Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Eight out of the 10 states with container redemption systems have enacted temporary measures limiting deposit returns in some way. | Karolis Kavolelis/Shutterstock
Stay-at-home orders are hitting container deposit systems hard, leading to significant declines in the volumes of high-quality PET and other recyclables moving to material processors.
Indorama noted the company’s investments in recycling are influenced by the fact numerous brand owners are committing to incorporate more recycled plastic in their products. | barbacane/Shutterstock
Resin giant Indorama Ventures will more than triple its global RPET production capacity in the next few years, according to the company’s most recent annual report.
MRF executives have noted staffing and procedural changes to deal with the coronavirus.
As the coronavirus continues to spread, recycling facilities are increasing distance between employees, sanitizing common areas and, in at least one case, halting the practice of punching in and out on a time clock.
Direct Pack has acquired a Mexico-headquartered recycling operation with capacity to process 40 million pounds per year of PET. | Courtesy of Direct Pack.
U.S. plastic thermoform manufacturer Direct Pack Inc. has acquired a PET reclaimer and is now processing recovered thermoforms at a Mexico site.
Rolph Payet, executive secretary of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm conventions, speaks at the Plastics Recycling Conference and Trade Show. | Plastics Recycling Conference/Brian Adams Photography
Scrap plastic exporters should closely monitor policy changes in the countries they sell to as the global community prepares to enact more aggressive shipment requirements, according to the top staff member for the Basel Convention.
The Closed Loop Partners investment will finance Reterra’s move into its recently acquired facility and will help fund equipment purchases. | Natee Meepian/Shutterstock
Closed Loop Partners will invest $2 million in a Houston chemical recycling company that processes PET residue generated by mechanical recycling operations.
Regulatory changes, and an overall sense of uncertainty, are playing into difficulty moving scrap materials abroad. | 28 November Studio/Shutterstock
Overseas markets for recovered plastic, including Malaysia and India, are experiencing disruption as governments enact widespread restrictions and close ports in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
In communities around the country, recycling programs are limiting the materials they collect, altering service hours or shutting down altogether. | Oksana Shturo/Shutterstock
Recycling programs nationwide have curtailed service due to the coronavirus pandemic, potentially hampering the supply of scrap plastics moving to reclaimers in the weeks to come.
The federal government and states that have issued “stay-at-home” orders have decided recycling businesses are “essential.” | youkatan/Shutterstock
In the states that have issued stay-at-home orders, companies engaged in recycling processing or plastic product manufacturing are not subject to forced shutdowns.
North American plastics recycling companies are working to prevent the spread of coronavirus within their operations. | joshimerbin/Shutterstock
The global escalation of COVID-19 is leading reclaimers to enact new safety regulations, while on a wider scale it impacts some collection programs, reduces Asian scrap plastics demand, constrains global shipping, dents stock prices and threatens an economic recession.