NewsBits

NewsBits

The domestic housing market continues to grow, and this is welcome news for some plastic recycling firms. After rising 28 percent last year, housing starts are expected to reach nearly one million units this year, says the National Association of Home Builders. This estimate represents a 22 percent increase over 2012. Many expect this will result in increased consumption of recycled plastic to make eaves, gutters, pipe, decking, windows and other construction products.

RES Polyflow's first full-scale plastics-to-oil facility is nearing completion in northeast Ohio. The facility [1] is funded in part from an Advanced Energy Program Grant from the Ohio Third Frontier program and an accompanying lab is housed at Youngstown State University.

The Seattle City Council will soon consider a measure that will prohibit businesses from throwing away plastic film and wrap, along with other materials, by 2014. Earlier this week, the council's utilities committee recommended that the full council approve an update to the city's Solid Waste Management Plan, reports the Puget Sound Business Journal [2]. The recommendations [3] would place new recycling requirements on businesses.

The Gulf Petrochemicals and Chemical Association is spearheading a new initiative to collect plastic debris in the region, reports ConstructionWeekOnline.com [4].

Plans by the Oneida Seven Generations Corp. to build a plastics-to-energy facility on the Oneida Tribe's reservation in Outagamie County, Wisconsin, is being opposed by some tribal members who worry about the environmental effects of an industrial operation in a "pristine" land, reports indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com [5].

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