Interpol found that plastic waste fires, both accidental and deliberate, have increased since Chinese import restrictions took hold. | MOHAMED ABDULRAHEEM/Shutterstock
Improper management of scrap plastics in Southeast Asia and elsewhere has increased sharply in the wake of China’s National Sword policy, according to international law enforcement body Interpol.
California Assembly Bill 793 requires that all plastic bottles covered by the state’s container redemption program average at least 15% post-consumer resin starting in 2022. | Leonid Andronov/Shutterstock
California lawmakers approved legislation requiring beverage companies to use recycled plastic. If signed, the bill will usher in the first recycled-content law of its kind for plastic bottles in the U.S.
Merlin Plastics currently produces non-food-contact recycled HDPE, LDPE, LLDPE and PP, as well as RPET approved for use in food and drink packaging. | Courtesy of NOVA Chemicals.
NOVA Chemicals will provide financing to Merlin Plastics to help the reclaimer produce food-contact recycled HDPE. Then, NOVA will buy up to 30 million pounds of the PCR per year.
Sales and profits were up for two major consumers of recycled plastic. | Orathai Mayoeh/Shutterstock
COVID-19 and the related economic slowdowns have bruised the bottom line of a major RPET consumer, but other recycled-plastic-product makers have reported economic gains.
Many in the U.S. may be unfamiliar with reverse vending machines, because only 10 of 50 states have deposit redemption programs. | Karen McFarland/Shutterstock
LDPE ring carriers are an important ingredient in Avangard Innovative’s “recipe” to make high quality PCR. | Courtesy of Avangard Innovative.
Plastics reclaimer Avangard Innovative will sell millions of pounds of PCR each year to six-pack carrier manufacturer Hi-Cone Worldwide, as the companies expand their existing business relationship.
The U.S. FDA recently approved a number of recycling technologies for converting PET into use for food and drink packaging. | RecycleMan/Shutterstock
The FDA gave Indorama Ventures the green light to use a depolymerization technology to produce RPET for food and drink packaging. The agency also gave nods for other PET, HDPE and PP recycling processes.
Myanmar Recycles has customized a wash line with more than a dozen different washing steps along the way. | Courtesy of Myanmar Recycles.
A film recycling company in Myanmar is among the first to take part in a global plastic credit system, which could direct financing from corporations to help the recycling firm expand its capacity.
Just over 1 billion pounds of post-consumer bag and film plastics were recovered in 2018. | Pavel Kubarkov/Shutterstock
The amount of U.S. film and non-bottle rigids collected for recycling decreased in 2018, but domestic processors took in more of the material, according to More Recycling.
TechniSoil Industrial can process post-consumer or post-industrial PET for it’s asphalt binder product. | Courtesy of Technisoil.
A California company is using glycolysis to depolymerize PET scrap for use in an asphalt binder. The pavement it produces is stronger than traditional hot-mix asphalt.