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Category: Top stories

Senate hearing digs into plastic pollution

Published: December 16, 2022
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Senate hearing room.

The Dec. 15 hearing by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works brought four panelists together to answer questions from legislators. | Katherine Welles/Shutterstock

During a two-hour hearing, U.S. senators questioned industry experts about chemicals in plastics, marine plastic pollution and extended producer responsibility. 

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European panel approves PET recycling technologies

Published: January 3, 2023
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EFSA approved packaging from Greiner Packaging.

Greiner Packaging was one of several companies to get the go-ahead from the European Food Safety Authority to recycle post-consumer PET into 100% recycled-content food and drink packaging. | Courtesy of Greiner

A scientific review panel has given the green light to several different technologies to recycle post-consumer PET and polyolefins into 100% recycled-content food and drink packaging.

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FTC to hear from plastic industry on Green Guides update

Published: December 16, 2022
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Federal Trade Commission building with sign above door.

The commission voted 4-0 to publish a notice in the Federal Register to begin a 60-day public comment period. That notice is expected to be published in mid-January of 2023.  | DCStockPhotography/Shutterstock

Companies making deceptive sustainability claims distort the market for environmentally friendly products and “hurt honest companies who are bearing the costs of green business practices,” the chair of the FTC said this week.

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Our top plastics recycling stories from 2022

Published: December 21, 2022
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Plastics processing in Republic's Las Vegas recycling facility.

News of Republic Services’ moves to vertically integrate in plastics was of interest to readers in 2022. | Courtesy of Republic Services

Examining the trends that pushed and pulled on the industry over the past year can help provide insight into the 12 months yet to come.

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US PET bottle recovery rate increases 1.5 percentage points

Published: December 14, 2022
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PET bottles for recycling.

The increase marks the end of a years-long slide in the country’s PET bottle recovery rate, which had been falling since 2017. | New Africa/Shutterstock

The U.S. PET bottle recovery rate made a notable jump last year, reaching 28.6%, according to an industry report published today. 

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Stakeholders react as Global Plastics Treaty talks wrap up

Published: December 6, 2022
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Delgates celebrating work on the Global Plastics Treaty.

The meeting was the first to work on drafting the text of the Global Plastics Treaty, which is intended to be a legally binding document addressing plastic pollution across the value chain. | Courtesy of UNEP

Mixed reactions followed the first meeting on a Global Plastics Treaty, with some complaints about “industry interference.” 

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Amcor signs PCR offtake deal with ExxonMobil

Published: December 6, 2022
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Amcor and ExxonMobil leaders sign an agreement.

Michael Zamora, senior vice president of Product Solutions at ExxonMobil, and Ron Delia, CEO at Amcor, signed the agreement, through which ExxonMobil will sell increasing amounts of recycled resin each year to Amcor. | Courtesy of Amcor

One of the world’s largest packaging producers, Amcor, has signed a deal to buy huge amounts of chemically recycled resin from one of the world’s largest plastics producers, ExxonMobil. 

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Study: Recycling accounts for tiny share of plastic’s total GHGs

Published: December 6, 2022
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Plastic bottles at a production plant.

The REMADE Institute-funded research found that, over the course of their full life cycles, several common polymers account for about 1.5% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. | rochariberio/Shuttestock

By the time plastic products reach their end of life, the bulk of their climate damage has already been done, according to a study that reaffirms greenhouse gasses tied to plastics are mostly generated in prime resin production, shipping and molding. 

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