An appeals court in New York has rejected an attempt by the New York City Department of Sanitation to restore a ban on expanded polystyrene food-service products. The decision, issued on Dec. 3 by Angela M. Mazzarelli, a justice of the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court, puts an end to a lengthy legal battle between the Department...

Packaging producer Cascades will purchase new thermoforming lines for products made with recycled PS and PET content, the company announced. The Canada-based company will purchase equipment worth $3.4 million ($4.5 million Canadian) for two of its Quebec facilities: Plastiques Cascades plant in Kingsey Falls and Cascades Inopak plant in Drummondville. At the Plastiques Cascades plant, Cascades spent $2.6 million to...

A new group in Europe is working to build a demonstration plant to recycle EPS building insulation containing a brominated flame retardant. The group, PolyStyrene Loop, aims to build a demonstration plant by 2018, according to a press release from membership association European Manufacturers of EPS. The plant would use a technology called the "CreaSolv Process," a proprietary solvent-based polymer...

Romania remains well short of a 2021 European Union target for e-scrap collections, and Sims Metals Management brought profitability to its global e-scrap recycling business in fiscal year 2015. If all electronics generated in Europe's waste stream were recycled, the industry could realize nearly $2.3 billion in revenue, according to an article at scrapmonster.com. Researchers derived the number by conducting...

U.S. plastic bottle recycling rose in 2014, continuing a long-term trend dating back to the 1990s. According to the 25th annual bottle recycling report from the American Chemistry Council and the Association of Plastic Recyclers, more than 3 billion pounds of plastic bottles were recycled in 2014. That number is the highest on record. With roughly 9.4 billion pounds of...

A group fighting California's statewide ban on plastic bags is now pushing a second ballot measure that could cause confusion for voters and push grocers into bag-ban opposition. The San Jose Mercury News reports the American Progressive Bag Alliance (APBA) has filed an initiative called the Environmental Fee Protection Act. If the initiative qualifies for the ballot, California voters will...

In a resounding victory for electronics reuse advocates in the U.S., the Librarian of Congress has granted individuals and companies alike the right to unlock used phones and tablets for the next three years. The ruling eliminates a key obstacle for companies attempting to re-market used devices and concludes more than a year of uncertainty surrounding the future legality of...

Construction has started on a facility to recycle vehicle airbag scrap into a high-quality polyamide 6.6, according to international chemical company Solvay. Lyon, France-based Solvay has begun construction of the facility in Gorzow, Poland. The effort is part of the company's Move4earth project, which received funding from the European Commission (EC). More than 70 percent of automotive airbags in Europe...

Vermont regulators have chosen Call2Recycle to manage the nation's first extended producer responsibility program for single-use batteries. The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources approved the Atlanta-based industry stewardship group's battery take-back and recycling plan. The plan was submitted on behalf of 21 battery producers. Call2Recycle already operates a nationwide voluntary collection and recycling program for rechargeable batteries. The group also...

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has ruled that Ohio-based ECM Biofilms was wrong in the past for claiming its additives promote complete degradation and will be wrong again unless the company proves otherwise. The ruling, which comes after months of back and forth between the FTC and ECM, goes a step further than a previous ruling. Originally, a judge for...