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 Association of Plastic Recyclers will explore high-interest topics during its 2018 webinars, including California’s packaging regulations, a project to pinpoint plastics that fall through the cracks, sustainable materials management’s relationship to recycling and more.
With China having recently shaken up export possibilities, industry leaders in the U.S. have amplified their calls for more domestic markets for recyclables. Two upcoming events aim to accelerate that process.
Composite decking manufacturer Trex saw significant boosts in sales last year, in part due to China’s impacts on recovered PE markets.
A project in the European Union seeks to replace aluminum and other barrier materials in multi-layer films with recyclable bio-derived polymer coatings.
The Association of Plastic Recyclers has added partners to a campaign designed to encourage the use of recycled-content products.
When it comes to scrap plastics exports, 2017 was a tale of two years, with China’s import restrictions altering global patterns for the material.
Two chemical companies have unveiled a full-wrap shrink sleeve label that comes off during a whole bottle wash. The development is part of a wider industry trend around recycling-friendly PET label strategies.
German and Paraguayan companies got the go-ahead to recycle PET into food packaging, and KW Plastics received a similar thumbs up for HDPE.
Both dry and wet de-labeling systems are helping CarbonLite’s new PET recycling facility overcome challenges from problematic bottle labels.
Credit: MOLPIX/Shutterstock
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation recently honored a team at the University of Pittsburgh and an R&D company called Aronax Technologies Spain for their work improving the mechanical recyclability of flexible packaging for food.