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 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.
Leaders with Hillenbrand discussed the company’s ESG efforts, including a recycling equipment manufacturer acquisition. | d.ee_angelo/Shutterstock
Sustainability and environmental, social and governance plans are typically multifaceted, but a recent acquisition by Hillenbrand brought recycling to the forefront for the manufacturing conglomerate.
General Mills shareholders have voted to ask the company to report on if and how the company can reduce plastic packaging. | melissamn/Shutterstock
A majority of General Mills investors voted in favor of a proposal asking the company to reduce its use of plastic packaging and issue a report on it.
PureCycle met community resistance to the company’s site near Winter Garden, Fla. | Noah Densmore/Shutterstock
Americans are united in their desire for better plastic recycling, but the question of where to locate facilities is running into familiar not-in-my-backyard resistance, complicated further by concerns about racial and social justice.
California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required thermoform-to-thermoform recycling. | Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock
Following industry pushback, California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have mandated the use of some level of post-consumer resin in thermoform food and drink packaging.