Associate Editor Jared Paben has worked for Resource Recycling since December 2014. Most of his earlier career was spent as a reporter for the daily newspaper in Bellingham, Wash., but he also has experience working for the Oregon volunteerism commission and for Oregon nonprofits serving low-income populations. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Merlin Plastics currently produces non-food-contact recycled HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE and PP, as well as RPET approved for use in food and drink packaging. | Courtesy of NOVA Chemicals.
NOVA Chemicals will provide financing to Merlin Plastics to help the reclaimer produce food-contact recycled HDPE. Then, NOVA will buy up to 30 million pounds of the PCR per year.
A number of new label technologies will improve the ability to process scrap PET bottles. | DedMityay/Shutterstock
Two pressure-sensitive labels and one shrink-sleeve label recently received recognition from the Association of Plastic Recyclers because they were proven not to interfere with the PET recycling process.
Sales and profits were up for two major consumers of recycled plastic. | Orathai Mayoeh/Shutterstock
COVID-19 and the related economic slowdowns have bruised the bottom line of a major RPET consumer, but other recycled-plastic-product makers have reported economic gains.
LDPE ring carriers are an important ingredient in Avangard Innovative’s “recipe” to make high quality PCR. | Courtesy of Avangard Innovative.
Plastics reclaimer Avangard Innovative will sell millions of pounds of PCR each year to six-pack carrier manufacturer Hi-Cone Worldwide, as the companies expand their existing business relationship.
The U.S. FDA recently approved a number of recycling technologies for converting PET into use for food and drink packaging. | RecycleMan/Shutterstock
The FDA gave Indorama Ventures the green light to use a depolymerization technology to produce RPET for food and drink packaging. The agency also gave nods for other PET, HDPE and PP recycling processes.
Just over 1 billion pounds of post-consumer bag and film plastics were recovered in 2018. | Pavel Kubarkov/Shutterstock
The amount of U.S. film and non-bottle rigids collected for recycling decreased in 2018, but domestic processors took in more of the material, according to More Recycling.
TechniSoil Industrial can process post-consumer or post-industrial PET for it’s asphalt binder product. | Courtesy of Technisoil.
A California company is using glycolysis to depolymerize PET scrap for use in an asphalt binder. The pavement it produces is stronger than traditional hot-mix asphalt.
The refillable 1-liter bottle was made with 35% post-consumer content. | Courtesy of KHS Group.
Packaging companies have rolled out a lightweight yet refillable RPET bottle.
Two industry veterans recently spoke about scrap plastics supply conditions and typical practices at recycling facilities. | Maciej Bledowski/Shutterstock
A pair of longtime plastics recycling professionals discussed melt filtration advancements, deodorizing processes, bale supply issues and more during a recent webinar.
Large rigid plastics were among the materials recycled in a research project directed by AIMPLAS. | Vershinin89/Shutterstock
The Spanish plastics research institute AIMPLAS has written about a project through which plastics from bulky items were recycled into products using a variety of technologies.