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Interview with Michael Davies

Technical and Marketing Manager, Dover Chemical Corporation

Exclusively for K-MAG

Photo: Michael Davies

Michael Davies, Technical and Marketing Manager, Dover Chemical Group

28/09/2021

In times of climate change, we need solutions on how to work against it. One possibility is to keep products in circulation for as long as possible in the sense of a circular economy. However, this is a solution that may not be readily implemented in all sectors.

Dover Chemical Corporation has developed a polymer process stabilizer that is biodegradable and free of substances of concern. In this interview with K-MAG, Michael Davies explains what is particularly important until a circular economy can take hold, and what makes the Doverphos LGP12 stabilizer special.

Mr. Davies, at the moment there is a global shortage of raw materials, also due to the pandemic. How is the current shortage affecting your company and when do you expect it to ease?

Michael Davies: We have had issues with booking freight and supply of basic raw materials for over a year. The interruption in the smooth flow of goods is mostly due directly via illness or indirectly via government reaction to Covid. The continued shortage of containers, space on ships and truck drivers in many countries means that it will not ease until the various governments remove the Covid restrictions and prioritize training of a younger workforce – this seems to continue for at least the end of this year and probably will continue through the next flu season to April 2022.

Circular Economy is THE topic in the plastics industry right now. In your opinion, how can we achieve a circular economy for plastics, in the U.S. but also worldwide?

Davies: There cannot be one solution for the world. Only developed nations can afford the extra costs of implementing a circular economy in many cases finding new uses for recycled plastics. Originally this was just simple applications such as decking; however, this is developing rapidly. As these technologies become cheaper, the implementation of the circular economy can spread. In the meantime, the most urgent priority for the environment should be halting the disposal of plastics in rivers that pollute the oceans. As 93 percent of the plastics in the ocean come from ten rivers; helping countries to have a collection and heat recovery program would be the most cost effective way to help the environment as an intermediate solution.

Exhibitors and products around raw materials

Could you explain your new polymer process stabilizer? How does it benefit the industry?

Davies: The function of the stabilizer is as a sacrificial additive to retain as much of the polymer’s properties after processing. Doverphos LGP12 is the best stabilizer available, so it will give performances that are not achievable with other additives such as reduced melt fracture in LLDPE films as well as improved gamma irradiation and NOx gas fade resistance.

What role does color play with the Doverphos LGP12?

Davies: Color is an easy indicator of how well a stabilizer performs and the polymeric stabilizer Doverphos LGP12 performs better than the standard stabilizers which get progressively darker after each recycling step.

Image: two lines with four squares each, the line above slighly gets darker, the lower one stays white; Copyright: Dover Chemical Corporation

Unlike conventional stabilizers, the Doverphos LGP12 stabilizer (bottom) hardly discolors during recycling; Source: Dover Chemical Corporation

 What are the advantages of your new polymer process stabilizer when it comes to sustainability?

Davies: Doverphos LGP12 is made from safe and biodegradable materials, and does not contain substances of very high concern (SvHc). The polymeric nature of Doverphos LGP12 greatly reduces migration and human exposure in food contact applications. The retention of properties during recycling is especially important for recycling to reduce the number of defects in recycled materials such as gels.

Kyra Molinari (Editorial team K-MAG)

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