end-use requirements.

In the wind energy sector, 3B glass fibers are widely usedto produce blades for wind turbines. Figure 1 shows ageneric turbine blade cross section depicting where thefiber reinforcement material is used.

Figure 1: Generic cross-section of turbine blade

Due primarily to the performance which is provided by theglass fibers, stiffer and longer blades have become possibleto manufacture. This increase in the characteristics of theturbine blades allows for turbines with increased powergeneration , allowing wind energy to be more competitivewith other power generation systems. In 2006, the marketfor wind turbine blades was estimated at approximately$4 billion (2) and growing at an annual rate of 20-25 %.There continues to be a need for higher power generationcapacity, which translates into even lighter and longerblades.

Historically, 3B has primarily served the thermoset industrywith their glass fiber-reinforced composites. However, nowthey are entering the thermoplastics market with some

significant successes. An example of one of these successesis a hinch system for furniture which was previously madefrom steel. In close cooperation with a developmentpartner, 3B developed a 50% glass fiber-reinforcedpolyamide compound which has properties that exactlymeet the mechanical requirements. Similar results can beobtained with a wide variety of other thermoplastic matrixmaterials, including polyolefins, polyesters, polystyreneand various high-temperature polymers. In all cases, thekey to the successful development of a new product is toachieve adhesion between the polymer and the fiberthrough the sizing on the fiber. In order to obtain theoptimum mechanical properties through this generalapproach, it is necessary to know the end use requirementsfor the composite material.

The final area in which 3B is presently very active isspecialty markets. Among several of the applications thatuse their materials are ballistic panels, radomes andammunition boxes. Another very recent application thathas taken advantage of glass fiber-reinforced compositesis the replacement of metal in a CNG (compressed naturalgas) tank. The replacement of metal in this use offers asignificant weight reduction of 40% compared to traditionalmetal CNG tanks. Further, the composites based on glassfibers have allowed for an extended product lifetime dueto excellent fatigue resistance of the composite tanks.

In each of these areas, the 3B have taken advantage of thefact that it is possible to tailor the material propertiesthrough a control of the fiber/matrix interface. Dispersionof the reinforcing fiber is an important factor in that regardas well as the adhesion between the polymer and fiber. Asalready alluded to previously, the adhesion between thechemistry of the sizing on the glass fiber and the matrixpolymer is critical to achieve compatibility and chemicalinteraction between the resin and fiber. That chemistrycan be adjusted according to the nature of the matrixpolymer and the end-use requirements of the product.

Another key feature of the materials from 3B is that theglass itself affects the properties of the composite. Forexample, durability is provided by the Advantex® boron-free E-glass (3) that uses a coating which allows forinteresting specific properties, including hydrolyticresistance. In one case, these fibers have been compoundedwith polypropylene and the resulting compound has beenevaluated for automotive applications. In that work, it wasfound that the specific formulation used had a significantinfluence of the final compound properties. It was notpossible to rely on either theoretical predictions ormaterials which had been formulated in the laboratory.Further developments with these glass fibers that providehydrolytic resistance include applications in appliancecomponents like washing machine structural parts.

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Along with Advantex®, 3B also produces Hi Per-tex® highperformance fiber which is the result of a groundbreakingtechnology development in manufacturing that enables thehigh performance material to be produced at an attractivecost. Hi Per-tex® was designed to meet the demands fromindustry for high mechanical strength, stiffness and impactresistance. At the same time, it offers significantly higherthermal and corrosion resistance properties compared toE-glass reinforcement materials.

Another exciting area that 3B is presently working on isthe use of carbon nanotubes (CNT) technology. On March9, 2010 a partnership was announced with Nanocyl, aleading global manufacturer of specialty and industrialcarbon nanotubes. In the agreement, glass fibers whichhave sizing integrating SIZICYL, Nanocyl's versatile CNT-sizing agent will be produced. The new CNT glass fiberswill provide both the electrical conductivity and theimproved shear, impact and delamination propertiesrequired for developing the next generation of compositematerials. Two main areas are currently envisioned: (a)chopped strands for thermoplastic injection molded parts,

and (b) direct rovings to improve the stiffness of the bladesused in wind turbines.

One of the key features of all of the examples which havebeen cited is the tailoring of the polymer matrix/fiberinterface in the composite through the sizing agent on theglass fiber. Manipulation of the chemistry of the sizingallows for compatibility and chemical interaction betweenthe matrix and fiber. Such chemical interaction is extremelyimportant for the optimization of the properties of thefinal composite material.

In summary, then, the future looks bright for 3B. They arecommitted to technological innovation and excellence withan emphasis on environmental responsibility. Their productsare currently used in a wide range of industrial applicationssuch as automotive, defense, infrastructure, mass transitand renewable wind and marine energy generation. As theycontinue to develop methods to tailor the interface incomposites, the application areas for which their materialscan be used is certain to expand.

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WASTE NOT YOUR DRY GARBAGE FROM JANBMC TO MAKE RECYCLING METAL, GLASS A MUST

Sukhada Tatke TNN

Mumbai: The way you deal with your household garbage isabout to change in a month. In a bid to streamline thecity’s waste management system, the BrihanmumbaiMunicipal Corporation (BMC) is making it mandatory for allcitizens to separate their household waste according to itsbiodegradability.

Prepared by the civic body’s solid waste managementdepartment, the plan requires every household to segregatedry waste (plastic, glass, metal, wood, etc.) from the wetwaste (of plant and animal origin). The latter will becollected by BMC garbage trucks, as is the current practice,every day. The dry waste, though, would have to be storedby the building society in its compound for a few days afterwhich a BMCapproved NGO would gather it and deposit itin the ward’s BMC dry waste sorting centre. From there, itwill be sold off for recycling. The proposal is awaiting themunicipal commissioner’s approval.

Officials claim the system is being implemented across thecity’s 24 wards after it met with success in a containedtrial. The practice was launched in parts of 10 wards—K/East, K/West, H/ West, F/South, A, E, F/North, M/East,M/West, and T—in the last three years. Residents wereasked to separate waste, and the BMC, for its part, providedvehicles for transporting dry garbage as well as space forcollection centres.

“We will now extend the drive to all 24 wards. The NGOsworking in these 10 areas are Stree Mukti Sanghatna, Aakar,Force, Triratna Prerana Mandal and Apnalay. The aim is toreduce the quantity of garbage making way to the dumping

Wish you all a very Happy andProsperous New Year 2011

grounds,” said a civic official.

Already, the civic body is scouting for space to set upcollection centres. It will invite NGOs (mainly self-helpgroups with expertise in garbage collection and segregation)and begin awareness campaigns soon after the proposalhas been cleared by the municipal commissioner.

Segregation of waste was made mandatory in 2000 underMunicipal Solid Waste (Management and Handling) Rulesand again in 2006 under Cleanliness and Sanitation Bylaws,but officials admit the BMC was not able to implement thelaw. “There were no resources then and there wasn’tenough space for processing garbage. But now that Deonar,Kanjurmarg and Mulund landfills are in the process of beingcreated, we will be in a position to implement these rules,”said the official.

Mumbai generates about 6,500 tonnes of garbage everyday, of which 65% is biodegradable, 20% is recyclable drywaste and the remaining is construction material.Separation of dry waste, officials say, is the only way toreduce the burden on dumping grounds. Besides, the systemwill help generate employment. “Once the dry garbagecomes to us, we separate it and make heaps of paper,cardboard, packages and so on. The garbage is thenrecycled,” said Jyoti Mapsekar of NGO Stree MuktiSanghatna, which has been a part of the segregation drivefor years.

TWO-WAY STREET The BMC is making it mandatory tosegregate garbage according to biodegradability in the hopethat it will streamline the city’s waste management system& generate employment

Wish you all a very Happy andProsperous New Year 2011

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Today, there are roughly 100 million motorised vehiclesplying the roads of India, including an estimated 40 millionpassenger cars. New cars are being registered at a rate ofnearly two million per year. And the Indian auto industryhas become the world’s seventh largest, now havingovertaken every European country except for Germany.

No one doubts that personal mobility will continue toexpand rapidly in India, as demand increases in line withpeople’s incomes. By 2050, it is estimated that India willhave more automobiles than any other country. But as thenumber of motorists increases, these gains must beaccompanied by parallel investments in the efficiency andsafety of the country’s vital transportation network.

India’s environment minister Jairam Ramesh’s recentcomments calling for a ban on sport utility vehicles, whichare regarded as status symbols by many, have touched araw nerve among some members of the Indian middleclass.Bans never work when they challenge people’s lifestyles,and such minor solutions do not nearly address the realissues. Only innovations in technology, engineering, andchemistry along with investment in transportation safetycan provide workable solutions. These investments areessential to India’s moving forward successfully with thenext stage of its overall economic development.

Among today’s rising economic powers, China is leadingthe way in its development of an efficient andcomprehensive transport network. In the last 10 years,China has built more than 50,000 kilometres of majorexpressways and 7,000 km of high-speed rail lines, recentlyconnecting Lhasa to Beijing, for instance. In contrast, Indiaso far has fewer than 1,000 km of grade-separatedexpressways and no high-speed railways.

The urgent need for a highercapacity transportationnetwork in India is much discussed. Less frequentlyconsidered are all the other crucial elements that go intothe creation of a fully-functioning transportation system.These include safe and efficient passenger cars designedto make the best use of the modern roadways beginning toappear on India’s highway maps. Vehicles that are safe athigh speeds, generate as little air pollution as possible,and do not demand a dramatic expansion of dependenceon imported petroleum are high on the list of goods Indianeeds to invest in. Premier Padmini and Ambassadortaxicabs in India’s metropolises may be iconic expressionsof the nation’s energy and style. But they are inevitablynot going to be a part of its future.

That future demands disc brakes, fuel injection, airbags,three-point safety belts, composite body panels, and high-performance, fuel-efficient radial tyres. These are notluxuries. They are intrinsic to realising the full economicbenefits of a modern transportation system.

