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Author Archives: Colin Staub

About Colin Staub

Colin-StaubColin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Nestlé wants to build markets by creating demand

Published: January 22, 2020
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Nestlé pledged to buy up to 2 million metric tons of food-grade recycled plastics over the next five years. | Formatoriginal/Shutterstock

Nestlé says it will buy a huge quantity of food-grade recycled resin over the next five years. A company leader explained why the brand owner is committing to use recycled plastic despite its higher cost.

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Northeast state takes next step toward EPR for packaging

Published: January 22, 2020
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The Maine capitol building in Augusta.

No U.S. state currently has an EPR law in place for packaging. | Yurii Prohonnyi/Shutterstock

Maine legislators are gearing up to introduce a bill that would mandate producers to fund the recycling of packaging they put on the market. The plan calls for different requirements based on whether a packaging type is “readily recyclable.”

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China turns its focus to domestic plastic waste

Published: January 22, 2020
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China will ban the sale of plastic bags in certain areas, stepping up to a complete ban nationwide by 2025. | olesea vetrila/Shutterstock

After shaking up the U.S. recycling sector with an import ban on post-consumer plastics, the Chinese government is taking aim at its own plastic waste generation.

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Brand owner trials film-on-the-side curbside recycling

Published: January 8, 2020
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Curbside film recycling in N.J.

Through the Bradley Beach, N.J. partnership, SC Johnson is providing financial support to assist with infrastructure costs. | Courtesy of SC Johnson

SC Johnson recently launched a pilot curbside film collection program in a small New Jersey community. Rather than mix film into existing single-stream recycling, the program has residents use a dedicated container.

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Plastics-to-fuel facility to take in e-plastics

Published: January 8, 2020
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The development of a new domestic e-plastics outlet comes at a time of market turbulence for the low-value materials. | KPixMining/Shutterstock

An Indiana plastics processing operation will consume roughly 40 million pounds of plastic from e-scrap and other products annually. Brightmark Energy plans to start up the facility in mid-2020.

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Federal effort supports energy-efficient recycling tech

Published: December 4, 2019
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The U.S. Department of Energy’s Plastics Innovation Challenge will promote production of plastic products that are recyclable by design. | Jer123/Shutterstock

A U.S. Department of Energy initiative seeks to boost plastics recycling, setting a handful of goals to hit by 2030 and highlighting funding opportunities to advance technology.

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Import policies choke the flow of recycled plastic from US

Published: December 18, 2019
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In October, India’s imports of U.S. scrap plastics dropped to their lowest single-month volume since at least 2002. | November Studio/Shutterstock

Export figures continue to show the power of recycled plastic import restrictions in Southeast Asia. Countries that were previously the largest overseas markets have seen massive decreases in U.S. plastic imports since mid-2018.

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Federal lawmakers launch plastics recycling task force

Published: December 11, 2019
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The task force will include elected officials at the federal, state and local level, as well as recycling industry representatives. | Orhan Cam/Shutterstock

Four members of Congress this week unveiled a workgroup to boost plastics recycling through technology investments and more. It’s the latest of several recent moves at the national level to address plastics recovery.

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