A European scientific panel has given its approval to a pair of industry proposals related to recycling PET into food packaging. In one opinion, the "Panel on Food Contact Materials, Enzymes, Flavourings and Processing Aids" (CEF), a panel of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), approved the use of two chain-extender additives in recycled PET destined for food packaging. Specifically,...

A Wisconsin bill aims to increase the amount of e-scrap manufacturers are on the hook to recycle each year and ensure they collect material from rural areas. The changes mirror those recommended by state environmental officials in a recent report. Senate Bill 621, introduced Jan. 22, shifts the way electronics manufacturers' annual recycling targets are calculated, and the expectation is...

The Association of Plastic Recyclers expended significant efforts last year updating its APR Design Guide for Plastics Recyclability, a reference tool helping designers create recycling-friendly packaging and products. "Our ultimate goal is that this revised, user-friendly document will result in recyclability being incorporated into the design phase of products, which will serve to significantly reduce contamination for recyclers," Steve Alexander,...

Walmart Canada has launched a nationwide campaign to discourage the use of thin plastic bags and boost the amount of film returned for recycling. The retailer will begin charging customers 5 cents for single-use plastic bags, an effort to encourage the switch to reusable ones. It will also use an in-store education and awareness campaign to boost post-consumer film collections...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has killed two pieces of recycling-oriented legislation – one focused on updating the state's struggling e-scrap program and another creating a paint stewardship program. Christie exercised a pocket veto of Senate Bill 1420, which aimed to require paint producers to oversee collections and recycling of architectural paint. The program would have been funded by fees...

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie killed legislation aimed at overhauling the state's troubled extended producer responsibility program for electronics. The state Legislature sent him Assembly Bill 4763, which would have changed the way manufacturers' recycling obligations are calculated to base them on the weight of material actually collected each year. It would have also added computer printers and fax machines...

A bill overhauling New Jersey's e-scrap law is headed to Gov. Chris Christie, but the recycling industry isn't sure whether he'll sign it. "There is really no way of knowing which way the governor will go," said Marie Kruzan, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Recyclers (ANJR), one of the bill's supporters. "We all knew probably the hardest...

Can technology be used to better track flows of end-of-life electronics? Industry and government officials discussed that idea this week during a webinar produced by consulting firm TransparentPlanet LLC and the U.S. EPA. Experts offerered presentions on the ways radio frequency identification (RFID) chips and other tools can be employed to help sort and track e-scrap. With an audience of about...

Over the past two years, Coca-Cola has boosted its recycled PET production capabilities by 20 percent, opening facilities and recycling lines in nine different countries. It now uses recycled PET in 24 countries. But the worldwide beverage giant still failed to meet its 25 percent recycled- and renewable-content goal last year, coming in at 12.4 percent, according to its 2014-15...

An in-development plastics recycling company will take in difficult-to-recover plastics, including PP from sharps, mixed rigid bales and PET fines. Green Fence Recycling Corp., based in Mullins, S.C., plans to recycle about 40 million pounds of plastic per year when fully operational. About 60 percent of that will be PP from sterilized sharps, and the remainder will be composed of...