Consider the costs of running so much outmoded equipmenton India’s roadways. One is traffic congestion. Obsoletevehicles are less reliable than modern ones, and not justbecause of their age. The average new passenger car in1950 broke down substantially more frequently than is thecase today. Stalled vehicles block traffic, and it has beenestimated that, in New Delhi alone, at least three millionman-hours are wasted in traffic every day.

Modern cars are also vastly safer than their forebears. Roadfatalities in Germany have declined from more than 20,000per year in 1970 to less than 5,000 today, even as thenumber of cars on the road has increased. In India, thesefigures are currently moving in the wrong direction. In 2008,34.5 per cent of all accidental deaths in India were due toroad accidents. The US has roughly six times as manyvehicles on the road as India. But in 2008, it saw less thanone-third the number of traffic fatalities that occurred inIndia. Even China, number two in the world for trafficfatalities, registers far fewer road deaths. In India, thenumber of fatalities per 1,000 registered vehicles is amongthe highest in the world. Even non-lethal accidentsrepresent a significant financial drag in terms of medicalcosts, vehicle repairs and road closures.

Pollution represents yet another cost of maintaining anationwide fleet of antique vehicles lacking fuel injectionand catalytic converters. Air pollution is commonlyclassified by economists as a “negative externality,” anundesirable byproduct for which drivers are not charged,but which society pays for both in medical costs andnegative impacts on the quality of life of millions of Indians.

Lastly, outmoded technology poses another significant dragin terms of its sheer inefficiency. Modern vehicles providebetter fuel efficiency in tandem with greater reliabilityand safety. They incorporate plastic body parts that weighless than steel but perform better in accidents. They usehighperformance tyres made with new grades of syntheticrubber that deliver lower rolling resistance even whilegripping the road better under all conditions. It is estimatedthat such “green” tyres increase fuel efficiency by 6 to 8per cent.

All this adds up to better fuel economy, a high priority.Building a modern transportation network is not solely aboutinfrastructure or new roads. Those roads must be populatedwith the new vehicle technologies that already benefit mostpeople in the developed world. These include efficientengines, safer designs, stable and durable tyres. India needsto continue to grow the industries that produce theseproducts, and ensure that more and more people haveaccess to them at a price point that makes sense. Withoutmodern vehicles, India will never realise the full benefitthat it hopes to achieve by expanding its highway and railnetworks.

GETTING INDIA ON THE MOVEINVEST IN MODERN VEHICLE TECHNOLOGIES AS MUCH AS IN TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE

Axel Claus Heitmann

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ONGC AHMEDABAD CONDUCTS OFFSITE DMD MOCKDRILL An offsite disaster mock drill was recently organised atONGC Ahmedabad‘s Wasna GGS to check and update theefficacy and adequacy of the offsite disaster managementplan of ONGC Ahmedabad Asset. The mock drill, whichwitnessed participation from police authorities and seniorexecutives of ONGC, was jointly overseen by H J Prajapati,Deputy Collector, Kheda District and coordinator of offsiteDisaster Management Plan, and L C Jain, ED OfficiatingAsset Manager, and chief emergency controller of onsiteDMP. Indian Railways initiates exhibition train The train - “Mother Express” - initiated by the IndianRailways to commemorate the birth centenary of MotherTeresa will arrive in Ahmedabad on 3rd December, and willbe open for public viewing on 3rd & 4th December. Withthree airconditioned coaches, the train puts forth exhibitsabout the life, work and message of Mother Teresa,including photographs and write ups. The train will runthrough Rajkot on 4th & 6th December, and entry to it isfree.

CIPET ORGANISES SEMINAR ON DEVELOPMENTSIN PLASTICS PROCESSING METHODOLOGY Atwo day seminar on ”Plastics Processing - AdvancedTechniques” was recently organised by CIPET at VatvaIndustrial Association,Ahmedabad. Sponsored by theDepartment of Chemicals & Petrochemicals (DCPC), Ministry

of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India, theseminar aimed at updating the industries on the latestdevelopments in plastics processing methodology andmachineries / ancillary processing equipments in Gujarat.The seminar, which witnessed nearly two hundredparticipants from different Plastics Processing Industries,was inaugurated by Dr A K Aggarwal, Vice-Chancellor,Gujarat Technological University (GTU). Dr Subhas C Shit,Deputy Director, CIPET - Ahmedabad, Dr B Srinivasulu, ChiefManager (P/T), CIPET - Ahmedabad and R K Dwivedi, ChiefManager (TS), CIPET - Ahmedabad graced the occasion.

Fire men are in action with their equipments near the crudestorage facilities

A rally organised at DRM office, on the occasion of WorldAIDS Day on 1st December, was flagged off by A S Garud,DRM Ahmedabad. Nearly 150 health staff and members ofBharat Scouts & Guide participated in the event whichended at the Ahmedabad Railway station wherein anexhibition and video display awareness about HIV - AIDSwas displayed. S K Yagnik ADRM, Dr Nigam CMS and Districtcommissioner Bharat Scout and Guides, Ahmedabaddivision, and Dr Kishore Tiwari, Sr DMO health graced theoccasion.

PSU EXCELLENCE AWARD FOR NTPC Arup Roy Choudhury, Chairman & Managing Director, NTPCLimited and A K Singhal, Director (Finance) received theprestigious PSU Excellence Award 2010 at the Summit on

MEGA CORP

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India Public Sector Agenda@2015 held in New Delhi. Theaward was presented by Vilasrao Deshmukh, Union Ministerof Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises.

ONGC OFFICERS’ MAHILA SAMITI, MEHSANA ASSET,ORGANISES MEDICAL CAMP As a part of its CSR initiative under the CSR Project -“Ashadeep - Shiksha ki Jyot”, ONGC Officers Mahila Samiti,Mehsana Asset recently organised a medical camp for the

students of remote area Pay Centre Primary School, VillageKatosan (Dhanpura)

Ram Avtar, ED-Asset Manager and Smt Satish Sewra,President, ONGC Officers’ Mahila Samiti, along with K PVerma, DGM (HR) Head, HR/ER, the village Sarpanch andmembers of the Mahila Samiti inaugurated the camp.

A total of 600 students of Standard I to XII, were examinedunder the scheme, which included analysis of skin-hair-nail, eye, teeth, gum, ENT, central nervous system,cardiovascular system, etc. The consulting doctors advised

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them for their specific problems as well as on maintaininggeneral hygiene.

POWERGRID INTER-REGIONAL CULTURAL FESTIVAL Powergrid Inter-regional Cultural Festival was organisedat Pandit Deen Dayal Petroleum University Gandhinagar.Eleven teams from all over India participated in the culturalevent and Handicraft Exhibition. The Cultural Program wasinaugurated by chief guest S K Chaturvedy, while Handicraftwas inaugurated by Smt Shoba Chaturvedy.

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DEVELOPMENTS IN BIOPLASTICSUSING NON-EDIBLE SOURCES

SOURCE; PLASTEMARTA method for producing a strong, highly ductile bioplasticusing yeast and fatty acids of plant oils has been developedby a team of researchers at Polytechnic Institute of NewYork University (NYU-Poly). The researchers engineered C.tropicalis to transform fatty acids into omega-hydroxyfattyacids, a monomer that when polymerized provides a varietyof options for developing new bio-based plastics withattractive physical properties. Usually, these acids aredifficult and expensive to prepare using traditionalmethods. The key to getting the yeast to produce largeamounts of omega-hydroxyfatty acids was eliminatingcertain enzymes that further oxidize these acids intounwanted diacids. The researchers identified andeliminated 16 genes and other oxidation pathways, whichresulted in a 90% reduction in the activity that convertsomega-hydroxyfatty acids to diacids. This new engineeredstrain of C. tropicalis provides a foundation for thedevelopment of low-cost methods of producing omega-hydroxyfatty acids for conversion into plastics. Plasticsproduced by this method could have a variety of uses, asprevious research has shown that plastics produced from avery similar omega-hydroxyfatty acid are strong, ductilematerials. The plastics could have applications inlubricants, adhesives, cosmetics and anti-cancer therapies,and could also be recycled through a conversion processthat results in a biofuel similar to biodiesels such as SoyGold. In the future, the researchers plan to investigateways to further modify the strain to allow for more directconversion of various triglyceride feedstocks and introducenew pathways to increase the efficiency of omega-hydroxyfatty acid production. The team is currently up-scaling the fermentation, preparing polymers from omega-hydroxyfatty acids and determining what unique propertiesthese new biomaterials bring to currently available plastics.The team is sampling large chemical companies that arepolyester producers so that they can assess the commercialpotential of the bioplastics. These activities are beingconducted by SyntheZyme, a company started in 2008 tocommercialize new innovations developed. The companyis currently seeking commercial partners to help enablefuture development and scale up work for microbialproduction of the monomer as well as the correspondingbioplastic materials. When polymerized, the new materialmay be a suitable substitute for petroleum derived plasticssuch as polyethylene for uses such as disposable gloves,multilayer food packaging films, and films for ice, trash,garments, produce bags and more. The versatile, 100%biodegradable plastic is highly resistant to moisture, whichis an important improvement over currently sold bioplasticssuch as polylactic acid and starch-based plastics.

NEC Corporation has developed a first-of-its-kind durable

new biomass-based plastic (bioplastic) that is producedfrom non-edible plant resources. The bioplastic is createdby bonding cellulose- a main component of plant stems,with cardanol, a primary component of cashew nut shells,which achieves a level of durability that is suitable forelectronic equipment and boasts a high plant compositionratio of more than 70%. The new bioplastic characteristicsare as follows.

€ Composed of non-edible plant resources: As analternative to petroleum-based components,cellulose is the plastic’s major ingredient. Thecellulose, which is produced in large amounts byplants, including grass stems, etc., is modified bycardanol, an oil-like material that is extracted fromcashew nut shells. Most of these stems and nut shellsare abundant resources, which are often discardedbyproducts of the agricultural process.

€ High plant component ratio: The use of cellulose andcardanol, both plant resources, as the plastic’sprimary components produces a plastic that featuresa high plant component ratio of more than 70%.Current cellulose based plastics include largeamounts of petroleum-based additives, which resultsin a low plant component ratio.

