Plastic-sorting robots are just the latest upgrade for Recology’s San Francisco MRF. | Courtesy of Recology.
A West Coast operator installed four artificial intelligence units at its high-tech San Francisco materials recovery facility (MRF). A company manager explained how the machinery is working in conjunction with optical sorters to boost recovery and reduce contamination in PET and HDPE.
Indorama has stated it will invest more than $1 billion in recycling over the next five years. | RecycleMan/Shutterstock
Indorama Ventures, the world’s biggest prime PET producer, has acquired another U.S. plastics recycling company, this time on the West Coast.
Post-consumer plastic makes up about 0.5% of Indorama’s resin offerings. | Joyce Blessthink/Shutterstock
Virgin resin producers Borealis and Indorama have made ambitious recycled plastic commitments, but post-consumer plastic still makes up a tiny fraction of what they sell.
A story about recycling innovations at K show captured clicks in October. | Messe Düsseldorf/ctillmann
Technology stories drew readers’ interest last month, along with articles about a TV news investigation and the Association of Plastic Recyclers meeting.
A number of technologies were recently approved for recycling plastic for use in food and drink packaging. | monticello/Shutterstock
A panel determined that recycling technologies from Bandera, Erema, Poly Recycling and Starlinger produce RPET that’s safe for use in food and drink packaging.
A university investigates how ABS is affected by multiple 3D printing and recycling cycles, and a cross-industry group evaluates the recyclability of barrier film technologies.
In 2017, the U.S. recycled 3 million tons of plastic, down 5.1% from 2015, according to the EPA.
The U.S. plastics recycling rate fell to its lowest level in half a decade, recently released figures show.
John Standish of APR (right) presented Scott Giffels of American Fuji Seal with a letter confirming the recyclability of the RecShrink label. | Photo courtesy of APR
The Association of Plastic Recyclers confirmed that a crystallizable shrink sleeve label with washable ink meets the group’s criteria for recyclability in the PET bottle stream. Continue Reading
ABA President and CEO Katherine Lugar presented a major recycling funding initiative alongside leaders from beverage companies. | Photo credit: YouTube
Coca-Cola, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo have pledged to put their money behind boosting processing technology and increasing curbside collection access. They’ll also introduce a uniform recycling message on their bottles next year.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation released an update on organizations’ progress toward their global plastic packaging commitments. | Aykut Erdogdu/Shutterstock
The Coca-Cola Co. uses considerably more recycled plastic than many of its global packaging peers. But, like others, it still has a long way to go to hit its ambitious goals for post-consumer resin. Continue Reading