About Onnicha

Onnicha has built her expertise around both technical and commercial experience. She graduated with a master's degree in Polymer Science from the Petroleum and Petrochemical College, Thailand. She worked as a Technical Service and Development Engineer for three years at SCG Chemicals, the leading petrochemical company in ASEAN. Recently, she graduated from The University of Liverpool with a master's degree in international business. Now, she is a Polymer Applications Leader at Interface Polymer Ltd, where she is implementing the revolutionary technology, Polarfin® Diblock, to converters, packagers and brand owners' products to overcome the recycling challenge, enabling circular economy and achieving their sustainable goal.

With the rapid advancements in bioplastics, recycling technologies, and alternative materials, what major trends do you foresee shaping the plastics industry over the foreseeable future?

The plastics industry is undergoing significant change to adapt to the demands of sustainability, technological advancements, and regulatory pressures. These include targets for achieving net zero, increased awareness of materials' lifetime carbon footprint, and regulations such as the plastics packaging tax, which incentivises the increased use of recycled plastic content.

If they are able to enter a circular economy, plastics typically have a lower lifetime carbon footprint compared to resource-and energy-intensive alternatives like cardboard, textiles, and glass. However, without design for recyclability and recycling infrastructures that support circularity, plastics are often treated as waste at end of life, leading to poor environmental credibility and consumer perception.

Interface Polymers Ltd. has developed multiple products to support the wider use of recyclable polyolefins (polyethylene and polypropylene) and enable recycling of challenging mixed polyolefin waste streams to help restore plastics' reputation as a low-cost, high-performing material that can also be a sustainable choice.

Interface Polymers has been known for its innovative approach. Can you elaborate on your current strategic initiatives to drive growth and innovations within the company?

Interface Polymers Ltd.’s Polarfin® products provide sustainable solutions for polyolefin users across multiple industries.

We're continuously enhancing our Polarfin® Compatibiliser technology to improve its efficacy in recycling mixed and contaminated polyolefin waste streams. Designed to tackle some of the most challenging waste streams, such as flexible packaging, this not only helps reduce landfill and incineration of plastic waste but also allows for the production of high-quality recycled materials, often for the same high-value applications, making sustainable practices more feasible for various industries.

We have also just launched our ground-breaking Polarfin® Adhesion Promoter products to enhance the adhesion of polyolefins to off-the-shelf paints, coatings, and adhesives. These solutions address a significant limitation to the widespread use of lightweight, recyclable polyolefins by providing excellent, permanent adhesion strength. This advancement enables polyolefin composites to be used in the automotive industry for vehicle lightweighting, without the need for complex pretreatments, while maintaining end-of-life recyclability.

How are you leveraging your unique technology to address environmental concerns and meet the evolving demands of your customers?

Challenges in improving sustainability and enabling a circular economy persist across many industries seeking to utilise the lightweight, low-carbon footprint, and high performance of plastics.

Current customer needs typically focus on two main objectives: enabling the widespread use of lightweight, recyclable thermoplastic polyolefins and composites that meet design-for-recycling guidelines, and increasing recycled content in new plastic production without compromising performance.

Polarfin® products address these challenges by providing high-performance solutions with minimal additive requirements. Polarfin® Adhesion Promoters achieve high adhesion strength with very low coating weights. Incorporating Polarfin® Adhesion Promoting films into composites does not require any pretreatment and can often be integrated into composite lamination without additional steps, reducing manufacturing complexity and supporting carbon savings.

Additionally, the optimal loading for Polarfin® Compatibilisers is commonly less than half that of competing technologies, offering equal or greater effectiveness, which further supports carbon savings.

Onnicha Rattanopas will be speaking on Day 2 at the Innovation and Extrusion Theatre.