Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Eastman’s Kingsport, Tennessee plant uses methanolysis to chemically recycle PET. | Monticello/Shutterstock
In their latest earnings call, Eastman representatives said the company’s chemical recycling facility in Kingsport, Tennessee, is ramping up to 100% capacity and is gearing up to take in a “broader set” of uncommonly recycled plastics. Continue Reading
The Responsible Recycling Alliance is calling for California lawmakers to abandon Senate Bill 1053, which would expand the state’s bag ban to prohibit reusable bags made from 40% post-consumer resin. | Huguette Roe/Shutterstock
Seeking to quash a regulatory change that would remove over 100 million pounds of North American post-consumer resin demand per year, EFS-Plastics, Merlin Plastics and PreZero US have joined together to advocate for retaining recycled-content reusable plastic bags in California’s bag regulations. Continue Reading
PepsiCo recently announced it will fall short of its 2025 goal to make 100% of its plastic packaging recoverable or reusable.| Pixinoo/Shutterstock
In recent weeks and months, disclosures by consumer goods giant PepsiCo and resin producer Shell have indicated the companies will either miss targets or adjust timelines to meet plastics recycling-related goals. Meanwhile, Nestle has received media scrutiny for changing how it describes its goals, even as it continues to make progress toward those targets. Continue Reading
The Eureka Recycling MRF in Minneapolis will install several Machinex optical sorters in response to an increase in smaller plastic containers that have challenged the MRF’s ability to maintain quality. | Courtesy of Eureka Recycling
Minneapolis nonprofit MRF operator Eureka Recycling is seeing larger volumes of smaller plastics coming through its doors, creating challenges to maintain the same level of material quality. These changes spurred the company to plan substantial facility upgrades, a co-president said this week. Continue Reading
Fabrizio Di Gregorio, technical director for Plastics Recyclers Europe, Roxanne Spiekerman, vice president of public affairs for PreZero US, and Lou Fenech, North America packaging sustainability manager for Mondelēz International, talked about challenges to recycling flexible packaging at the 2024 Plastics Recycling Conference. | Big Wave Productions/Plastics Recycling Update
Increasing film recycling takes coordinated efforts by both brand owners and reclaimers – and it takes a true understanding that one sector can’t solve the issue alone, speakers said at the 2024 Plastics Recycling Conference in March.
Panelists said the playbook that increased renewable energy usage in the U.S. could be used to improve recycling, too. | PhilipR/Shutterstock
At a meeting of Oregon materials recovery stakeholders last week, two plastics recycling experts had a blunt message for attendees: Plastics recycling is in trouble. Continue Reading
The “Plastic Free Packaging Design Guide” focuses on how Google has moved toward fiber-based packaging and away from plastics in its consumer electronics products. | Tada Images/Shutterstock
Google this month published a comprehensive look at how the company has approached designing its packaging for minimal plastic use. In publicly detailing its methodology, the major corporation laid out a philosophy that “sustainability should be a collaborative endeavor, not a competitive one.” Continue Reading
Closed Loop Partners has made more than 80 investments over the past 10 years of existence and is poised to keep going. | Chones/Shutterstock
Closed Loop Partners has provided funding to more than 80 companies and municipalities over its decade in existence, a period of significant turbulence in the U.S. recycling sector. Continue Reading
The U.S. Plastics Pact reported that by the end of 2022, pact signatories had increased PCR use from 7% to 9.4%. | XXL Photo/Shutterstock
The U.S. Plastics Pact this week unveiled the goals its signatories will strive for during the next five years. Most of the goals build on the efforts over the past five years, and the group’s target date to hit 30% average recycled content has been extended from 2025 to 2030. Continue Reading
Matium both connects buyers and sellers and makes data reporting easier for users of the digital platform. | Ann-Moore/Shutterstock
Matium last month began the commercial launch of a platform that digitizes many aspects of the plastics recycling trading business. The company also received a recent funding boost from an economic development agency in Colorado.