€ High durability well suited for electronics: Afterenhancing its reactivity, cardanol is chemicallybonded with cellulose, which produces a durablethermo-plastic that is strong, heat resistant, waterresistant and non-crystalline (short molding time),due to the bonded cardanol’s unique molecularstructure consisting of flexible and rigid parts.

Advantages of the new material include:€ Durability (strength & malleability): Twice the

strength of existing PLA. Comparable to conventionalCA resin

€ Heat resistance (glass transition temperature): Morethan twice the resistance of PLA, approximately 1.3times more than CA resin

€ Water resistance: Comparable to PLA, approximately3 times more than CA resin

€ Molding time: Less than 50% of PLA, comparable toconventional cellulose-based and petroleum-basedplastics

DOCUMENT IDENTIFICATION NUMBERFOR INCOME-TAX

I-T dept floats new number, DIN, for taxpayersNew Delhi : - Taxpayers will now have to procure a ‘newnumber’ for filing returns and making any communicationwith the Income Tax department. The unique documentidentification number (DIN), on the lines of numbers likePAN and TAN, will be quoted on “every” income tax-relatedcommunication, including returns to be filed next year for

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the financial year2010-11. According to the new guidelinesbrought out by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT),the DIN will be mandatory “in respect of every notice, order,letter or any correspondence” with the department, bythe taxpayers. “The DIN will be generated by the I-Tdepartment and will be useful, essentially, for error-freefiling of tax returns claiming refunds and othercommunication with the department by the assesses,” asenior finance ministry official said. The Aykar SamparkKendras’ will hand out the DIN from this month.

The related section under the Income-tax Act is reproducedherewith as below –

Income-Tax Act, 1961 as amended by Finance Act 282B - Allotment of Document Identification Number75[Allotment of Document Identification Number.

282B. (1) Every income-tax authority shall 75a[, on or afterthe 1st day of July, 2011,] allot a computer generatedDocument Identification Number in respect of every notice,order, letter or any correspondence issued by him to anyother income-tax authority or assessee or any other personand such number shall be quoted thereon.

(2) Where the notice, order, letter or any correspondence,issued by any income-tax authority, does not bear aDocument Identification Number referred to in sub-section(1), such notice, order, letter or any correspondence shallbe treated as invalid and shall be deemed never to havebeen issued.

(3) Every document, letter or any correspondence, received75b[, on or after the 1st day of July, 2011,] by an income-tax authority or on behalf of such authority, shall beaccepted only after allotting and quoting of a computergenerated Document Identification Number.

(4) Where the document, letter or any correspondencereceived by any income-tax authority or on behalf of suchauthority does not bear the Document IdentificationNumber referred to in sub-section (3), such document,letter or any correspondence shall be treated as invalidand shall be deemed never to have been received.]

RIGHT TO INFORMATION RULES 2010The Government of India has invited comments on the abovesubject. Important Provisions of these rules are as below –Request for Information: A person who desires to obtainany information from a public authority under sub-section(1) of Section 6 of the Act, shall pay an application fee ofRs. 10/- to the public authority alongwith the application;Provided that the request for information shall relate onlyto one subject matter and shall be limited to two hundredand fifty words, excluding the address of the Central PublicInformation Officer and the address of the applicant.

Fees for providing information: Fee for providinginformation under Section 4(4), Section 7 (1) and Section 7(5), as the case may be, shall be charged at the followingrates:(a) Rupees two for each page in A-3 size or smaller size

paper;(b) Actual cost or price of a copy in larger size paper;(c ) Actual cost or price for samples or models;(d) For inspection of records, no fee for the first hour;

and fee of rupees five for each subsequent hour (orfraction thereof);

(e) For information provided in diskette or floppy, rupeesfifty per diskette or floppy;

(f) For information provided in printed form, at the pricefixed for such publication or rupees two per page ofphotocopy for extracts from the publication;

(g) The actual amount spent by public authority on hiringa machine or any other equipment, if any, to supplyinformation;

(h) Postal charges, in excess of rupees ten, if any,involved in supply of information.

Provided that no Fee shall be charged under this rule fromthe persons who are below poverty line as may bedetermined by respective State Governments.

Personal presence of the appellant before the Commission:(1) The appellant shall be informed of the date of

hearing at least seven clear days before that date.(2) The appellant may, at his discretion, be present in

person or through his duly authorized representativeor, if permitted by the commission, through videoconferencing, at the time of hearing of the appealby the Commission.

(3) Where the Commission is satisfied that thecircumstances exist due to which the appellant isbeing prevented from attending the hearing of theCommission, then, the Commission may afford theappellant another opportunity of being heard beforea final decision is taken or take any other appropriateaction as it may deem fit.

The full text of the Rules is available on www. rti.org.in.May I request you kindly to send your suggestions to COSIAon above subject on cosia.cosia@gmail.com upto 20th

December 2010.

WEEKLY GST NEWSLETTERGOVERNMENT IS LOOSING ITS MOMENTUM WEEKLYNEWS CLIPPINGS: (6TH DEC TO 12TH DEC )Introduction of a Goods and Services Tax (GST) could bedelayed further with the Centre and the states failing toreach common ground at the meeting of the EmpoweredCommittee of State Finance Ministers.

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The meeting was attended by only eight state financeministers. Finance ministers of the Bhartiya Janata Party(BJP)-ruled states were not present. The issue of aconstitutional amendment was not discussed and there wasno headway on the GST structure.

The Empowered Committee will meet Finance MinisterPranab Mukherjee after the Winter Session to discuss aConstitutional amendment. The states have not reached aconsensus among themselves on this issue.

On the GST structure, the states seemed to lack a clearpicture on issues such as threshold, exemptions, GST oninter-state movement of goods, and rates. A broadconsensus seemed to have emerged earlier this year. Theissues will be discussed in subsequent meetings as well.

Source: [Business Standard] Dated: 7th Dec, 2010.

GOVERNMENT IS LOOSING ITS MOMENTUMThe idea of dropping the most quarrelsome issue ofConstitutional Amendment from the recently concludedmeeting of the Empowered Committee of the State FinanceMinisters didn’t work well for the Government as it alsofailed to provide any fruitful results. So, we have to waitmore for the new tax regime which is expected to replaceexcise duty, service tax on the Centre’s end and VAT on theStates front.

In the last meeting of the Empowered Committee of theState Finance Ministers, the major area of the discussionwas the GST structure but here also states seemed to lacka clear picture on issues such as Threshold level, GST oninter-state movement of goods, certain exemptions andrates. The Centre wants to have a uniform limit of thresholdfor GST. On the other hand, states want different thresholdlevel for SGST and CGST. The states have been asking for athreshold of Rs 10,00,000 for SGST and Rs 1.5 crore forCGST

Mr. Pranab Mukherjee efforts towards the implementationof the Goods and Service Tax also gets a fresh setbackfrom this meeting as the interests of the States in the GSTseems to be diminishing with the passage of time. Justabout eight State Finance Ministers including West Bengal,Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, TamilNadu, Meghalaya and Assam were turned up for giving theircomments on the GST issues whereas this number wasaround twenty ministers in the earlier meetings of theEmpowered Committee. However, those states which failedto attend the meeting sent their officials for the makeoverof their absence.

Earlier, our Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee said thatthe Politics seems to be creating a hurdle in the rollout ofthe Goods and Services tax as the Government have already

compromised a lot to accommodate the concerns of theStates. Now his statements are looking totally correct asFinance ministers of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruledstates were not present in the recently concluded meetingof the Empowered Committee of the State FinanceMinisters.

In July, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee proposed a three-ratestructure for the Goods and Services Tax — which willsimplify the indirect tax regime — under which goods willattract 20 per cent levy, services 16 per cent and essentialitems a concessional 12 per cent. Most states seemed tohave no issue with the rates. However, Mr. Dasgupta saidthe rate structure would be discussed further, as somestates were asking for more time to consider that structure.Some states were asking for a band of two per cent overand above the proposed rates so that they could have someflexibility to increase rates in the future.

This is a current position of Goods and Services Tax, whenthe two main pillars of the GST i.e. GST Council and theDispute Settlement Body were not there in the agenda ofthe recently concluded meeting. All these ups and downsin the Goods and Service Tax are not only pinching theFinance Minister but also all those who have great interestin GST. Here we can take the example of those professionalswho are doing practice in the indirect taxes as GST isexpected to replace the Excise duty, Service tax on theCentre’s end and VAT on the States front. The EmpoweredCommittee of State Finance Ministers will meet FinanceMinister Pranab Mukherjee after the Winter Session todiscuss a Constitutional amendment.

The dedications shown by the Finance Minister Mr. PranabMukherjee towards the introduction of Goods and Servicetax till now indicates that something is going to happensoon and that would also give the correct picture of theGST future. But, if the introduction of the GST get delayedfurther, then the Government will certainly looses all itsmomentum ...

With the introduction of proposed GST all set to miss thetimeframe of April 1, 2011, the government expresseddesire to roll it out together with DTC from 2012-13. FMPranab Mukherjee , however, admitted that there are someproblems in the way of implementing the new indirect taxsystem. He said issues relating to constitution amendmentsrequired to roll out the new indirect tax system remain tobe sorted out with the States.

Mukherjee said the Centre is willing to consider phasedroll out of GST and hence suggested 3-year time frame toultimately roll out one GST rate for all goods and services.GST, on the other hand, is expected to replace state-levelVAT and excise duty as well as services tax on the Centre’sfront, besides local taxes, cesses and surcharges.Source: [Economic Times]

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NO REDUCTION IN THE INTENSITY OF GST WORKAs the future of the Goods and Services Tax is still uncertainin India but our efforts to elaborate the broader conceptof “GST” will continue in the same manner. Even afterfacing such a huge setback on major issues such as GSTstructure, Constitutional Amendment Bill, DisputeSettlement Body etc., our Finance Minister Mr. PranabMukherjee is leaving no efforts from his side for thesuccessful implementation of the GST. He said that therewill not be any reduction in the intensity in the ongoingwork relating to GST. He also said that the Centre wouldcontinue to take into account the concerns of the Statesand work towards in developing a common ground for theimplementation of the Goods and the Services Tax.

