March 28, 2021

Jim Panetta 1941-2021

It is sad to report the passing of Vincent A. Panetta, one of the original founders of Everchem. Jimmy, as he was known, worked for about ten years with the other two founders, Bob Daniele and David Patten at ARCO Chemical.

Jim was a serial entrepreneur with experiences owning a deli, a restaurant, multiple health clubs, was a stockbroker, and even sold imported vacuum cleaners at local home shows. Think infomercials! I’m sure that’s only half of what he did. Early in his career, he had worked for Atlantic Richfield as a gas station sales rep, working out deals for ARCO franchisees in the Philadelphia area . Eventually, he came back to ARCO Chemical as a chemical sales representative.

Dave joined ARCO Chemical in 1987 as a sales trainee, and Bob joined when ARCO Chemical acquired Union Carbide’s polyol business in 1990 or so. It is tough to say because the FTC created an interim company called the ARCO Chemical West Virginia (ACWV) Company while they decided which assets could stay and which had to be spun off.

At any rate, Jim left ARCO Chemical during a restructuring (ARCO stood for Another Reorginization COming) in the mid 1990s. His last position had been selling side products from the polystyrene business to the secondary market. Things like floor sweeps, or other forms of off-spec polystyrene. We called him the Duke of Dylene, which was the trade name for the ARCO Chemical version of polystyrene. This business was eventually sold to Nova Chemical.

When Jim left ARCO Chemical, he used his knowledge to create his own company, Evercrest, focused on distressed products in both polystyrene and chemicals–products like glycol or glycol ether bottoms. Jim was always trying to get the best out of everyone, and his ultimate vision was scaling Mount Everest. That was how he came up with Evercrest, and he had also protected the name Everchem. He brought in his two sons, Robert and Jamie, and later his daughter Jen, to help with Evercrest.

Jim’s business did well and when Bob and Dave decided to form a urethane distributorship in 2002, Jim invested and helped establish credit lines for the fledgling company. He owned the name Everchem which seemed as good as anything and was chosen. He and his sons gave advice and room and board, to some extent. The first Everchem offices were down the hall from Evercrest in a small strip center in Broomall, PA. Maureen Moke, who worked for Evercrest, was reassigned to Everchem as our first employee. Those offices were $400/month and we had to cover our desks with a plastic tarp when we thought it might rain because the ceiling tiles would get saturated and fall on our computer stations. The first desks were small filing cabinets as a base and cheap kitchen countertops from Home Depot used as the desktop. The computer network was hard wired and taped to the floor so no one would trip. We made it a point to meet visitors at a local restaurant.

Eventually, Jim passed along his plastics business to his sons and after Everchem was firmly established, sold his shares. He continued to be an advisor and friend and until recently he would regularly stop by the Everchem offices for an afternoon espresso and dialogue.

This is just Jim’s business side of life. His gregarious personality and positive outlook inspired so many more people than I could list here. Rest in Peace, my friend Jimmy Panetta!

2004 Philly Half Marathon Finish

March 28, 2021

Jim Panetta 1941-2021

It is sad to report the passing of Vincent A. Panetta, one of the original founders of Everchem. Jimmy, as he was known, worked for about ten years with the other two founders, Bob Daniele and David Patten at ARCO Chemical.

Jim was a serial entrepreneur with experiences owning a deli, a restaurant, multiple health clubs, was a stockbroker, and even sold imported vacuum cleaners at local home shows. Think infomercials! I’m sure that’s only half of what he did. Early in his career, he had worked for Atlantic Richfield as a gas station sales rep, working out deals for ARCO franchisees in the Philadelphia area . Eventually, he came back to ARCO Chemical as a chemical sales representative.

Dave joined ARCO Chemical in 1987 as a sales trainee, and Bob joined when ARCO Chemical acquired Union Carbide’s polyol business in 1990 or so. It is tough to say because the FTC created an interim company called the ARCO Chemical West Virginia (ACWV) Company while they decided which assets could stay and which had to be spun off.

