Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].
U.S. exporters shipped 234.6 million pounds of scrap plastic to other countries during the first three months of the year, on par with what was exported during the same period in 2023. | Aaron Jacobs/Shutterstock
More than half of the scrap plastic that left the U.S. in the first quarter of the year stayed in North America, recent export figures indicate. Continue Reading
Brightmark announced a new pyrolysis plant in Georgia, following up on canceled 2022 Georgia plant plans. | Courtesy of Brightmark
Brightmark is developing a pyrolysis plant in Georgia capable of processing 800 million pounds of mixed plastics per year, the company announced last week. Continue Reading
Global consumer products company Unilever announced it will revise its sustainability goals, but also said the experience had shown that policy is needed to make real change. | DeawSS/Shutterstock
Unilever recently acknowledged it will miss its 2025 target date for key plastics recycling goals and revised its pledge to reflect that reality – but the company’s head of packaging also said the failure contributed to its support for stronger regulations like extended producer responsibility. Continue Reading
ISRI2024 brought together paper, plastics, electronics and metals recycling companies for four days of discussion on key industry topics, leading up to ISRI announcing its new name, ReMA. | Photo courtesy ReMA
Companies from across the materials recovery spectrum gathered at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas last week for the ISRI2024 conference, which culminated in the long-running trade association unveiling a new name. Continue Reading
Sustainable Electronics Recycling International’s survey received 55 responses over two and a half weeks representing 214 facilities worldwide. | Jared Paben/Resource Recycling
A recently published survey of e-scrap companies in the U.S. and abroad offered a look at how many operators are handling plastics recovered from devices. It also provided insights on why a domestic e-plastics processing industry has yet to develop. Continue Reading
Plastic Odyssey has stopped in 20 countries over the last year and a half, working to connect local plastics recycling stakeholders and share recycling knowledge. | Photo courtesy Plastic Odyssey
It’s been nearly 18 months since a 128-foot vessel embarked on a global voyage to share knowledge and equipment with communities facing plastic pollution management challenges. A leader of the Plastic Odyssey project reported on the progress in an interview. Continue Reading
Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative redeemed 2.09 billion containers in 2023, up from 2.05 billion containers in 2022. | Dan Leif/Resource Recycling
An Oregon beverage stewardship group that manages the oldest container deposit program in the country reported a preliminary 2023 redemption rate of 90.5%, the first time the program has topped 90% since 2019.
The FDA gave a nod to several recycled resin products for food-contact use in various temperatures. | Vershinin89/Shutterstock
In the last half of 2023, numerous plastics recycling processes received the greenlight for use in food and drink packaging production. Continue Reading
KW Plastics plans to bring an additional 100 million pounds per year of olefin recycling capacity online in the next few months. | Courtesy of KW Plastics
There are plenty of reasons to be gloomy about recycled resin markets these days. But one of the largest plastics reclaimers in the U.S. is staying focused on a course of expansion, and it’s getting ready to start up an additional 100 million pounds per year of olefin recycling capacity. Continue Reading
A drop in overall plastics collection contributed to a decline in the annual bottle recycling rate, which decreased to 27.8% in 2022. | Mohamed Abdulraheem/Shutterstock
Just over 5 billion pounds of post-consumer plastic was recovered for recycling in 2022, an annual industry report found, marking a decrease from the prior year. One trade association pointed to macroeconomic factors like inflation as driving the lower recovery. Continue Reading