However, Mr. Mukherjee makes it clear that GST is unlikelyto be implemented from the scheduled date of April 1,2011. Now he is looking forward to roll out the Goods andServices tax simultaneously with the Direct Taxes Code(DTC) from April 1, 2012.

GST would be one of the most significant fiscal reforms ofindependent India. It is expected to replace all indirecttaxes, thus avoiding multiple layers of taxation thatcurrently exist in India.

The persons/assesses registered under GST (Manufacturers,Wholesalers and Retailers and Service Providers) arerequired to charge GST at the specified rate of tax on goodsand services that they supply to customers. The GST payableis included in the consideration given by the recipient ofthe goods and services. The supplier must deposit thisamount of GST with the Government. If the recipient ofgoods or services is a registered dealer, he will normallybe able to claim a credit for the amount of GST he has paid, provided he holds a proper tax invoice. This “input taxcredit” is set off against any GST( Output), which theassesse charges on goods and services, which he supplies ,to his customers.

The net effect is that dealers charge GST but do not keepit, and pay GST but get a credit for it. This means thatthey act essentially as collecting agents for theGovernment. The ultimate burden of the tax falls on thelast and the final consumer of the goods and services , asthis person gets no credit for the GST paid by him to hissellers or service providers.

Possible Impacts of GST are:1. Many indirect taxes in state and central level

subsumed by GST, you need to pay a single GSTinstead of all.

2. GST provide comprehensive and wider coverage ofinput credit set off, you can use service tax creditfor the payment of tax on sale of goods etc.

3. Uniformity of tax rates and legal rulings across the

states.4. Prices of goods are expected to reduce in the long

run as the benefits of less tax burden would be passedon to the consumer.

5. By reducing the tax burden, the competitiveness ofIndian products in international market is expectedto increase and thereby the development of thenation.

Therefore, GST will have a significant impact on almost allaspects of businesses operating in the country, includingthe supply chain, sourcing and distribution decisions,inventory costs and cash flows, pricing policy, accountingand IT systems and transactions management.

ANILREDDY

PF RATE HIKE TO IMPACT FORMSWITH OWN TRUSTS

Move To Force 3,000 Firms to Dip Into Profits to MeetShortfall.

The government’s decision to raise the Employees ProvidentFund (EPF) rate to 9.5% this fiscal could hit the bottomline of 3,000 firms running their own PF trusts.

These trusts may find it difficult to bridge the gap betweenthe actual income on their PF investments and themandated rate, forcing them to dip into their company’sprofits to make up for the deficit, according to study byThe Economic Times.

ET studied portfolios and income estimates of 63 PF trustswith assets of Rs.6,520 crore. While most trusts will earn8.5% return on their investments, some will get returns ofas low as 7.8%. Just one in nine trusts will earn over 9%,while none will be able to pay 9.5% from this year’searnings.

“The way things stand, this gap between PF trusts’ incomeand 9.5% would have to be funded by employers,” saidAmit Gopal, Vice-President at India Life Capital, whichadvises several large corporate retirement funds.

Most trusts do not have any reserves left, as the PF ratehas been set higher than investment earnings for most ofthe last seven years. The few firms that have the reserves,are barred from using them to pay interest to subscribersunder new regulatory norms issued by the EmployeesProvident Fund Organization (EPFO) this year.

So, the only alternative with the PF trusts is to seek fundsfrom the parent company. At an EPFO board meet earlierthis month, at least two trustees expressed concern overcompany-run PF trusts’ ability to match the 9.5% largessefrom the EPFO. But the EPFO is not buying this argument.The retirement fund manager claims that these trusts have

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ample reserves, which they could use to fund the shortfall.“Some of these PF trusts are very healthy,” Central PFCommissioner Samirendra Chatterjee told ET. “They ethigher returns than us as EPFO’s internal norms are tighterthan the investment pattern. They can dip into theirreserves,” he said.

The PF commissioner’s confidence stems from an internalsurvey commissioned by EPFO in October 2010. The EPFOstudied 10 PF trusts, including those run by Tata Motors,NTPC, Dabur India, Gillette India, Cochin Shipyard and therecently-listed Manganese Ore India Ltd., IT found that allof them had enough reserves to spruce up their workers’PF income by1%-9%.

K 2010 REVIEW: IMPROVINGPRODUCTS AND TECHNOLOGIES EVEN

FURTHERSpecialChem - Nov 17, 2010With more than 220,000 visitors, the K2010 Trade Fair hasbeen announced as a proof of a strong on-going recoveryof the polymer industry. Among the 3,100 exhibitors, moodwas qualified as “excellent” by the Messe Düsseldorf, theExhibitor Council of K2010. During such a key industryevent, exhibiting is for sure very exciting. This is the idealmoment for additive, pigment and filler suppliers to showwhat new products they have to offer and to what directiontheir innovation is taking place. But this “excellent” moodis not a firmed proof of a strong and immediate recovery.On the contrary, a depressed mood would for sure havebeen very worrying! And the total number of visitors wasdown 9% compared to K2007; which may not be as good aswe all would like to believe. So we will still have to waitfor other signs and data to be sure economy is up and strongagain, and that too for many years.

If this K2010 Trade Fair did not confirmed a strong andlasting economic recovery of the polymer industry, itconfirmed however a trend with very clear and self-speaking numbers: Asia and BRIC countries are significantlydriving the polymer industry up! And Turkey should probablybe added to this leading pool. Let’s review some data first:

Following the K2010 Exhibitor Council, the share of visitorsfrom Europe was down to 54% vs. last K2007 where thisshare was 57%; whereas visitors from the USA and Canadaremained the same (roughly 7,000). The biggest overseasgroup of visitors came from Asia, totaling 30,000 people.Countries exhibiting significant increase in number ofvisitors were: India, Turkey, Israel, Egypt, Brazil and theUnited Arab Emirates.

Growth is not as high as expected or wished in Europeancountries and the USA, but it is taking place in Asia andBRIC countries for sure. Another firm statement we canbuild from the K Show is that while polymer additive and

filler manufacturers announced many ways to reducecarbon footprint and other solutions to reduce energyconsumption, other messages were clearly addressed.Based on major announcements made during the K TradeFair, we analyze the main challenges addressed by theinnovations announced. Apart from the greening trend, twomajor topics were almost systematically discussed andplaced upfront on booths:·

Extend polymer performances and add functions to currentadditives and fillers·Ease the use of additives and fillers via incorporationimprovements.

EXTEND POLYMER PERFORMANCES /ADD FUNCTIONS

Increasing polymer performances is one of the main goalsof using fillers and additives. They reduce the effects ofintrinsic weaknesses of polymers (UV ageing, deformationunder load); increase intrinsic strength of polymers(increase even further impact resistance of selectedpolymers; reduce weight). One would say that this is awell-known reason for using additives and fillers - there isnothing really new in this! But when reviewing the majorK2010 announcements from polymer additive and fillermanufacturers, this message was more than ever placedahead, demonstrating there are still many innovations tohandle in extending polymer performances: achieveproperties that were never achieved before, set newrecords and build the required manufacturing capacity tosupport these advances. Here are several examplesdetected at the K Trade Fair:

WATER PIPES MADE OF CROSS-LINKED PE THANKS TOSILANES:The Momentive's new Silox 23 is "boosting chlorineresistance while minimally affecting the odor and taste ofdrinking water". Used in combination with the PEarlstab Y-15760 stabilizers pellets this new masterbatch system bringsPE-X pipe manufacturers with increased performancessystem vs. usual silane and peroxide combinations.

REINFORCING PP WITH OR WITHOUT TALC WITHMILLIKEN'S SYNTHETIC MINERAL BASED FIBERS,HYPERFORM® 803:These fibers are claimed to bring many advantagescompared to talc (similar or increased performances of PPat much lower levels: the example of a 9% Hyperform®803 filled compound vs. a 20% talc filled compound for abumper support has been cited during the K Fair). Suchperformance retention at much lower levels bringssignificant weight reduction opportunities, especially inthe automotive industry where weight savings are morethan ever needed. Other performance increases lying inthe Milliken's Hyperform® solution are its excellentaesthetics -- its white color is even whiter than talc;

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allowing better color matching with lower pigment levelscompared to talc filled compounds.

FLAME-RETARDING POLYMERSChemtura's Great Lake Solutions announced the launch ofthree new products from its Emerald™ flame retardantsbrand. These new FR are dedicated to the Electrical &Electronics industry as well as the Building & Constructionmarket.

Improving surface & aesthetics performances of plasticswith the new Genioplast® Pellet S from Wacker:

This highly concentrated silicone additive, carried by apyrogenic silica is bringing scratch and abrasion resistance.It also brings friction reduction when processing filledpolymers, reducing the risk of polymer degradation due toexcessive shear. Easing the dispersion of fillers into thepolymer matrix the Genioplast® Pellet S additive allows abetter homogeneity of properties of filled polymers. Alreadyexhibited during the K2007 Fair Wacker confirmed the manyadvantages brought by its Genioplast® productline.

Increasing RTP Capacity of the European Very Long GlassFiber Engineered Compounds:

RTP opened a new plant in Ladenburg, Germany. Becauseof the continuous increased uses of structural compositesin diverse markets, the RTP group is adding an 11th plantto its global manufacturing asset.

EASE THE USE OF ADDITIVES &FILLERS

As for the first topic we just covered this message of easingadditives and fillers uses is not new. But this was the secondmajor axis of communication we have detected from the KTrade Fair. New products always have to bring somethingnew, like increased performance or reduced costs; but theywill remain useless if they are difficult to handle,incompatible with existing equipment, or impossible toincorporate into the polymer matrix! Testing and at theend using in serial production series, new products requirereasonable challenges otherwise they will remain virtualproducts. Here are some of the examples showingimprovements of using selected additives and fillers pickedup from the K2010:

SWITCHING FROM POWDER TO LIQUID ADDITIVES:The Chemturas's Liquid Productivity Platform is offering toresin manufacturers and compounders an increased easeof use ofantioxidants and UV stabilizers. Up to now theseadditives were handled and incorporated as a powder, withall its well-known inconveniences. Chemtura is pushing forwhat is called "powder-free additive solutions", leading toreduced cost on the handling steps, without sacrificing finalpolymer performances. The Chemtura Corporation is

currently investing in its production sites for Weston® 705and 800 series, which is confirming the need for suchincreased ease of use of additives and fillers.