At any rate, Jim left ARCO Chemical during a restructuring (ARCO stood for Another Reorginization COming) in the mid 1990s. His last position had been selling side products from the polystyrene business to the secondary market. Things like floor sweeps, or other forms of off-spec polystyrene. We called him the Duke of Dylene, which was the trade name for the ARCO Chemical version of polystyrene. This business was eventually sold to Nova Chemical.

When Jim left ARCO Chemical, he used his knowledge to create his own company, Evercrest, focused on distressed products in both polystyrene and chemicals–products like glycol or glycol ether bottoms. Jim was always trying to get the best out of everyone, and his ultimate vision was scaling Mount Everest. That was how he came up with Evercrest, and he had also protected the name Everchem. He brought in his two sons, Robert and Jamie, and later his daughter Jen, to help with Evercrest.

Jim’s business did well and when Bob and Dave decided to form a urethane distributorship in 2002, Jim invested and helped establish credit lines for the fledgling company. He owned the name Everchem which seemed as good as anything and was chosen. He and his sons gave advice and room and board, to some extent. The first Everchem offices were down the hall from Evercrest in a small strip center in Broomall, PA. Maureen Moke, who worked for Evercrest, was reassigned to Everchem as our first employee. Those offices were $400/month and we had to cover our desks with a plastic tarp when we thought it might rain because the ceiling tiles would get saturated and fall on our computer stations. The first desks were small filing cabinets as a base and cheap kitchen countertops from Home Depot used as the desktop. The computer network was hard wired and taped to the floor so no one would trip. We made it a point to meet visitors at a local restaurant.

Eventually, Jim passed along his plastics business to his sons and after Everchem was firmly established, sold his shares. He continued to be an advisor and friend and until recently he would regularly stop by the Everchem offices for an afternoon espresso and dialogue.

This is just Jim’s business side of life. His gregarious personality and positive outlook inspired so many more people than I could list here. Rest in Peace, my friend Jimmy Panetta!

2004 Philly Half Marathon Finish

March 27, 2021

Former Foamex Eddystone, PA Site

For you nostalgia fans . . .

From what we found out, a company purchased the site for $15 MM USD last year (Foamex/FXI initially sold it to a metal recycling company for $13 MM in 2010).  This new entity has plans to build on the site.  The demolishment is ongoing.  Reinhart did a little more research.  The enclosed pdf file is what, at this point in time, appears to be the proposed future plans regarding this former foam plant.  The big question about this “Eddystone” development is, we do not believe there is another road in/out of that place other than the front gate.  This goes right by Penn Terminals then up to Rte 291.  The Railroad tracks run parallel with Rte 291 all the way up past the airport and there is no other way under the tracks to the best of our knowledge.  With all the potential new truck traffic, that one way out/in could become a bottleneck.   

This is what the sight looks like as of last Friday:

Plant 1 Picture: Back and to the left is where the guard house/front gate used to be.  The front, left corner of the plant building was directly in front of me.  The silos in the far distance are at the end of the building. 

Plant 2 Picture:  I am in a similar position as above but looking towards the right.  The far outside rear edge of the plant building is in the distance with the river and New Jersey past that.

R&D Bldg 2:   Basically I am a similar position as above but looking to the left.  The R&D building, which was across the street, is completely gone. 

There is nothing left I could recognize except for the remains of the rail siding tracks.  Difficult to believe that at one time this sight had: 3 foam pouring machines, multiple foam felting operations, Baumer loops, multiple foam reticulation operations, foam peeling operations, flame lamination operations, multiple pilot scale foam machines, full QC lab & operations, engineering, 27 person R&D group, etc.

Courtesy of Glenn DePhillipo RS & M Technologies

March 27, 2021

Former Foamex Eddystone, PA Site

For you nostalgia fans . . .

