Investigators placed GPS tracking devices in bales of plastic. | PhilipR/Shutterstock
CBC News in Canada used tracking devices to follow where garbage and recycling companies took loads of recovered film. Much of the plastic was ultimately burned or buried.
Beverage bottles will be subject to phased-in recycled plastic mandates, if AB 792 is signed by the governor. | Myibean/Shutterstock
A recycled plastic requirement for beverage container producers cleared the California legislature last week. But comprehensive legislation reducing single-use packaging failed to advance. Continue Reading
Greystone Logistics annually recycles tens of millions of pounds of recovered HDPE into pallets. | Vikentiy Elizarov/Shutterstock
A Midwest producer of recycled HDPE pallets saw a 46% increase in sales during the 2019 fiscal year. Continue Reading
The price of PET took a dive over the past month, but the value of natural HDPE climbed substantially. Continue Reading
Less plastic was recycled in Canada in 2017 compared with the previous year. Frank Middendorf/Shutterstock
Canada recycled less plastic in 2017 than it did the year before, with decreases in recovery of films, non-bottle rigids and bottles, according to an annual industry report.
Pepsico has a 25% recycled content goal for the company’s plastic packaging. | LuqmanLutfi Photography/Shutterstock
It’s clear the current recycling system can’t deliver sufficient resin for brand owners to hit their increasingly ambitious recycled-content goals. A PepsiCo executive recently discussed that supply gap.
The U.S. has become a focus of investment for a small yet growing portion of the Chinese scrap processing industry. Backers of two in-development operations note they are looking for regulatory stability and a strong supply of recyclables.
Juri Freeman of Resource Recycling Systems (left) moderated a plastics-focused panel consisting of (from left to right) Michael Sangiacomo of Recology, Zeina El-Azzi of Brightmark Energy, Kate Bailey of Eco-Cycle and Tim Ponrathnam of Berry Global. | Resource Recycling Conference/Brian Adams Photography
Should some types of single-use plastic be banned? Or is infrastructure improvement a better answer to current plastic waste concerns? A varied group of industry leaders tackled those questions last week.
Some readers challenged the environmental benefit of Arqlite’s plastic gravel product. | Via Arqlite’s Instagram page.
A startup won money and media attention for its recycled plastic gravel, but some readers are concerned the product could cause more environmental harm than simply landfilling the scrap plastic.
Unifi identified a number of factors that accounted for lower profits last fiscal year. | Recycle Man/Shutterstock
A major U.S. consumer of RPET enjoyed higher sales figures but suffered significantly lower net income last fiscal year. One reason was cheap polyester imports from China and India.