The move last week by 187 governments to alter a global waste treaty will mean further uncertainty for U.S. scrap plastic exports.
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The move last week by 187 governments to alter a global waste treaty will mean further uncertainty for U.S. scrap plastic exports.
In coming years, recycled PET and polyolefins will likely have to continue competing with cheap virgin plastics. But scrap markets will also be impacted by uncertain government policies and brand owner decisions.
The price of natural HDPE has decreased by nearly 5% over the past month, but color HDPE and PET have shown stability.
Alan Barcon of PolyOne Corporation.
Processing technology can be used to overcome shortcomings in both PET and mixed plastics, according to two plastics recycling professionals.
Federal legislation proposed in Canada requires consumer packaging to be made from a short list of recyclable materials. The guidelines include only two plastic resins.
The Agilyx polystyrene processing facility in Oregon.
At least 60 organizations are working to scale up depolymerization, pyrolysis and other emerging plastic processing methods. The North American market for the resulting products could top $100 billion annually.
Tech giant HP recently spent $2 million to help improve infrastructure for recovering plastics at risk of entering the ocean. The investment is expected to create jobs in an impoverished area and move more material into the recycling stream.
Geneva, Switzerland
The scrap plastic trade will receive focus this week in Switzerland, where countries are meeting to discuss and consider amending global waste regulations.
An initiative that collects hard-to-recycle packaging from the curb in several cities could be extended to another 100,000 households by the end of this year, a plastics executive said.