Challenges remain to scaling up TPO bumper collection to a national scale. | Kaentian Street/Shutterstock
TPO bumper covers can be processed into a high-quality recycled pellet that’s cheaper than virgin plastic, but challenges remain in feedstock collection and preparation.
A number of companies received approval to use their recycling technology to produce recycled plastic for use in food and drink packaging.| Somsak21/Shutterstock
A company was given the go-ahead to recycle post-consumer PET into multi-layer reheatable food trays. Meanwhile, a global packaging company was OK’d to recycle LDPE films into reusable bags.
The U.S. has become a focus of investment for a small yet growing portion of the Chinese scrap processing industry. Backers of two in-development operations note they are looking for regulatory stability and a strong supply of recyclables.
Juri Freeman of Resource Recycling Systems (left) moderated a plastics-focused panel consisting of (from left to right) Michael Sangiacomo of Recology, Zeina El-Azzi of Brightmark Energy, Kate Bailey of Eco-Cycle and Tim Ponrathnam of Berry Global. | Resource Recycling Conference/Brian Adams Photography
Should some types of single-use plastic be banned? Or is infrastructure improvement a better answer to current plastic waste concerns? A varied group of industry leaders tackled those questions last week.
Dow is recognized for a polyurethane foam chemical recycling technology, and a project testing invisible packaging markers to improve optical sorting wraps up.
Photo provided by Milliken shows the results of the use of Millad NX 8000 clarifier.
A market-dominating polypropylene clarifier has undergone testing to prove that it neither complicates the plastics recycling process nor harms the finished product.
Some readers challenged the environmental benefit of Arqlite’s plastic gravel product. | Via Arqlite’s Instagram page.
A startup won money and media attention for its recycled plastic gravel, but some readers are concerned the product could cause more environmental harm than simply landfilling the scrap plastic.
An update on the flow of scrap plastics to India captured attention last month. | Avigator Fortuner/Shutterstock
Articles about India’s scrap plastics import ban, a sorting project in Oregon and manufacturers’ usage of recycled plastic drew readers’ attention last month.
Unifi identified a number of factors that accounted for lower profits last fiscal year. | Recycle Man/Shutterstock
A major U.S. consumer of RPET enjoyed higher sales figures but suffered significantly lower net income last fiscal year. One reason was cheap polyester imports from China and India.
Dow has a goal of incorporating at least 100,000 metric tons of recycled plastics into its product offerings sold in the European Union by 2025. | Richard Frazier/Shutterstock
Dow has become the latest virgin plastics company to announce it will offer products derived from a chemical recycling technology.