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].
Indorama Ventures developed its PET food tray recycling technology over the past six years. | Pavel Kapysh/Shutterstock
Indorama Ventures is moving into the commercial stage of a project in which post-consumer PET trays are recycled into flake used in food packaging.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year provides about $350 million to the U.S. EPA over several years to fund recycling infrastructure and education grants. | RozenskiP/Shutterstock
The U.S. EPA is working to build several grant programs from the ground up thanks to an influx of money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and it is reaching out to stakeholders to make sure the programs will meet industry needs.
Colorado is the third state in the U.S. to pass a packaging extended producer responsibility bill, and the first in the 2022 legislative session. | Arturs Budkevics/Shutterstock
While many industry leaders praised the recent passage of a Colorado bill establishing extended producer responsibility for printed paper and packaging, others are calling for Gov. Jared Polis to veto it.
Polycarbin partners with area recyclers to process collected lab plastics, then Polycarbin brings the recycled plastic to several different contract manufacturers that mold it into lab products. | Courtesy of Polycarbin
The co-founders of Polycarbin met in medical school, on track to become plastic surgeons. That’s a point of irony now, they said, as their lab plastics recycling business continues to grow.
Cedar Poly in Tipson, Iowa was just acquired by UFP Industries. | Cedar Poly website
Recycled-plastic decking manufacturers are responding to strong markets for their products by expanding production capacity, including UFP buying reclaimer Cedar Poly and Fiberon breaking ground on a facility in Tennessee.
Plastics recycling is drawing mainstream media attention in the wake of recent data showing low and declining recycling rates in the U.S. | lary_bird/Shutterstock
A recent report on plastic recycling rates from The Last Beach Clean Up and Beyond Plastics has attracted the attention of several large news outlets and the mainstream public, but industry leaders said the data is misleading and counter-productive.
Speaking during the “Tensions in Recyclability Labeling” session at the Plastics Recycling Conference were (from left to right) Erik Grabowsky of Arlington County, Va., Steve Alexander of the Association of Plastic Recyclers, Heidi Sanborn of the National Stewardship Action Council and Karen Hagerman of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. | Brian Adams Photography/Resource Recycling, Inc.
Consumers are confused and frustrated by recycling label systems in the U.S., and it will take a group effort to fix the problem, panelists told Plastics Recycling Conference attendees.
The introduction of the EPR bill came after lawmakers stripped a prior EPR program out of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget proposal. | Paul Brady Photography/Shutterstock
An extended producer responsibility bill that has the support of environmental activists was recently introduced in New York, while a Colorado EPR bill moved to the Senate floor.
Federal researchers found study also found that only about 5% of discarded plastic in the U.S. was recycled in 2019, while 86% was left in landfills and 9% was burned to generate electricity. | Huguette Roe/Shutterstock
A study from the U.S. Department of Energy estimated the amount of plastic discarded in the U.S. in 2019 was 44 million metric tons, higher than other estimates.
The state of New York will direct millions of dollars toward plastics recycling research at the University at Buffalo. | Credit: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki
New York state officials awarded the University at Buffalo $4.5 million to create a research center for improving plastic recycling.