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].
The carpet recycling industry is already facing pressures from low plastics prices, a shift in polymers used in carpet and collection challenges from the coronavirus. | ND700/Shutterstock
Carpet manufacturers are halting their nationwide voluntary subsidy program for carpet recycling, which could push some struggling processors out of business.
Circulate Capital announced $6 million in funding to recycling companies to prevent marine debris. | Igor Batenev/Shutterstock
Circulate Capital invested $6 million in plastics recycling companies in India and Indonesia, the brand-backed firm’s first outlay designed to prevent marine plastics.
South Carolina-based recycling company Mumford Industries is helping produce personal protective equipment. | Olena Yakobchuk/Shutterstock
Post-industrial scrap plastic recycling company Mumford Industries is producing emergency ponchos to help protect health care workers from the coronavirus.
Tomra Sorting developed Sharp Eye because the percentage of thermoforms in PET bottle bales has been increasing. | Courtesy of Tomra.
PET thermoforms bring special baggage to the recycling process: Optical sorters often fail to differentiate them from bottles, and thermoform flakes are more prone to breaking into fines.
S&P Global Platts decided to launch daily spot price assessments for PET bales starting April 1. | Gunter Menzel
Commodities research company S&P Global Platts has started reporting post-consumer PET bale prices in Chicago and Los Angeles.
Gov. Jay Inslee vetoed House Bill 2722, which requires manufacturers to use post-consumer content in plastic bottles. | Photo credit: Governor Inslee’s Office
Washington’s governor vetoed a bill mandating recycled content in beverage containers, citing concerns about the state’s fiscal future given the economic impacts of the coronavirus.
A pelletizing and melt delivery equipment company opened a lab in North Carolina, and a U.S. thermoforms company begins using sheets from resin made partly through a PET depolymerization process.
Department of Energy grants are available to advance energy-efficient recycling processes. | cwales/Shutterstock
The U.S. Department of Energy will provide up to $25 million for the development of efficiently recycled polymers and improved recycling processes.
The Association of Plastic Recyclers will endorse third-party PCR certification and the American Chemistry Council released principles for mass balance accounting of recycled content. | Praethip Docekalova/Shutterstock
Consumers may want products with recycled plastic, but how can they trust the items contain post-consumer material? Two industry groups have taken steps to answer that question.
The new law prohibits stores from giving out single-use bags and places an 8-cent fee on paper or reusable plastic bags. | Natalie Board/Shutterstock
Washington state will ban thin plastic bags and require thicker film bags to be made with post-consumer plastic.