Marissa Heffernan started working for Resource Recycling in January 2022 after spending several years as a reporter at a daily newspaper in Southwest Washington. She can be contacted at [email protected].
The slow progress of the U.N. committee tasked with crafting a global plastics agreement has many frustrated, but others see sunshine on the horizon. | Courtesy of INC-3
As the third meeting of the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee wrapped up in Kenya, delegates once again expressed frustration about the slow progress toward an internationally binding resolution on plastic pollution. Continue Reading
Netafim USA aims to provide farmers with a destination for their end-of-life tubing materials. | Diyana Dimitrova/Shutterstock
Netafim USA is encouraging farmers to improve the circularity of plastic agricultural dripline materials by offering a recycling certification program. Continue Reading
Delegates face the difficult challenge of balancing the often conflicting interests of the negotiating countries. | Photo by IISD/ENB | Anastasia Rodopoulou
The third meeting of the United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee officially kicked off Monday, inching the world closer to an internationally binding resolution on plastic pollution. Continue Reading
The plant’s advanced suite of technology represents “a new era for plastic recycling,” according to Swedish Plastic Recycling CEO Mattias Philipsson. | New Africa/Shutterstock
Swedish Plastic Recycling plans to open its largest and most advanced plastic sorting and recycling facility on Nov. 15 in Motala, Sweden. Continue Reading
Terrapure Plastics Recycling Manager Martin Fournier shows visitors plastic chips from crushed batteries as they enter the recycling process. | Courtesy of Terrapure
Canadian company Terrapure Environmental brought a plastics recycling system on-line at its existing battery recycling plant in Quebec. Continue Reading
A report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation reveals that major brand owners and retailers increased their use of PCR from 10.0% in 2021 to 11.7% in 2022. One of the largest, PepsiCo, increased from 6.3% PCR to 7.3%. | pixinoo/Shutterstock
The fifth report from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation found that a few big-name brands’ increased use of virgin plastic has been offsetting the overall reduction achieved by the rest of the reporting companies. Continue Reading
A rendering of the Republic Polymer Center set for Indianapolis. | Courtesy of Republic Services
Republic Services announced that its second plastics processing and production hub, expected to come on-line in late 2024, will be located in Indianapolis. Continue Reading
Lynn Hoffman of Eureka Recycling was a speaker on a recent webinar discussing the merits and shortcomings of the myriad processes grouped under the umbrella of “chemical recycling.” | Resource Recycling files
Chemical recycling has potential but requires careful regulation, more transparency, and an eye to the overall effect on the planet, members of the environmental and recycling communities said in a recent webinar. Continue Reading
The groups behind the database have already compiled a dataset that includes about 1,000 plastic reduction laws in the U.S. | DC Studio/Shutterstock
In order to tamp down on plastic pollution, several environmental groups have worked together to launch a global database for tracking plastic-related laws. It even covers the upcoming United Nations plastics agreement. Continue Reading
