Recycling technologies from Erema, NGR, Polymetrix, Starlinger and others were recently approved to produce RPET for 100% recycled-content food and drink packaging. | Ho Su A Bi/Shutterstock
A food-safety panel has approved applications from Indorama Ventures, Veolia, Coca-Cola Hellenic, NOVAPET and other plastic reclaimers to recycle PET in new food and drink packaging.
Birch Plastics recently completed GreenCircle certification of the company’s PP and HDPE recycled resins. | Courtesy of Birch Plastics
Texas-based Birch Plastics recently worked with a third-party auditor to verify its recycling process, a step more reclaimers and compounders are considering as end users look for certainty in their feedstock.
Changes to Iowa’s bottle redemption program are awaiting the Governor’s signature. | Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock
Iowa lawmakers have approved container deposit legislation that triples the bottle handling fee but allows grocery stores and other retail entities to opt out of the collection system, a fact that could significantly reduce redemption access.
Over 260 million pounds of scrap plastics were exported from the U.S. in the first quarter of 2022. | nattanan726/Shutterstock
The U.S. continues to export less and less scrap plastic overseas, the latest trade figures show.
Phillips 66 shareholders voted to support a resolution asking the energy company to detail its market risks of continuing to invest in virgin plastics. | Courtesy of Phillips 66
This story has been updated.
A slight majority of shareholders at Chevron Phillips’ parent company recently voted to support a resolution on shifting toward more recycled plastic use, while 37.4% of ExxonMobil shareholders voted in favor of a similar resolution. Amazon shareholders vote on a similar resolution this week.
In the company’s annual report, ADS showed gross profit was over $800 million, up 16% from the previous year. | Leonid Sorokin/Shutterstock
Advanced Drainage Systems, now the largest plastics reclaimer in North America, increased its product sales by nearly 40% last year.
Indorama Ventures developed its PET food tray recycling technology over the past six years. | Pavel Kapysh/Shutterstock
Indorama Ventures is moving into the commercial stage of a project in which post-consumer PET trays are recycled into flake used in food packaging.
Colorado is the third state in the U.S. to pass a packaging extended producer responsibility bill, and the first in the 2022 legislative session. | Arturs Budkevics/Shutterstock
While many industry leaders praised the recent passage of a Colorado bill establishing extended producer responsibility for printed paper and packaging, others are calling for Gov. Jared Polis to veto it.
Cedar Poly in Tipson, Iowa was just acquired by UFP Industries. | Cedar Poly website
Recycled-plastic decking manufacturers are responding to strong markets for their products by expanding production capacity, including UFP buying reclaimer Cedar Poly and Fiberon breaking ground on a facility in Tennessee.
The report discusses investments that would need to occur in terms of scrap plastic collection and sorting, existing impediments to scaling up chemical recycling and more. | David Gyung/Shutterstock
If $40 billion were invested in chemical recycling technologies and certain constraints were resolved, chemical recycling processes could satisfy 4-8% of total polymer demand by 2030, according to a new analysis.