EASING THE INCORPORATION OF CARBON NANOTUBES:Nanocyl extended its Plasticyl™ thermoplastic concentratesproduct line. Aiming at solving the issue of CNTincorporation into polymers Nanocyl developed itsPlasticyl™ product line. It eases the incorporation of CNTinto polymer matrix via masterbatches. Nanocyl alsounveiled its latest CNT masterbatches dedicated toelastomers, targeting the wire and cable market.

PROTECT AUTOMOTIVE POLYOLEFIN INTERIORS FROMTHE UV BEAMS WITHOUT ADDING TO FOGGING LEVELS:Clariant Masterbatches unveiled its latest U V stabilizersdedicated to automotive polyolefin parts: Hostavin®N845PP. This new UV stabilizer is intimately linked to thepolyolefin host matrix leading to limited or no migration.This property is key to avoid what is called "fogging" in theautomotive interior segment, which is a deposit of chemicalsubstances and dusts on the inner side of windscreen. Otherconsequences of such uncontrolled migration (that isenhanced by heat) are the unpleasant odours we all havewitnessed when entering a car, especially when it was leftclosed for a while under the sunlight. Car manufacturersare more than ever tracking these odours and set verydemanding requirements on the fogging level. Clariantclaimed the superior performance of its Hostavin® N845PPthanks to a "non-traditional carrier" of the UV stabilizer,which exhibits a very good compatibility with polyolefins

IMPACT MODIFIER FOR EPOXY RESINS:Ensuring an easy incorporation, improved dispersion andstrong compatibility with the host resin is not only easingresin manufacturers and compounders' work… it is alsoallowing increased final product performances. Wackerintroduced its Genioperl® P52 impact modifier for epoxyresins at the K2010. By detailing how this impact modifieris easily dispersed in uncured resin and tightly linked tothe host resin Wacker showed that simplifying theincorporation of additives brings further advantages to thefinal parts. Its core shell impact modifier built on a softelastic silicone core, covered by a hard polymeric shellallows good dispersion into the epoxy resin, strongcompatibility with the host resin thanks to the polymericshell. The fine dispersion obtained allows a tight fine-tuningof the final properties of the epoxy resins. This is merging"ease of incorporation" with "final performances"!

While the recovery of the economy is not confirmedeverywhere on the planet there are still good signs fromthe polymer industry. Additive and filler suppliersdemonstrated and unveiled new products and technologiesduring the K Trade Fair, and addressed the major issues ofthis industry. "Extending the use of polymers by extending

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their performances thanks to new additives and fillers" and"Easing the use of additives and fillers, thus reducingmanufacturing costs" were two major messages addressedto the polymer community, on top of the always stronglypresent care of the environmental footprint.

REINFORCING POLYMERS: LATESTADVANCES OF SELECTED FILLERS

SpecialChem - Dec 13, 2010Michel Biron

INTRODUCTIONFillers and fibres are added to plastics to reach variousgoals:" Reinforcement increasing mechanical properties,

HDT, creep resistance…" Cost saving for cheap fillers and fibres," Optimization of specific properties: Aesthetics,

tribology, gas barrier effect, dimensional stability,scratch and mar resistance, flame retardancy,rheology, UV protection, dielectric behaviour,electrical conductivity, chemical resistance, thermalconductivity, X-ray opacity…

The other side of the coin concerns:" The increase of the density leading to heavier

compounds for heavy fillers and fibres," The compatibility between fillers or fibres and

matrices," The possible anisotropy due to filler or fibre settling," The possible orientation for anisotropic fillers,

particularly for fibres and platelets.

In addition to the general goals previously quoted for fillers,the specific goals of reinforcement with fibres are:" To reach higher reinforcements," To reduce the tendency to creep under continuous

loading," To save costs in decreasing the material weight and

cost used to obtain the same stiffening.

The main issues are:" The risk of shortened length of the fibres broken

during the processing, and" The anisotropy due to the fibre orientation and

settling.

Among mineral fillers natural or precipitated, more or lessground or micronized, treated or not, calcined oranhydrous, chemically structured, modified on surface…let us quote, for example:" Calcium carbonates, chalks, limestones, marbles,

whitings of broadest use" Soft, hard and treated clays or kaolins" Silicas, often synthetic" Talcs (broadly used in polypropylene)" Precipitated silicates with high surface areas, high

reinforcing effect and interesting brightness" Micas, specially the high aspect ratio (20-40) thinner

ones" Wollastonite or calcium metasilicate" Barium sulphate used for the opacity to X-rays and

the high density" Lithopone, titanium dioxide used as white pigment" ATH and other hydrated metal oxides used in flame-

retardant compounds

Fibres used for the reinforcement of plastics include:" Glass fibres, the most widespread with 95% of the

fibre consumption" Aramid fibres and carbon fibres accounting for near

the last other 5%

Numerous other fibres have specific uses:" Steel fibres and steel cords for tyres, conveyor belts,

ESD compounds" Mineral fibres as boron, quartz and whiskers" Natural fibres as jute, flax, wood flour and so on…" Textile fibres as nylon, polyesters…" Industrial fibres as polyethylene, PTFE, PBO…

Some high roads toward high reinforcement effects

Main parameters for a better efficiency of fillers and fibresinclude:" Extended ranges of fillers and fibres" Smaller filler particle size: Nanometric fillers are

generally far better than microscopic ones" Higher filler aspect ratio: Fibres and platelets are

more efficient" Better filler/matrix linking: Chemical binding is a

must" Higher filler or fibre level: a two-edged parameter

because an excess of filler can lower the reinforcingeffect

Most common fillers and reinforcements have a micrometricsize and must be used at levels in the order of 10% andmore. Beside them, nanoscale reinforcing fillers aredeveloping with a 1000-times smaller size. From a strictlygeometrical point of view, the size reduction of a particle,sphere or platelet with a constant shape factor, leads toan impressive growth of the ratio of surface area to volume(or weight) favouring linking and reaction with thesurroundings.

Obviously, the filler or fibre level is a critical parameterthat can be beneficial or detrimental for the variouscompound properties.

The following figures 'Surface-volume ratio' and 'Young'smodulus vs. nanoclay-level' schematize some examples:

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DRAGONITE-XRTM: A TUBULAR MINERALNANOMATERIAL NATURALLY EXFOLIATEDApplied Minerals introduces Dragonite-XRTM, a drop-inadditive specifically suited for polymer reinforcement. TheDragonite™ line consists of different grades of HalloysiteClay products tailored to enhance the property performanceof each target application, in a cost competitive manner.Dragonite-XRTM is naturally exfoliated due to its tubularshape and uniform surface charge. As a result, it disperseseasily in various thermoplastic and thermoset resins atloading levels up to 40%.

Tubular particles have average lengths of 1.75µm for outsidediameters of about 50nm and inside diameters of 15nm.True specific gravity is 2.52 but, due to the hollow tubularform, the density within a polymer matrix is only 1.99g/cc.

Advantages claimed by Applied Minerals include:" Low density resulting in reduced weight of finished

products" Naturally exfoliated morphology providing ease of

dispersion at loadings up to 40% without a need fororgano-treatment. This results in low raw material,mixing, and quality control costs

" Increases the modulus and strength of compositeswith minimal changes in impact strength, weld linestrength, and viscosity

" Improves fatigue resistance and drop impactresistance compared to chopped glass fibres

" Acts as a nucleating agent with 8°C increase incrystallization temperature, even at 1-3 wt% level,resulting in faster cooling and cycle times

" Improves thermal stability: 20°C increase in thedecomposition temperature by TGA

" Increases time to ignite, reduces peak heat releaserate, and improves char density when added at 5-10% w/w with other conventional flame retardants

" Lower shrinkage than organoclay and lower warpagethan chopped glass fibre and mica

" Tubular morphology enabling the entrapment ofactive agents followed by their controlled-release

" Non-toxic and biocompatible inorganic material" Lower cost than organo-clay

The following figure 'Dragonite/PP properties % variation'displays the variation s of properties of a polypropylenecompound reinforced with 0 up to 27% w/w of Dragonite.Obviously the density increases but remains inferior to 1.1for the maximum level; the tensile modulus increases bymore than 80% when the tensile strength slightly increasesand the impact strength increases or decreases accordingto the trials.

Results are of the same order for nylon, except for theimpact strength that clearly decreases. Properties of PP,neat and reinforced with 10% w/w of Dragonite, glass fibre

or talc are expressed (see table 1) in engineering valuesand in specific values (engineering value divided by density)showing the competitiveness of Dragonite.Engineering values PP Dragonite

steel Glassfibrealuminium Talc

Density 0.905 0.961 0.978 0.973Tensile Strength (MPa) 39 43 44 41Flex Strength (MPa) 46 57 59 56Flex Modulus (MPa) 1,498 2,213 2,239 2,302Notched Izod Impact (J/m) 359 37 32 44

Specific values PP Dragonite steel G l a s sfibre aluminium TalcDensity 0.905 0.961 0.978 0.973Tensile Strength (MPa) 43 45 45 43Flex Strength (MPa) 51 59 60 57Flex Modulus (MPa) 1,655 2,303 2,289 2,366Notched Izod Impact (J/m) 43 39 33 45Table 1: Properties of reinforced polypropylenehomopolymer with 10% filler engineering & specific values(engineering value/density)

High aspect ratio micronized talcs: A first step towardnanotalcs

Rio Tinto Minerals-Luzenac, has developed unique jetmillingtechnologies to produce ultrafine talcs of high aspect ratios(HAR) to meet the new demands of automotive industry.This special range of talcs outperforms in mechanicalproperties and perception effects like surface aspect,scratch resistance, and weight saving.

