ExxonMobil and Selene launch heavy-duty sacks with recycled PE
Key takeaways
- ExxonMobil and The Selene Group have partnered to develop heavy-duty sacks with 50% recycled PE content.
- Advanced metallocene PE resins can help maintain strength, puncture resistance, and sealing performance despite recycled material use.
- The initiative supports circular packaging while meeting performance requirements for plastic industry logistics.
ExxonMobil Signature Polymers and The Selene Group have partnered to create heavy-duty sacks (HDS) that feature 50% recycled PE content. The Selene NextBag will be used by ExxonMobil’s Meerhout Polymer Plant in Belgium to deliver PE resins to its customers.
The recycled PE content was supplied to The Selene Group, which reuses end-of-life polymer bags from logistics operations and then processes them into its Premium Recycle Polymer. The recycled PE was combined with ExxonMobil’s Exceed Tough and Exxtra Seal resins.
“Packaging strength properties and the original thickness of the HDS were maintained thanks to the addition of advanced performance polymers, which helped compensate for physical property degradation due to the incorporation of recycled content,” says ExxonMobil.
Specifically, the Exceed Tough+ m 1019, a metallocene PE resin, is designed to deliver enhanced toughness, including puncture and tear resistance. Meanwhile, the Exxtra Seal m 1012, also a metallocene PE resin, aims to increase bag drop resistance and enhance sealing performance.
Matching quality with performance
ExxonMobil says that its partnership with Selene aims to deliver high-performance HDS that includes recycled content and maintains the quality required for heavy-duty applications.
In addition to these efforts, ExxonMobil recently partnered with Alliance Films and Cloeren to develop a 67-layer Nano Layer pre-stretch film that responds to the packaging industry’s growing demand for materials with stretchability, holding force, puncture resistance, and tear-propagation performance.
Furthermore, it partnered with Windmöller & Hölscher, B&B, and Henkel to develop a monomaterial PE pouch to address regulatory pressures on the packaging industry.
