The United Nations Environment Assembly on March 2 voted to start a process that would create a global plastics pollution treaty, bringing a final treaty forward for a vote in 2024. | Doug McLean/Shutterstock
A recent U.N. agreement to create a treaty on plastic pollution has brought recycling, waste and producer responsibility issues into the mainstream discussion.
Trex reported total sales revenues of $1.2 billion last year, up 36% from the year before. | Vojtaz/Shutterstock
Trex, which recycles over 350 million pounds of PE film scrap a year, dramatically boosted its sales and profits in 2021.
Braskem’s new PP offerings contain 25% post-consumer content and are suitable for a variety of applications. | rafapress/Shutterstock
Polyolefins producer Braskem is bringing more post-consumer content to its portfolio.
Container deposit systems have benefits for municipalities, but MRFs are likely to see revenues decline as valuable PET and aluminum are removed from their material stream. | Myibean/Shutterstock
Though container deposit systems typically help lift recovery rates for covered materials, the programs also usually reduce tonnages of high-quality PET and aluminum going to sorting facilities. A new study helps to quantify those potential impacts.
Set to open in 2024, Rumpke’s 200,000-square-foot MRF will be built on 25 acres the company purchased almost a decade ago. | Courtesy of Rumpke
Rumpke Waste and Recycling’s new $50 million materials recovery facility is designed to adapt, with plans for the Columbus, Ohio site putting a specific focus on PET.
EFS-plastics will open a second facility to expand recycling capacity while keeping the company’s carbon footprint as low as possible. | Courtesy of EFS-plastics
Driven by demand for polypropylene and polyethylene, plastics recycler EFS-plastics is opening a processing site in Lethbridge, Alberta.
As part of the settlement, Keurig cannot label, market, advertise or otherwise represent the cups as recyclable without a qualifying statement that the materials are not recycled in many communities. | zimmytws/Shutterstock
Keurig Green Mountain reached a class-action settlement with a consumer who sued over coffee pod recyclability claims, agreeing to pay $10 million and add language indicating the plastic cups are “not recycled in many communities.”
Fewer scrap plastics were exported last year compared to 2020, continuing a downward trend. | Vacancylizm/Shutterstock
U.S. scrap plastic exports fell by 12% in 2021, even though some countries, such as India and Mexico, brought in a whole lot more material.
Dedicated to PP, a new recycling line will go into Kal-Polymers’ Mississauga, Ontario headquarters location this summer. | Courtesy of Kal-Polymers
Canadian-headquartered reclaimer Kal-Polymers will invest millions of dollars in a large recycling line, boosting the company’s annual plastics recycling capacity to about 150 million pounds.