Recycling Tech From Big Industry

Petrochemicals derived from fossil fuels including coal, natural gas, and petroleum serve as feedstocks for numerous industrial processes and products. The plastic milk container you pulled out of the fridge this morning, the plastics in your car, the dyes used in the fabric of your clothing — all these were probably obtained from petrochemicals.

Not surprisingly, there are clean tech innovations that seek to reduce the use of virgin petrochemicals in various products.

A good example is US patent US8083064, “Sustainable Packaging for Consumer Products,” awarded to Emily Boswell and a team of co-inventors and assigned to The Procter & Gamble Company of Cincinnati, OH. This recent patent, issued on December 27, 2011, is found in the Recycling category of the patentECO Industry Index.

The invention’s abstract provides a summary:

“Disclosed herein is a sustainable article substantially free of virgin petroleum-based compounds that includes a container, a cap, and a label, each made from renewable and/or recycled materials. The article has a shelf life of at least two years, and is itself entirely recyclable. The container can include polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, or polypropylene. The cap can include polypropylene or polyethylene. The label can include polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate, polypropylene, or paper.”

The inventors seek “to provide plastic packaging that is substantially free of virgin petroleum-based compounds, 100% sustainable, 100% recyclable, has a long-lasting shelf life, and that can minimize or eliminate contamination during recycling.”

This patent was issued from the USPTO’s Green Technology Pilot Program, which closed in mid-February 2012. To learn more about the report and the patents granted under it, go to Way Better Patents Discovery and Analysis Report.  P&G demonstrates a commitment to clean tech through this invention.

Image source: www.mrclean.com