Rio Tinto Minerals' HAR® talcs result from a proprietarydelamination process dramatically increasing lamellarityand aspect ratio.

Luzenac HAR® talcs enable manufacturers to downgaugeparts, resulting in lighter automobiles with lower fuelconsumption and CO2 emissions. The HAR® range aimspolypropylene bumpers, dashboards, door pillars andinterior trim. All properties related to the aspect rationare improved with HAR talc: flexural modulus (up by 20%),shrinkage (down by 8%). Moreover, the stiffness/impactratio remains excellent.

HAR talcs provide the lowest coefficient of linear thermalexpansion (CLTE) versus other conventional or ultrafinetalcs (see figure 'CTLE vs. granulometry') making them anideal material for zero gap parts such as bumperscompletely integrated in the car body panel.

Other main properties are displayed by the following figure'Performance in polypropylene' (courtesy of Rio TintoMinerals-Luzenac):

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NANOTALCS: THE ULTIMATE BUT HARD STEPNanomat, Inc. claims it develops and produces NanoTalc™for plastics applications. Specific surface area is about270m2/g compared to 20 for typical commercial talc or65m2/g for Dragonite.

NanoTalc™ could improve plastics through higher strengthand stiffness, better thermal and creep resistance, lowerwater and gas permeability. The product aims a wide rangeof plastics including polyolefins, ABS, acetal, TPEs, SMCand PVC.

Prasath Balamurugan and S.N. Maiti ("Nanotalc improvesproperties of polyamide-6 binary and ternarynanocomposites", 2010 Society of Plastics Engineers or SPE)study the reinforcement of polyamides and alloys with ananotalc. While silicate layers of MMT are held togetherby metal cations, in nanotalc they are held in place byweak van der Waals forces needing considerably lowershears for delamination. However, the delaminated silicatelayers may not form a stable, exfoliated structure insidethe matrix. As a result, composites may form a mixture ofintercalated, exfoliated, and agglomerated morphologieslimiting mechanical property enhancements. PrasathBalamurugan and S.N. Maiti achieve remarkableimprovements in tensile strength and modulus at a verylow level (1% by weight) of nanotalc. In the PA6/nanotalccomposite, tensile strength is 33% higher and tensilemodulus is 30% higher than that of unfilled PA6.

At higher filler loadings (2 and 4% by weight), formation ofagglomerated structures was favoured with detrimentaleffects on the reinforcement.

Reinforcing additive Hyperform 803 by Milliken reduces partweight by up to 15%

Milliken commercializes its innovative high performancereinforcing agent, Hyperform® HPR-803 for polyolefinsbased on synthetic fibres that enables the production ofpolypropylene (PP) compounds with mechanicalperformance similar to or better than mineral filledcompounds, but at lower use-level and thus reducedweight. Added at levels typically one third of those fortalc, Hyperform HPR-803 can lead to parts that are 15%lighter, helping automakers produce cars with reduced fuelconsumption and lower vehicle emissions. The USA and theEuropean Union will require automakers to drasticallyreduce CO2emissions in the coming years, with a target of95g/km by 2020 for EU. According to the American PlasticsCouncil, a 10-percent weight reduction equates to a sevenpercent improvement in gas mileage. "Plastics such aspolyolefins are already playing an important role in reducingvehicle weight. Polypropylene is a versatile material thatis increasingly selected for interior and exterior automotiveparts -- in fact, about 50 to 70kg of PP are used per vehicle,

on average, depending on where you are in the world,"said Johnny Netzloff, Product Line Manager, MillikenChemical.

The Hyperform® HPR-803 agent is very suitable to go aheadin reducing the weight of polypropylene car parts by up to15 percent versus traditional mineral-filled systems whiledelivering an outstanding balance of stiffness and impactstrength (see Figure 'Hyperform 803 and talc impactstrength vs. modulus').

Further, the new Milliken agent offers comparable surfacefinish to talc-filled compounds that cannot be achievedwith chopped glass fibre reinforcement.Milliken claims advantages including:" Replacing high loadings of heavy mineral fillers, such

as talc, with lower loadings for comparableperformance. This can reduce the weight ofpolyolefin parts by up to 15 percent

" Offering improved stiffness at lower loadings vs. talcand other minerals

" Offering improved colorability vs. talc filled systems" Improved scratch resistance vs. talc filled systems" Providing high heat deflection temperatures (HDT)

exceeding high levels of talc" Offering an improved surface finish that surpasses

chopped glass fibre

By utilizing Hyperform HPR-803 reinforcement as areplacement for chopped glass fiber, customers can expandapplications for polypropylene and other polyolefins beyondcurrent "hidden" structural automotive and appliance partsto encompass highly visible components such as bumpersand door panels.

CHEMICALLY COUPLED GLASS FIBRES: AN EFFICIENTLEVER ARM FOR THE PLASTICS REINFORCEMENTThe adhesion between fibre and matrix plays a predominantrole governing the characteristics of fibre reinforcedplastics. The stress transfer at the interface requires anefficient coupling between fibre and matrix, a directlinkage between fibre and matrix leading to a rigid, lowimpact resistance material. Optimizing the interfacialbonding fibre/resin often needs the chemical modificationof the interface. Three possible kinds of treatments canbe applied:" Chemical surface modification of the fibre," Sizing of fibres bringing beneficial physical or

chemical properties, and" Polymer modification adding reactive chemical sites.

Each polymer producer chooses among several solutionsaccording to the aimed applications, favouring the usefulproperties. Generally speaking, Melt Flow Rate, LinearMould Shrinkage and Specific Gravity are unchanged.

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For the mechanical properties and HDTs, the following table2 and the figure 'Property gains vs. coupling' display thedifferent strategies applied by several producers forchemical coupling of polypropylene reinforced with 30 and40% glass fibre. For each property, gain percentages areexpressed versus properties of non-coupled glass fibrereinforced PP of the same producer.Producer A B C D EReinforcement content (%) 30 30 40 40 40Tensile strength (MPa) (%) 7 38 6 30 45Flexural modulus (MPa) (%) 5 0 5 14 8Izod impact, notched (J/m) (%) 15 102 16 51 102Heat deflection temperature at 66psi (°C) 3 3 2 2 3Heat deflection temperature at 264psi (°C) 5 14 3 14Table 2: Polypropylene property gains thanks to chemicalcoupling of glass fibres

According to the used coupling techniques and aimedproperty balances:" Notched Izod Impact is increased from some percent

up to more than 100% according to the producer" Modulus is slightly increased" Tensile strength can be unchanged or improved up

to 50%" HDT is slightly increased from some degrees.

For example, Asahi Kasei Plastics North America Inc. haslaunched a new polypropylene technology, Thermylene®P8, and claims that it gives customers superior creepresistance at room temperature and comparable creepresistance at elevated temperatures when compared tolong glass fibre reinforced PP.

Solve the humidity issues of glass fibre reinforced plasticsthanks to 3B hydrolysis-resistant glass fibres

PP Competitive 3B glass GainGF fibre

Retention of tensile strength (%) 82 94 15Retention of impact strength (%) 39 71 82

PA Competitive 3B glass GainGF fibre

Retention of tensile strength (%) 30 34 13Retention of impact strength (%) 38 42 11

Table 3: Retention of tensile strength (MPa) and impactstrength (kJ/m2) after ageing

Under humid conditions, glass fibre reinforced plasticstypically suffer a decrease in performance because of alack of adhesion between the glass fibre and the resin.Glass fibre manufacturers are looking after that and developspecial fibres.

For example 3B-Fibreglass commercializes grades

combining superior retention of mechanical propertiesalong with hydrolytic stability. In the following examples,3B GF reinforced PP and PA66 show higher retention oftensile strength and impact strength vs. competitive gradesafter ageing 20 days at 95°C in water for polypropyleneand ageing of 500h at 135°C in 50/50 long life coolant/water mixture for 30% glass fibre reinforced polyamide 66.Results in the above table 3 are expressed in retention ofproperties.

This challenge is vital in many applications includingappliance components, automotive under-the-hood and,in some case, consumer goods.

EASY-TO-USE CARBON NANOTUBES: PLASTICYL™ CNTSCONDUCTIVE MASTERBATCHESThe main technical issue for CNTs is the compounding withplastics. To ease their application, some producers proposemasterbatches or concentrates. For example, Nanocylcommercializes PLASTICYL™, a family of carbon nanotubes(CNTs) thermoplastic concentrates for applicationsrequiring electrical conductivity or protection fromelectrostatic discharge (ESD). These concentrates typicallycontain 15 to 20% of CNTs in PC, PP, PA, PET, HDPE, POMand others.

Typical loadings for static dissipative applications arearound 2 to 3% of CNTs in the final compound dependingon the compounding conditions, the viscosity of the basicresin, and the dilution equipment. Table 4, after Nanocyl,shows electrical and mechanical properties of some plasticsloaded with 2 to 3% of CNTs. Volume resistivities are as lowas 10 to 103Ohm-cm and mechanical properties are moreor less changed with beneficial or detrimental effects.Generally speaking, for a 3% loading:" Young modulus increases" Tensile and impact strengths decrease except for

polypropylene" Strain at break decreases

Units Neat Polymer Polymerpolymer with with

2%wt of 3%wt ofCNT CNT

Polyamide 66Volume resistivity Ohm.cm 1014 7.108 1.103Young's modulus MPa 3375 3205 3466Tensile strength at break MPa 82 72 69Strain at break % 18 3 2Charpy notched impactstrength kJ/m2 3.3 5 2.8Polycarbonate - PCVolume resistivity Ohm.cm 1.1013 1.103 5.101Young's modulus MPa 2141 2584 2683Tensile strength at break MPa 46 23 16Charpy notched impact strength kJ/m2 31 10 6

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Polypropylene - PPVolume resistivity Ohm.cm 1.1013 4.106 2.102Young's modulus MPa 1280 1728 1795Tensile strength at break MPa 28 35 37Strain at break % 520 154 64Charpy notched impact strength kJ/m2 2.4 3.2 3

Table 4: Property variation examples with 2 or 3% of CNTAfter Nanocyl, PLASTICYL™ is recommended for applicationsrequiring a surface resistivity from 102 up to 1012 Ohmsoffering major advantages over other conductive solutionsbased on carbon black, carbon fibres or metals:" Decreased risk of chemical contamination" Homogeneous electrical conductivity at low loading" Processing benefits" Elimination of residual voltage--hot spots" Decreased weight of the final part" Retention of key mechanical properties

CONCLUSIONThe never-ending development of the plastics worldincludes the reinforcing additives magnifying the propertyrange and the versatility of polymers and composites, whichextend their application field. Main beneficial parametersfor a better efficiency of fillers and fibres include:" Extended ranges of fillers and fibres," Smaller sizes of fillers and fibres: Nanometric fillers

are generally far better than microscopic ones," Higher filler aspect ratio: Fibres and platelets are

more efficient," Better linking filler/matrix: Chemical binding is a

must.Taking advantage of these ways, several fillers and fibresare proposed.

