Back to Top

Category: Top stories

Judge dismisses claims against 7-Eleven’s recyclable labels

Published: October 4, 2022
Updated:

by
7-Eleven store exterior with pedestrians.

7-Eleven faces a lawsuit challenging recyclability claims on the company’s “24/7” brand foam plates, cups and freezer bags. | Sorbis/Shuttertstock

Brand owners can label plastic products as recyclable even if local residential recycling programs don’t want them, because reasonable consumers wouldn’t assume the word “recyclable” means there are local facilities that accept the material, a federal judge decided.

Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , , , , |

PureCycle opposition part of wider anti-plastic push

Published: September 28, 2022
Updated:

by
Aerial view of downtown area of Winter Garden, Florida.

PureCycle met community resistance to the company’s site near Winter Garden, Fla. | Noah Densmore/Shutterstock

Americans are united in their desire for better plastic recycling, but the question of where to locate facilities is running into familiar not-in-my-backyard resistance, complicated further by concerns about racial and social justice. 

Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , , |

‘Underperforming’ film, mixed rigids recycling plant to close

Published: September 28, 2022
Updated:

by
Shredded material at PreZero's S.C. facility

Scrap plastics being recycled at PreZero’s Westminster, S.C. facility, which is slated to be closed over the next two months. | Courtesy of PreZero

PreZero US will shutter its South Carolina plastics recycling facility and will instead refocus on expanding its recycling capabilities in California.

Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , , |

California thermoform bill vetoed

Published: September 28, 2022
Updated:

by
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaking at podium.

California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have required thermoform-to-thermoform recycling. | Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock

Following industry pushback, California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have mandated the use of some level of post-consumer resin in thermoform food and drink packaging. 

Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , , |

WM agrees to acquire controlling interest in Avangard Innovative

Published: September 14, 2022
Updated:

by
Avangard's Waller, Texas facility seen from above.

Waste Management reached a deal to acquire a controlling stake in Avangard’s U.S. film recycling business. | Courtesy of Avangard Innovative

The largest curbside garbage and recycling hauler in North America will acquire and scale up Avangard Innovative’s U.S. plastics recycling business.

Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , , |

FDA greenlights a dozen resin recycling processes

Published: September 14, 2022
Updated:

by
Plastic food trays holding fresh strawberries.

TOP LUN Plastics Corporation received an LNO that covers the recycling of PET containers into single-layer clamshells. | Rattanapon Ninlapoom/Shutterstock

Ten companies with technologies to recycle post-consumer PET, HDPE and PP into food and drink packaging have received the federal government’s thumbs-up this year.

Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , , , |

California passes bevy of recycling bills in final days

Published: September 8, 2022
Updated:

by
Calif. state captiol building in Sacramento.

California legislators sent a number of recycling-related bills to the governor at the end of this session. | Leonid Adnronov/Shutterstock

When California’s legislative session ended Aug. 31, a number of recycling-related bills passed just before the deadline. Here’s a roundup of bills currently waiting to be signed into law and that have already been signed. 

Continue Reading

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged , |

Thermoform-to-thermoform bill draws mixed reactions

Published: September 8, 2022
Updated:

by
Thermoform containers holding eggs.

Thermoforms like those shown here often contain post-consumer material from bottles, but a California bill would require post-consumer thermoforms to be used in production of new thermoforms. | Anakumka/Shutterstock

Current debate over a California bill requiring PET thermoforms to contain RPET derived from thermoforms boils down to one question: What will materials recovery facilities do? 

Continue Reading