A bale of plastics No. 3-7. Source: Association of Plastic Recyclers.
The idling of a Baltimore-area plastic recovery facility is the kind of challenge that’s expected in an innovative project showcasing a still-developing business model, according to a financial backer.
A joint-venture plastics recovery facility in Maryland will suspend operations in the coming days, citing challenges in the post-consumer plastics industry and pointing to a need to upgrade its equipment.
Operators of materials recovery facilities are increasing their labor forces and installing additional sorting equipment in response to Chinese restrictions on scrap imports. As companies increase sortation efforts to create a higher-quality output, attention is also turning to the domestic plastics processing market.
Construction is underway on the rPlanet Earth facility in Vernon, Calif.
Construction is underway on a massive Los Angeles-area plastics recycling facility that will take PET bales all the way to bottle preforms, extruded sheet and thermoform packaging.
Delegates from the Chinese plastics recycling sector will travel to the U.S. next month with an eye toward planning for the industry’s future.
A new manufacturer with ties to QRS Recycling will begin making recycled-plastic railroad ties in St. Louis.
Market disruption from Chinese import restrictions has led Chinese companies to examine investments in the U.S. recycling industry – but that’s not without precedent. An Ohio processor recently expanded on a similar partnership it entered after the last major Chinese imports crackdown.
Wheels are in motion to resume operations at an idled plastics recycling facility outside Baltimore. But if it does start up again, it will do so without one of its original partners.
A rendering of the planned Millville Plastics facility in New Jersey.
A $20 million New Jersey plastics recycling facility is in development, and project leaders say it will process roughly 100 million pounds of scrap plastics per year for sale into a variety of end markets.
Mike Dungan of RES Polyflow
Plastics-to-fuel companies are asking federal lawmakers to include their sector in tax provisions benefiting alternative fuel producers.