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Category: News

Producers moving toward EPR readiness

Published: January 15, 2025
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Despite progress, producers are largely still not ready for approaching EPR requirements, industry players predict. | Josep Curto/Shutterstock

Editor’s note: Learn more about policy trends and many other topics at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference on March 24-26 in National Harbor, Maryland. 

With about six months to go until the first extended producer responsibility program for packaging in the U.S. goes live, producers are still largely unprepared but moving in the right direction, those monitoring the transition said.

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Researchers develop new recycling processes

Published: January 15, 2025
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Two university teams developed processes using electromagnetic waves and engineered wastewater bacteria to address plastic pollution. | Poring Studio/Shutterstock

University researchers have come up with two new methods to break down plastic waste – one for reuse and the other to rid wastewater of microplastics. Continue Reading

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Industry-managed film drop-off guide launches

Published: January 15, 2025
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Plastic film collected for recycling.

The guide directs users to various retail and other collection sites around the U.S. that accept film for drop-off recycling. | Mabeline72/Shutterstock

Editor’s note: Learn more about film recycling trends and many other topics at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference on March 24-26 in National Harbor, Maryland. Continue Reading

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Collection, recovery facility worker deaths increased

Published: January 8, 2025
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Safety vests and hard hats hanging on a wall.

While overall workplace fatalities decreased in the U.S. in 2023, the waste and recycling industry was a troubling outlier. | Wave Break Media/Shutterstock

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.

Nine workers died in U.S. materials recovery facilities in 2023 and the death rate for refuse and recyclable material collectors jumped more than 80%, according to the latest annual numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continue Reading

Packaging EPR bill re-introduced in Tennessee

Published: January 8, 2025
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Tennessee State Sen. Heidi Campbell is re-introducing a packaging EPR bill crafted to gain Republican and business support. | RebeccaDLev/Shutterstock

Editor’s note: Learn more about policy trends and many other topics at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference on March 24-26 in National Harbor, Maryland. 

A Tennessee lawmaker is reintroducing an extended producer responsibility bill for packaging – with some twists, in an attempt to get it through the Republican-controlled Legislature.    Continue Reading

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ExxonMobil sues California AG for defamation

Published: January 8, 2025
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Court gavel with blurred background.

As 2024 wound to close, major plastic resin producers were hit with two similar recycling-related class-action lawsuits – the latest in a growing trend of pursuing legal means of recouping costs for plastic pollution.  | Zolnierek/Shutterstock

ExxonMobil on Monday filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alleging that he and several environmental groups defamed the global oil and chemical company “for politics, publicity and private gain.” Continue Reading

Panelists: Secondary sorting fills vital recycling role

Published: January 8, 2025
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Secondary sortation will continue to play a role in the recycling value chain, panelists said. | Dan Holtmeyer/Resource Recycling

With materials recovery facilities becoming ever more sophisticated and AI and robotics providing customizable levels of materials sortation, chemical recycling feedstock provides the most promising end market for secondary sorting, according to panelists at the recent Resource Recycling Conference.
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CA publishes material list, source reduction updates

Published: January 8, 2025
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A recent study in California found that in 2023, 2.9 million tons of plastic were used in single-use packaging and food-related items, made up of 171.4 billion plastic components. | Marina Onokhina/Shutterstock

The recyclability and compostability of materials covered under California’s extended producer responsibility law for packaging got an update recently, as did the baseline for single-use plastic reduction.  Continue Reading