Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Resin sales for plastic bottle production grew to nearly 9.9 billion pounds in 2018. | Wachiwit/Shutterstock
More plastic bottles were recycled in 2018 than the prior year. But because of an overall bottle production increase, the recycling rate fell.
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.
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.”
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.
The collection program was made possible through a nearly $39,000 grant from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. | eleonimages/Shutterstock
A state grant will enable a four-month pilot agricultural film recycling program in the Northeast.
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.
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.
In April, the Chinese government will enact new requirements for pellet imports. | Piyathep/Shutterstock
Officials in Beijing are set to enact new requirements around the purity of recycled pellets imported into China.
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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.
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.