From what we found out, a company purchased the site for $15 MM USD last year (Foamex/FXI initially sold it to a metal recycling company for $13 MM in 2010).  This new entity has plans to build on the site.  The demolishment is ongoing.  Reinhart did a little more research.  The enclosed pdf file is what, at this point in time, appears to be the proposed future plans regarding this former foam plant.  The big question about this “Eddystone” development is, we do not believe there is another road in/out of that place other than the front gate.  This goes right by Penn Terminals then up to Rte 291.  The Railroad tracks run parallel with Rte 291 all the way up past the airport and there is no other way under the tracks to the best of our knowledge.  With all the potential new truck traffic, that one way out/in could become a bottleneck.   

This is what the sight looks like as of last Friday:

Plant 1 Picture: Back and to the left is where the guard house/front gate used to be.  The front, left corner of the plant building was directly in front of me.  The silos in the far distance are at the end of the building. 

Plant 2 Picture:  I am in a similar position as above but looking towards the right.  The far outside rear edge of the plant building is in the distance with the river and New Jersey past that.

R&D Bldg 2:   Basically I am a similar position as above but looking to the left.  The R&D building, which was across the street, is completely gone. 

There is nothing left I could recognize except for the remains of the rail siding tracks.  Difficult to believe that at one time this sight had: 3 foam pouring machines, multiple foam felting operations, Baumer loops, multiple foam reticulation operations, foam peeling operations, flame lamination operations, multiple pilot scale foam machines, full QC lab & operations, engineering, 27 person R&D group, etc.

Courtesy of Glenn DePhillipo RS & M Technologies

March 25, 2021

Covestro Recycling Project

Closing the loop for polyurethane mattresses

Covestro: a pioneer in foam recycling and cycle design

• Innovative process for recovering both core raw materials
• New pilot plant for chemical recycling put into operation
• Trailblazer for industrial recycling
• Co-shaping the circular economy in cooperation with value chain

Covestro has developed an innovative process for the chemical recycling of polyurethane (PU) flexible foam from used mattresses. It builds on its participation in the PUReSmart project, which is coordinated by Recticel company.

On average, mattresses contain 15 to 20 kilograms of foam, which results in a large amount of waste at the end of their useful life. The foam is primarily made of two important raw materials. While other chemical recycling approaches mainly focus on processing one of them, the Covestro process now enables the recovery of both raw materials.

Covestro has also recently started operating a pilot plant for flexible foam recycling at its Leverkusen site to confirm the positive laboratory results achieved to date. The first phase is to focus on recycling one of the raw materials, before the recovery of the second component is also to be piloted from summer this year. Covestro´s goal here is to industrialize chemical recycling processes for used flexible foams and ultimately to remarket both recovered raw materials.

Closing material loops

“The development of this innovative recycling technology and the investment in the pilot plant are further milestones in realizing our vision of fully aligning Covestro to the circular economy,” says CEO Dr. Markus Steilemann. “In doing so, we want to replace fossil resources in production, steadily further reduce the carbon footprint of our materials and create new solutions for dealing with plastic waste. Chemical recycling is particularly promising for this, and must be developed further and used more intensively overall. Above all, it should finally be put on an equal legal basis with other recycling methods.”

In cooperation with the companies Recticel and Redwave – a division of Wolfgang Binder GmbH – and as part of the PUReSmart research project, Covestro has also developed an intelligent sorting solution for separating the different PU foams from post-consumer mattresses. The software uses algorithms to correctly identify the different foam types, which facilitates an effective recycling process. This development is another element of Covestro’s digitalization strategy, combined with the new opportunities it entails for the chemicals and plastics industry.

Co-creation of a circular ecosystem

“Based on our competencies and experiences, we also want to take part in shaping the emerging value creation cycle,” says Daniel Meyer, Global Head of the Polyurethanes segment at Covestro. “To accomplish this, we rely on international cooperation with partners and also develop innovative business models. The aim is to generate new sustainable business opportunities with our customers, other partners and for ourselves.”

The project is an important step forward in taking the development of the circular economy at Covestro to entirely new heights. The increased use of used materials further contributes to solving the societal challenge of sustainable disposal of such waste and to achieving the European Union´s goals for the circular economy and for climate and environmental protection.

https://www.covestro.com/press/closing-the-loop-for-polyurethane-mattresses-public/