The value of recovered HDPE and PET packaging is flat as the new year begins.
The value of recovered HDPE and PET packaging is flat as the new year begins.
A representative from a European firm that has felt the direct impacts of China’s import restrictions on recovered plastic recently offered an inside look at the fallout from the unprecedented disruption to industry trade.
A key unknown during the Congressional tax negotiations was the fate of tax-exempt private activity bonds, which are frequently utilized in the solid waste and recycling industry. They are retained in the final tax bill.
Chinese plastics recycling companies are considering processing infrastructure investments in Southeast Asia, the U.S. and elsewhere.
Plastic packaging producer Berry Global has joined The Recycling Partnership, a move it sees bringing direct benefits to the company and improvements to the recycling system as a whole.
Another company that uses RPET in thermoform packaging has been acquired by Graham Partners, a Philadelphia-based private investment firm.
China is unprepared to effectively roll out and enforce its planned Jan. 1 ban on imports of certain recyclables, according to recycling leaders who recently traveled to the country in search of answers.
Tax reform legislation moving through Congress could help plastics recycling companies deduct equipment expenditures.
Tax reform bills approved by the U.S. House and Senate include sweeping cuts to business taxes, and recycling industry associations are applauding the business-friendly measures.
Chinese officials have reiterated that some post-consumer plastics will be banned from import by the end of the month, and have elaborated on stringent future enforcement and regulatory plans. Even so, one exporter sees the potential for washed flake to be allowed in under the new restrictions.
Data from the sale of recyclable plastic bottles in early December suggest the value of recovered packaging will end the year in a slightly weak position.