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Chinese authorities have issued the first five rounds of recyclable-material import permits for 2018. Compared with 2017, the country has allowed in substantially less recovered plastic and approved permits for far fewer companies across all material types.




The world’s largest restaurant operator will increase access to recycling at its food establishments and make packaging changes to lessen environmental impacts.
Scrap plastic exported out of the U.S. is moving to Southeast Asia, where reclaimers are dramatically increasing purchases as China closes its doors to recovered materials. New figures illustrate that shift.
With a new strategy to tackle plastics, the European Commission says it has the recycling industry’s back.
Chinese officials have announced the first batch of plastic scrap import permits for 2018, and the volumes laid out in those authorizations represent a massive reduction from one year ago.
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.