Dragonite-XRTM is a tubular mineral nanomaterial naturallyexfoliated. As a result, it disperses easily in variousthermoplastic and thermoset resins at loading levels up to40%.

Claimed advantages include low density, modulus andstrength enhancement, improved thermal stability, lowershrinkage, lower cost than organo-clay.

HAR® talcs (High aspect ratio talcs) enable manufacturersto downgauge parts, resulting in lighter automobiles withlower fuel consumption and CO2 emissions. HAR® talcsoutperform in mechanical properties and perception effectslike surface aspect, scratch resistance, and weight saving.

Reinforcing additive Hyperform 803 by Milliken, based onsynthetic fibres, reduces part weight by up to 15% thanksto a high reinforcement ratio. In addition it offers a fairsurface finish, an improved colorability and a better scratchresistance versus talc.

The adhesion between fibre and matrix plays a predominantrole governing the characteristics of fibre reinforcedplastics. The chemically coupled glass fibres optimize theinterfacial bonding fibre/resin improving the mechanicalproperties and HDTs without significant changes in MeltFlow Rate, Linear Mould Shrinkage and Specific Gravity.

Under humid conditions, glass fibre reinforced plasticstypically suffer a decrease in performance because of alack of adhesion between the glass fibre and the resin.Glass fibre manufacturers are looking after that and, forexample 3B-Fibreglass develops special fibre gradescombining superior retention of mechanical propertiesalong with hydrolytic stability.

Masterbatches or concentrates of CNTs ease thecompounding of CNTs and plastics. For example, Nanocylcommercializes PLASTICYL™, a family of CNTs thermoplasticconcentrates for applications requiring electricalconductivity or protection from electrostatic discharge(ESD). These concentrates typically contain 15 to 20% ofCNTs in PC, PP, PA, PET, HDPE, POM and others.

Beside these examples, many other new fillers and fibresare developed such as chemically coupled LFRT, polyamidenanocomposite concentrates with 20% nanoclay loading(Nanocor), carbon nanofibres (vapour grown carbonnanofibres - VGCNF), polymer nanotubes based onpolystyrene, PMMA or PTFE developed by the Max-PlanckInstitute, polymer nanofibres such as cellulose nanofibres…

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The Plastic Industry in India has made significantachievements ever since it made a modest but promisingbeginning by commencing production of polystyrene in1957. The potential Indian market has motivated Indianentrepreneurs to acquire technical expertise, achieve highquality standards and build capacities in various facets ofthe booming plastic industry. Phenomenal developmentsin the plastic machinery sector coupled with matchingdevelopments in the petrochemical sectors, both of whichsupport the plastic processing sector, have facilitated theplastic processors to build capacities to service both thedomestic market and the markets in the overseas.

The plastic industry got a boost with the onset of theliberalization policies of the 1990’s. Despite globalcompetition generated through lower custom duty, theIndian industry rate of 3 to 4% with 15 major raw materialmanufacturers and 22,000 processing units, today turnoverof the plastic industry reaches up to more than Rs 25,000crores and similarly capital investment is also touching upto Rs. 35,000 crores. Raw materials production reaches upto 3.7 million tons and consumption is nearly 3.4 milliontones.

The Indian Plastic Industry has enormous opportunities insatisfying consumer needs in virtually every sector. Indianranks 8th in the world in total plastic consumption. However,Indian per capita plastic consumption of around 4.3 kg iswell below the world average of 26 kgs. India is likely tobe the 3rd largest consumer of plastics after USA and Chinaby 2010. All this makes it obvious that plastics have a greatfuture in India. The fundamentals in terms of low per capitaplastic consumption base, coupled with lower prices, willaccelerate he rate of growth of plastics in India.

The Indian Petrochemical sector mainly comprises ofpolymers, synthetic fibres, fibre intermediates and plasticprocessing which offers a promising scope. The industry isgrowing at the rate 14% annually which is more than doublethe growth rate of GDP of India. With the liberalizationprocess in the 90s, the petrochemical industry was thrownopen to the private sector. In fact, during the 1980s and1990s, production of hydrocarbon increased resulting inexcess availability of naptha. Many petrochemicals likeplastics were perceived as cost effective and superioralternatives to conventional material. Synthetic fiber,perceived as luxury became critical to supplement cotton.Lower prices of crude oil resulted in lower prices ofimported petrochemicals. As a result demand fropetrochemicals increased significantly and new capacitieswere set up to meet growing domestic demand.

The demand potential inCommodity polymers to go up from5.3 million tons in 2006-07 to 12.5million tons with a CompoundedAnnual Rate of Growth (CARG) of18% during the 11th Five Year Plansuggesting certain changes in policyenvironment to remove thestructural constraints and lowerdemand growth to 7.8 million tonswith a CARG of 9% with theprevailing policy environment. Insynthetic fibres, demand potentialfrom 2.4 million tons in 2006-07 to5.8 million tons by 11th Five YearPlan end with a growth rate of 8.5% CARG.

The above mentioned project will result in an investmentpotential of USD 8 billion (Rs.40,000 crores) in upstreamcracker complexes and polymer plants and about USD 6billion (Rs. 30,000 crores) in downstream plastic processingsector. Investment potential in synthetic fibers and fiberintermediates is estimated as USD 4 billion (Rs. 20,000crores).

The Indian plastic industry has been growing at the rate of15 % and has a tremendous growth potential.Per capita plastic consumption is set to double by 2012.Export growth @ 21 %.All leading companies import from India

CONSISTENT QUALITYCapable management with young and savvy entrepreneursIndia caters to a diverse range of consumer demands byproducing quality products at competitive prices. Today,the industry competes with the besting the world. Theindustry is all set to double plastic processing capacity andconsumption by 2010, which will make India the thirdlargest consumer of polymers in the world. The world todayrecognizes the capacities of the Indian plastics industryand the inherent talent capital.

In the present global economic scenario, the Indian plasticsindustry attracts the business entrepreneurs from acrossthe world for the requirements. The growth story,progressive and entrepreneur-friendly Governmentinitiatives are indicators of building India as a developedcountry by 2020. The impetus provided by the economicgrowth during the last five years has provided tremendousopportunities for the future.

INDIAN PLASTIC INDUSTRY WHERE SUN WILL NEVER SET…!

ANUP PATELDirector

DOLLPLASTMACHINERY INC

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THE ANDHRA PRADESH GAZETTEPart-II Extraordinary

Published by Authority----------------------------------------------------------------------No. 50, HYDERABAD TUESDAY, APRIL 13,2010----------------------------------------------------------------------NOTIFICATIONS BY HEADS OF DEPARTMENTS, ETC..COMMISSIONER OF LABOUR

DECLARATION OF STAGGERED WEEKLY HOLIDAYS IN LIEU OF SUNDAY FACILITATING OPENING SHOPS IN HYDERABAD TWINCITIES - EXEMPTION ACCORDED.

Proc.No.Q1 12355/2009.-

In exercise of the powers conferred under the provisions of Section 12(1) of A.P. Shops & Establishments Act,1988, and insuper cession of the earlier orders issued under the provisions of section 12(1) of the Act for the areas as mentioned inthe table by the Chief Inspector of Shops & Establishment and the Commissioner of Labour, A.P. Hyderabad from time totime, I, the Chief Inspector of Shops and Establishment and the Commissioner of Labour, A.P. Hyderabad do herebyexempt all the shops located in the Hyderabad (Twin Cities) being closed on all Sundays, subject to the condition thatthey should observe other day as weekly holiday in lieu of Sunday, as shown against the areas mentioned in the tablebelow.

Zone Name of the Area Weekly HolidayI 1. Life Style Junction towards Begumpet, 2. Prasanthnagar, 3. Begumpet, 4. Rasoolpura, 5. Ministers Road, 6.

