Marissa Heffernan started working for Resource Recycling in January 2022 after spending several years as a reporter at a daily newspaper in Southwest Washington. After developing a special focus on recycling policy, they are also the editor of the monthly newsletter Policy Now. Heffernan can be contacted at [email protected].
The latest Greenpeace report challenges the viability of U.S. plastics recycling. | MuhammadAzman/Shutterstock
A new report from Greenpeace USA asserts no plastics in the U.S. meet the definition of recyclable. The head of one plastics group countered the analysis “could actually cause greater environmental harm.”
Nicole Janssen, president of Denton Plastics, recently spoke about her company’s efforts to boost PP recycling in the Pacific Northwest. | Jared Paben/Resource Recycling, Inc.
West Coast recycler Denton Plastics is moving the needle on regional polypropylene recycling and policy in Portland, Ore.
For NOVA Chemicals’ latest recycled resin product, PE is sourced from distribution center flexible film, a blend of back-of-store stretch and front-of-store consumer drop-off. | Courtesy of NOVA Chemicals
NOVA Chemicals launched a 100% mechanically recycled PE resin for use in films such as shrink, e-commerce, heavy-duty sacks and protective packaging.
Revised objectives for the company come on the heels of various internal reorganizations and international partnerships aimed at more robust circularity. | JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
Chemical giant Dow has updated its “Stop the Waste” goal to “Transform the Waste” and now plans to produce 3 million metric tons of circular and renewable plastic annually by 2030, tripling its previous target.
The study demonstrated 99% accuracy for the detection and sortation of films and flexibles. | Courtesy of Digimarc
A Canadian group’s study of Digimarc Recycle’s digital watermark showed that it does in fact improve accuracy for sorting flexible plastic packaging.
A tandem chemical and biological process that draws from decades-old studies on chemical oxidation can be used to break down a variety of plastic types. | PowerUp/Shutterstock
Researchers have developed a way to turn mixed polymer plastics into a single chemical product, which could potentially eliminate the need to sort plastic by type prior to recycling.
A Eunomia report commissioned by the Alliance to End Plastic Waste aimed to set requirements for pyrolysis feedstock. | paul prescott/Shutterstock
Two recently released reports investigated the benefits of chemical recycling and dug into setting feedstock requirements for pyrolysis.
View of operations inside the PlastiCycle facility.
Thailand’s plastic scrap import ban will roll out over three years, with a total ban coming in 2025. | Oaklizm/Shutterstock
Officials in the Southeast Asian country’s government are taking action to ban imports of scrap plastic by 2025, according to local media.
Megan Tabb and Lee Clayton of Synergy/RePolyTex were among the presenters of the e-plastics focused session at the 2022 E-Scrap Conference. | Big Wave Productions/Resource Recycling, Inc.
Two businesses with unique approaches to meeting the goal of domestically processing plastics recovered from electronics shared their plans at the 2022 E-Scrap Conference.