Leading executives involved in European plastics recycling convened in Portugal in mid-June to address the current state of affairs and to look into the future of the industry. The discussions among nearly 200 recycling professionals occurred at the 20th anniversary meeting of Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE), which took place June 16-17 in Cascais, Portugal. Circular economy One takeaway from the...

More than 500,000 professionals annually attend the big plastics industry trade shows worldwide, and with attendance rising at several of the events, this number seems primed to increase. More than 148,000 industry leaders attended this spring’s Chinaplas conference in Shanghai. This represents an increase in turnout of about 15 percent. The annual Chinaplas event is the industry’s second largest gathering,...

Collectors of recovered plastic packaging note the value of baled material has risen for three consecutive months. Early market indications point to HDPE homopolymer containers selling for about 40 cents per pound in June, a 60 percent jump from the middle of the spring. The value of copoly HDPE, also up for the third consecutive month at about 26 cents...

Industry experts contend recycling carts will contain more and more aluminum bottles in the coming years. Ricardo Ruiz is a vice president at Belvac Production Machinery, which produces can-making equipment. He says that aluminum packaging is now taking many new shapes, with the aluminum bottle leading the way. "Aluminum bottles have changed the market quickly," Ruiz said. For example, Anheuser-Busch...

A leading producer of individual coffee cups says it will change how the product is made in order to aid recycling. Monique Oxender, chief sustainability officer at Keurig, says the firm will introduce a recyclable polypropylene pod later this year. This follows tests at three materials recovery facilities (MRFs) and at KW Plastics in Alabama. Used PP pods were mixed into...

The country’s largest consumer of recovered polyethylene film posted record sales in 2015. Trex, based in Winchester, Va., saw sales rise 13 percent last year to $441 million. The publicly traded company reported just over $391 million in sales in 2014. The increase in sales helped push up net income by 16 percent, to $48 million. "We are pleased with...

A leading shipping line executive says recovered materials exporters can expect to see a different global freight environment in the next year. This will substantially affect the current recycling marketplace. David Arsenault, CEO of Hyundai Merchant Marine America, recently described shipping issues to the members of ISRI's Paper Stock Industries. He noted several ways the ocean freight industry changed in...

More than 130 paper recycling executives convened in New Orleans last week to consider how to possibly rejigger bale specifications to better reflect current market conditions. The fiber collected and processed today varies widely from past years, when current specifications were adopted. The two-day work session was sponsored by the Paper Stock Institutes, a chapter of the Institute of Scrap...

Last week's Electronics Recycling Asia Conference in Singapore touched on the circular economy, industry certifications and the diverse systems in place to recover e-scrap in Southeast Asia. Running from the Nov. 10-13, the conference drew 138 attendees and attracted 18 exhibiting companies. Below is a rundown of some of the key moments from the show. The principal focus of the...

A global recycling trade group says China has rekindled its scrutiny of imported plastics. According to a report from the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), China's Ministry of Environmental Protection has informed local authorities throughout the country to focus inspections on the quality and legality of imported scrap plastic shipments. In 2013, a similar action by the Chinese government, known...