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Category: News

Clarity on future of FDA LNO program yet to emerge

Published: May 14, 2025
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Resins spilled out of a tube onto a pink background.

Following dramatic staffing cuts and an overall lack of clarity from federal officials, the future of an important program for recycled plastics remains a question mark. | StanislauV/Shutterstock

Amid sweeping federal staffing cuts, the future of a government program to assess processes to make food packaging from recycled plastics is unclear, sources told Plastics Recycling Update in recent interviews. 

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Trex, Mohawk, Indorama report Q1 earnings

Published: May 14, 2025
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Trex Facilities

Trex’s recycled plastic processing operation in Arkansas began production late in the first quarter. | Photo Courtesy of Trex

Pressures from tariffs and consumer spending slowdowns have contributed to lower revenues year over year at Trex, Mohawk and Indorama, according to their recent first-quarter reports. 

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Experts emphasize safety after ‘disconcerting’ fatalities

Published: May 14, 2025
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The safety-focused summit came after the latest federal data showed a backslide in waste and recycling industry safety. | Sirisak baokaew/Shutterstock

As recycling companies seek to improve workplace safety amid an industry-wide increase in on-the-job fatalities, experts at a recent industry summit advised managers to focus their attention on — and for top executives, even to attend — the regular pre-shift safety meetings.

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California will fund mixed plastics facility, other projects

Published: May 14, 2025
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Stacked bales of mixed plastics.

A secondary sorting facility pulling deposit containers out of mixed plastic bales was awarded funding from the state of California. | Hiv360/Shutterstock

California’s state recycling agency will provide $10 million toward a facility sorting plastics with resin codes 2-7, additional multimillion dollar grants for several major MRF retrofits, and a handful of smaller awards for localities to install recycling collection containers. Continue Reading

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Google, Dow partner on AI to identify recyclables

Published: May 14, 2025
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Polyethylene film collected for recycling.

Researchers with Google X’s Moonshot Factory are working with product designers to recycle plastics currently considered unrecyclable. | Artgray/Shutterstock

Google X and Dow Chemical are collaborating to develop an artificial intelligence sorting system capable of identifying film plastics and mixed materials, they announced at a conference in April.

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Haulers share how weather, tariffs impacted Q1

Published: May 7, 2025
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truck

Winter weather and tariffs were top of mind for five of the largest publicly traded garbage and recycling companies in North America in the first quarter of the year. | Republic Services

Bad weather in parts of the country weighed on leading recycling companies’ first-quarter earnings, their leaders said, but overall they saw revenue increases. Continue Reading

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Top stories from April 2025

Published: May 7, 2025
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DonPablo Lorez/Shutterstock

In April, Plastics Recycling Update readers were drawn to a story on how much PCR bottlers in California used last year, as well as stories on tariff effects, recycled plastic markets and which companies received FDA letters of no objection for their resins.

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Packaging, recycling sectors connect on curbside in Seattle

Published: May 7, 2025
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Extended producer responsibility was a hot topic throughout the three-day event held in Seattle last week. | Photo Courtesy of GreenBlue Org

A common complaint among MRF operators is that they have little meaningful contact with the packaging industry, despite dealing with headaches from that industry’s products every single day.  Continue Reading

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