Industry News

Polymer seals are becoming increasingly popular across a variety of industries from medical to oil and gas. Materials such as PTFE are leading the polymer seal market, with demand being especially high. As per Fact.MR analysis, the global sales of polymer seals are set to experience a healthy CAGR of close to 6% throughout the forecast period of 2021 to 2031.

In this week’s blog post we will discuss the key takeaways from Fact.MR’s market study.

Oil and Gas Get the Lion’s Share

According to the report, oil & gas end-use is expected to capture highest share and is set to create a US$ 5.5 billion opportunity over the forecast period. This makes sense, as the oil and gas industry has witnessed substantial growth over the past few decades. And due to increasing investments in oil and gas across the globe, it is expected to only grow.

This also effects the seal market, as demands for greater boundary pushing technologies increases with the industry’s growing need to discover new ways to obtain oil. Despite COVID-19 causing a massive downturn in both the oil and gas and the seal market, the FMI expects FMI expects global oil & gas seals market to grow at 3.3% CAGR through 2031.

Europe Leading the Way

Europe, as it turns out, manufactures over 25% of all cars in the world. This makes sense, as some of the world’s top car brands are based in Europe: Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, BMW and Volkswagen to name a few. All of these manufacturers will need polymer seals at some point during the manufacturing process. This high demand results in Europe being one of the largest consumers of polymer seals.

What about the Aviation Sector?

With increase in tourism in Asian countries as well as low air fare, the aircraft industry has experienced incredible growth around the globe. This growth has created the need for more aircrafts, which in turn create the need for more polymer seals.

In Canada and the United States, with leading aircraft manufacturers and OEMs, the market is particularly strong. Because aircraft manufacturing requires high quality seals, and because there are no safe substitutes, the market is set to grow over a rapid pace over the next few years.

COVID-19 and the Seal Market

Like most of the world, the seal market has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of disruptions in the supply chain, the polymer seal industry has faced setbacks.

One industry that has seen an increase in the use of polymer seals is the healthcare industry. There has been a boom in seals manufactured for medical devices such as ventilators, to the point where many manufacturers were struggling to keep up with the demand.

In Conclusion

COVID-19 has been tough for everyone, and the polymer seal market is no exception. However, dispite facing an uphill battle, the industry has grown and will continue to grow at record rates. Whether it’s seals for oil and gas or aviation, polymer seals are becoming a hot commodity and is set to be one of the fastest growing industries in the next decade.

Need polymer seals? Contact us today!

In September of 2020, the United States launched the US Plastics Pact, a consortium of industry leaders whose goal is to work collectively towards a circular economy for plastics in the United States. Around 100 companies, including big brand names such as Coca-Cola and Target, as well as organizations geared towards sustainability such as the Ocean Conservancy, have agreed to be a part of the program, with the end goal being all plastic packaging be recyclable by 2025. In June of this year, the U.S. Plastics Pact released their roadmap, providing their plan for hitting the ambitious 2025 target.

The goals set in the road-map seem lofty, and not everyone in the plastics industry agrees with the timeline and language used.

In this week’s blog post, we will go over the goals set by the U.S. Plastics Pact Roadmap, the industry leaders who are on board, and the ones who are not.

Roadmap to Sustainability

On June 15^th, the US Plastics Pact, with the help of WRAP UK, released a 36-page road-map detailing their plan to make plastic waste a thing of the past. The plan targeted four specific areas to address said plastic waste, through, according to their website, “specific actions, responsibilities, and interim timeframes in order to realize meaningful, target outcomes for a circular economy for plastic packaging.”

These target areas are:

• Defining a list of packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary by 2021.
• Ensuring 100% of new plastic packaging is reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
• Undertaking actions to effectively recycle or compost 50% of plastic packing (including PET and PP thermoformed and injected molded containers) by 2025.
• Ensuring the average recycled content or responsibly sourced bio-based content in plastic packaging (such as PE films) is at 30% by 2025.

The roadmap also calls to boost recycling rate of packaging made from PET, polypropylene and high-density polyethylene to 70% by 2025.

It’s goal by the end of 2022 is for all of its members to make public commitments to use recycled content in most of their packaging.

Lofty goals, but goals they say are obtainable. Not everyone agrees, however.

Realistic Goals or Pipe Dream?

The American Chemistry Council, the trade association for chemical companies and plastics manufacturers, says it welcomes the goals of the pact. In fact, many plastic firms have also signed on to the pact, including Amcor, Eastman Chemical and the National Association for PET Container Resources.

The issue, according to the ACC, is the timeline, and the language regarding phasing out “problematic plastic products”. In a statement issued by Joshua Baca, ACC’s vice president of plastics, said they want the Pact to be “transparent, data-driven and make recommendations based on science and engineering, rather than ideology” and to have “an inclusive and open process” that will “generate more informed and reliable outcomes and minimize risks of unintended consequences that can result from material substitution.”

The ACC had announced its own plans to create a circular plastics economy in 2018. Their plan was slightly less aggressive, with goal of 100% recyclable plastic packaging by 2030, and 100% of plastic packaging being either re-used, recycled or recovered by 2040. In 2020, the ACC announced their own “Roadmap to Reuse”, which outlined the ACC’s vision to achieve the previously listed goals.

Some in the plastics industry agree with the Pact.

Many plastic firms and trade groups have also signed on to the pact, including Amcor, Eastman Chemical and the National Association for PET Container Resources.

Amcor’s VP of Sustainability, David Clark, went on record saying “…we are proud to support the rollout of the US Plastics Pact Roadmap – which shows how cooperation across the value chain can help us solve the problem of waste in the environment.”

The National Association for PET Container Resources, or NAPCOR, even worked with the Pact to help launch the Roadmap, with NAPCOR Executive Director Darrel Collier saying that the U.S. Plastics Pact recycling goal of 50% is “ambitious, but not impossible.”

In Conclusion

While not everyone is keen on the US Plastics Pact Roadmap’s ambitious plans to create a circular plastics economy and reduce waste, many companies are more on board.

With more and more manufacturing companies agreeing to do their part to reduce plastic waste, The US Plastics Pact believes it can pave the way forward to a more sustainable plastics industry. The ACC also believes their plan can achieve those goals, while giving a more realistic timeline.

The important thing is, according to Collier, to do something.

“The timeframe is short, and the workload is immense, but if we choose to do nothing, the visions of a circular economy across the U.S. will give way to the status quo.”

With help from plastics manufacturers, companies can help make sure plastics remain both in the US economy, but out of the environment, for years to come.