P.G.Road, 7. S.P.Road, 8. S.D.Road, 9. M.G.Road, 10. Mahankali Temple, 11. Monda Market, 12. SecunderabadStation Road, 13. Regimental Bazar, 14. East Marredpally, 15. West Maredpally, 16, YMCA, 17. Bowenpally, 18.Patny and Paradise MONDAY

II 1. Koti Junction, 2. Bank Street, 3. Abids, 4. Nampally Station Road, 5. Public Gardens Road, 6. Lakdikapul, 7.Khairatabad, 8. Yerramanjil, 9. Anandnagar Colony, 10. Punjagutta, 11. Banjara Hills, 12. Srinagar Colony, 13.Krishnanagar, 14. Jubilee Hills, 15. Film Nagar, 16. Ameerpet, 17. Satyam Theatre Road, 18. Balkampet, 19.Sanathnagar, 20. Vengalraonagar, 21. Greenlands, 22. Somajiguda, 23. Raj Bhavan Road. TUESDAY

III. 1. Holyfanta Bridge, 2. Mettugutta, 3. Lalaguda, 4. Lalapet, 5. Tarnaka, 6. Osmania University, 7. Bagh Amberpet,8. Sri Ramana Theatre Road, 9. Che Number, 10. Shivam Road, 11. Tilaknagar, 12. Nallakunta, 13. SankermuttRoad, 14. Seethaphalmundi, 15, Namalagundu, 16. Warasiguda, 17. Parsigutta, 18. Padmaraonagar, 19. GandhiHospital, 20. Kawadiguda, 21. Lower Tankbund, 22. Gandhinagar, 23. Ashoknagar, Indira Park Road, 25. RTC XRoads, 26. VST Road, 27. Musheerabad, 28. Ramnagar, 29. Ramnagargundu, 30. Jamai Osmania, 31. Jamai OsmaniaStn.Road, 32. Adikmet, 33. Vidyanagar. WEDNESDAY

IV. 1. New Nallakunta, 2.Baghlingampally, 3.Chikkadpally, 4.Narayanaguda, 5.Himayathnagar, 6.Adarshnagar,7.Secretariat Road, 8.Himax Theatre, 9.Necklace Road, 10.Mint Compound Road, 11.Saifabad Junction, 12.TelephoneBhavan Road, 13.CCS Road, 14.Basheerbagh, 15.Hyderguda, 16.King Koti, 17.Barkatpura, 18.Narayanaguda-YMCA

THURSDAY

V 1.Kachiguda, 2.Chaderghat, 3.Nalgonda X-Road, 4.Malakpet, 5.Dilsukhnagar-upto-Busstand, 6.Saidabad,7.Santoshnagar, 8.Chandrayangutta, 9.Barkas, 10.Esamia Bazar, 11.Badichowdi, 12.Sultanbazar, 13.Afzalgunj,14.Gowliguda, 15.Puranapul, 16.Pathargatti, 17.Charminar, 18.Kalikabar, 19.Falaknama, 20.Begumbazar, 21.Abids-Junctions (Towards M.M. Market), 22.Exhibition-grounds-Roads, 23.Red Hills, 24.Vijayanagar Colony, 25.MasabTank, 26.Mehdipatnam, 27.Tolichowki, 28.Shaikpet, 29.Taramati Baramati, 30.Gudimalkapur, 31.Langer House,32.Mallepally, 33.Ekminar, 34.Maharajgunj, 35.Karwan, 36.Chatrinaka, 37.Shalibanda. FRIDAY

D. SRINIVASULUCommissioner of Labour

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RADICALLY SIMPLE TECHNIQUE DEVELOPEDTO GROW CONDUCTING POLYMER THIN FILMS

ScienceDaily (Nov. 2, 2010) - Oil and water don't mix, butadd in some nanofibers and all bets are off.

A team of UCLA chemists and engineers has developed anew method for coating large surfaces with nanofiber thinfilms that are both transparent and electrically conductive.Their method involves the vigorous agitation of water, denseoil and polymer nanofibers. After this solution is sufficientlyagitated it spreads over virtually any surface, creating afilm.

"The beauty of this method lies in its simplicity andversatility," said California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI)researcher Richard B. Kaner, aprofessor of chemistry andbiochemistry and a professor ofmaterials science and engineeringat the UCLA Henry Samueli Schoolof Engineering and AppliedScience. "The materials used areinexpensive and recyclable, theprocess works on virtually anysubstrate, it produces a uniformthin film which grows in secondsand the entire thing can be doneat room temperature."

Conducting polymers combine theflexibility and toughness of plastics with electricalproperties. They have been proposed for applicationsranging from printed electronic circuits to supercapacitorsbut have failed to gain widespread use because ofdifficulties processing them into films.

"Conducting polymers have enormous potential inelectronics, and because this technique works with so manysubstrates, it can be used in a broad spectrum ofapplications, including organic solar cells, light-emittingdiodes, smart glass and sensors," said Yang Yang, a professorof materials science and engineering at the Samueli Schoolof Engineering and Applied Science and faculty director ofthe Nano Renewable Energy Center at the CNSI.

One of the potential applications is smart, or switchable,glass that can change between states when an electriccurrent is applied -- for example, switching between see-through and opaque states to let light in or block it. TheUCLA research group is applying the technique to othernanomaterials in addition to polymer nanofibers in thehopes of expanding the number of available applications.

The team's solution-based technique, published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy ofSciences, was discovered serendipitously when atransparent film of polymer spread up the walls of a

container while nanofibers in water were being purifiedwith chloroform.

"What drew me in immediately was the eerie phenomenonof what appeared to be self-propelled fluid flow," said JulioM. D'Arcy, lead author on the PNAS paper and a seniorgraduate student in the Kaner's UCLA lab.

"Now I can tell people that I make films in L.A.," he joked.When water and oil are mixed, a blend of droplets isformed, creating a water-oil interface that serves as anentry point for trapping polymer nanofibers at liquid-liquidinterfaces. As droplets unite, a change in the concentration

of blended solids at the water-oilinterface leads to a difference insurface tension. Spreading up aglass wall occurs as result of anattempt to reduce the surface-tension difference. Directionalfluid flow leads to a continuouslyconductive thin film comprised ofa single monolayer of polymernanofibers. The uniformity of thefilm surface is due to the particlesbeing drawn out of the water-oilinterface, sandwiched betweentwo fluids of opposing surfacetensions.

Development of the technology is occurring in collaborationwith Fibron Technologies Inc., with support from theNational Science Foundation through a Small BusinessTechnology Transfer grant. Fibron is a small company thathas licensed the technology from UCLA. It was founded byKaner, who serves as chief scientific adviser, and two ofhis former Ph.D. students -- Christina Baker and Henry Tran,who have gone on to take leadership roles in the company.

Fibron's CEO, Christian Behrenbruch, said "working withUCLA to develop this technology has been a win-win. Itenables us to access incredibly innovative people, but also,the NSF has helped enable the establishment of a formaland transparent IP releationship with the university. Thegood news is that this technology is moving rapidly intocommercial development."

Other techniques exist for creating thin films of conductingpolymers, but each technique tends to work only a limitednumber of applications, or they are not feasible for scalingup. A method has long been sought which would overcomethe limitations of each of the previous methods. The waterand oil technique, with a bit of nanotechnology thrown in,might provide just that -- a scalable universal method forcreating large thin films of conducting polymers.

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THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY OF POLYMERS: HEAT IS ON!SpecialChem

When looking at the previous month Click'N Vote results onthe question "What is the most needed base resin for futurethermally conductive masterbatch developments?" severalinteresting remarks can be made. And because we oftentalk and hear about electrical conductivity of polymers itis more than ever the time to start talking about thermalconductivity.There are already numerous thermallyconductive polymers in the market but as polymerconsumption is still expanding new markets and applicationsare foreseen. But because polymers inherently have a ratherlow thermal conductivity (e.g: compared to metal or glass)developing new thermally conductive polymers is a way toextend even further the use of polymers by replacingtraditional materials. One usually thinks that total volumeof such thermally active polymers will always remain verylow compared to other polymer compounds. Well, in factthis statement is probably becoming a big mistake! Why?

Simply because there many new needs that came up thispast decade that could make thermally active compoundsa very good material solution, not to say the only polymersolution. And these needs are related to very high volumeapplications… Let's start with the trend on CO2 emissionreduction. Even putting that way it could be argued thatthis is not a trend anymore; but already a requirement insome cases. All industries are influenced by this new need.If you take the Building & Construction sector you will hearabout electricity consumption reduction, which often leadsto the need for a better thermal insulation. Well you maythink thermal insulation is exactly the opposite of thermalconductivity… but better thermal insulation of buildings isonly needed when it's cold outside! In summer times youwould definitely need to dissipate heat out from thebuilding. Therefore saying "increased thermal insulationof buildings is needed" is not accurate. It all deals withimproved thermal management. And you can manage heatwhen you can both keep it or on the contrary lose it, whilekeeping control of this balance.

But where is the promised large-volume application then!Well, we are there already: building & construction +polycarbonate (which is ranked 3rd in the above Click'NVote results) = glazing! Can you imagine how many tons ofpolycarbonate, or other transparent resins like PMMA wouldbe needed to replace traditional glass?! Of course furthermaterial improvement are still needed to significantlycompete with glass, and UV and weatherability are themost often cited performances in this case. But thermalconductivity is definitely a new need if you want to copewith the even more stringent CO2 emission reductionrequirements, and address tomorrow's regulations on howmuch energy a building could use. Being able to fine-tune

very accurately the final thermal conductivity of a largewindow of a building depending on the location it will bebuilt would for sure bring architects an efficient andinnovative way to cope with future CO2 emissionregulations.

Another fast growing segment where thermal conductivitywould open new fields of applications to polymers is thelighting segment with the latest Light Emitting Diode (LED)systems. Thanks to a new technology that really pushedback an older one (incandescent light bulb) new needs cameup and some materials that were definitely not an optionin the older technology can now play their role.Opportunities are now emerging for lamp housings andholders (and all polymers here can have a fit depending onthe distance they are from the light {heat} source). And ifyou consider the automotive lighting market segment youhave already touched a good piece of the cake…

Of course there are still opportunities in the Electrical &Electronics (E&E) industries because electricity isgenerating heat (Joule effect), and because the E&E partsare more than ever miniaturized, leading to very high peaktemperatures inside the electrical housings. Thisminiaturization trend which is not over yet has allowedreaching such tiny dimensions that even traditional polymerused might soon require systematic improved thermalconductivity. Just see how much polymer volumes areconsumed in the E&E sectors, and you will see even in thislong-preferred market for thermally active polymers thereare still many innovations and growth ahead of us.

Last but not least, as it is (too) often said, the Packagingindustry is also looking at increased thermal conductivityof polymeric compounds. Again, too often considered as alarge volume low cost industry the packaging industry ismore than ever in need of improved margins. A good wayto cope with reduced value applications (that consume thebiggest share of commodity polymer volumes) is to developinnovative, higher value products which can be sold at muchhigher prices, leaving more room for margins. Theseinnovative and creative new products require well-advanced technologies and higher performing materials.E.g.: thermochromic pigments incorporated into plasticsor elastomers have already penetrated our kitchens to bringincreased safety through an easy identification of whichfood is well-cooled and which one is above requiredconservation temperature (or on the other side of thethermal scale: where you should pay attention to beforehandling a pan or other hot dishes if you do not want toget burned). There are no reasons why the big packagingmarket could not bring future opportunities for thermallyactive compounds too!