Industry Announcements

May 2019

Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies, a composite decking business that uses recovered PE film as feedstock, changed its name to MoistureShield.

Plastics-to-fuel operation Brightmark Energy broke ground on its first commercial-scale facility in Ashley, Ind., after receiving financing for the $260 million plant last month.

Herbal Essences, a Procter & Gamble brand, partnered with TerraCycle to start a recycling program for its hair care product packaging.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) opened its Superfund Recycling Equity Act (SREA) Reasonable Care Compliance Program to nonmembers. The program helps recycling companies navigate Superfund law.

Recycled composite railway products maker IntegriCo hired Brian Gaughan as executive vice president of business development. Gaughan was formerly general manager of the Georgia-Pacific Plastics Division.

MBA Polymers UK acquired post-industrial automotive plastics recycling company PPR Wipag, based in Dover, U.K.

The Chemical Recycling Alliance, an initiative of the American Chemistry Council, welcomed Golden Renewable Energy, New Hope Energy and Sealed Air Corporation as members.

Indorama Ventures launched a 100% recycled PET brand called DEJA, available in flake, pellet, fiber and filament form.

Tomra announced that its reverse vending machines collected more than 40 billion bottles and cans globally in 2018.

The American Chemistry Council praised the Texas Legislature for passing a bill that will promote chemical recycling.

The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) announced a “Five for Focus” campaign that brings attention to five elements of PET container design that can be problematic for recycling. The work encourages stakeholders to leverage the PET section of the APR Design Guide.

Avangard Innovative CEO Rick Perez was recognized by Real Leaders Media, which featured Perez on a list of “Immigrants That Helped Change The World.” Perez was born in Mexico.

Reclaimer GreenMantra and virgin plastics producer INEOS Styrolution signed a joint development agreement.

Mumford Industries expanded its post-industrial scrap plastic processing capacity and upgraded its equipment.

The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) relocated its headquarters to Charlotte, N.C.

Plastics Recyclers Europe reported that Europe has a total rigid HDPE and PP recycling capacity of more than 1.8 million short tons per year.

AmSty and Agilyx formed a joint venture that will use Agilyx technology to convert scrap PS into styrene monomer, which will be used by AmSty to make new PS.

The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) announced an expansion to the APR Design Guide for Plastics Recyclability to include several new PET screening tests and an updated inventory of PET test protocols.

Azek Building Products opened a $25 million recycling plant in Wilmington, Ohio, with a capacity of 100 million pounds of PE per year.

Digimarc, a company aiming to put barcodes on packaging so it can be more accurately sorted for recycling, joined the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment.

Monitoring Recyclates for Europe (MORE) launched as a digital platform to help European converters track recycled plastic use.

Nestlé Waters, PepsiCo and Suntory Beverage & Food Europe joined a consortium formed by Carbios and L’Oréal to support Carbios’ enzymatic PET depolymerization technology.

April 2019

The American Chemistry Council rebranded its Plastics-to-Fuel & Petrochemistry Alliance to the Chemical Recycling Alliance.

Adidas released Futurecraft.Loop, a recyclable single-material running shoe that can be returned to the manufacturer, where it will be recycled into new shoes.

Canadian ag plastics stewardship organization Cleanfarms celebrated 30 years of recycling small plastic jugs in Canada.

LyondellBasell and Samsonite created a suitcase made from post-consumer recycled polypropylene processed by Quality Circular Polymers, which LyondellBasell and Suez acquired last year.

Investment bank Morgan Stanley announced the Morgan Stanley Plastic Waste Resolution.

Nestlé Waters North America released Poland Spring ORIGIN, a new water product that comes in 100 percent recycled PET bottles.

Ralph Lauren introduced the Earth Polo, a shirt made from 100 percent recycled PET bottles.  

PLANIC, a joint-venture company that describes itself as the largest recycled plastics processing company in Japan, was established by Toyota Tsusho, Veolia Japan and Kojima Sangyo.

Closed Loop Partners hired Caroline Brown as a managing director to lead the investment firm’s work in the fashion sustainability sector.

Ensign Group, a Holland, Mich.-based recycling equipment manufacturer, has been acquired by Excalibur Group.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) passed its first transportation policy.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed an executive order banning city government from purchasing single-use plastics items.

PAC NEXT released the “Who’s Who of Zero Plastic Waste Initiatives Report.”

The Plastics Recycling Awards Europe winners have been announced.

Unilever announced several recycling-related initiatives, including that it will reach 50 percent recycled content in plastic packaging by the end of 2019 and will add the How2Recycle label to all its packaging by 2021. Separately, Unilever’s Hellmann’s brand of mayonnaise products released recycled-content goals.

U.K. startup Waterhaul launched a line of sunglasses made from recovered fishing nets.

Grocery chain Aldi pledged that the company will use 100 percent reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.

Budweiser created a soccer field made from 50,000 recycled plastic cups. The facility, called the Budweiser ReCup Arena, is located in Sochi, Russia.

Dow and Keep America Beautiful are accepting applications for a total of $125,000 in Hefty EnergyBag program grants.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries named Nestlé Waters North America as its 2019 Design for Recycling Award winner. The honor was earned specifically for the design of the Nestlé Pure Life 700 milliliter bottle made from 100 percent recycled PET.

The city of Phoenix selected Renewlogy and Generated Materials Recovery to develop an energy recovery program for the city’s mixed plastics. The companies will partner under the name Renew Phoenix.

The Recycling Partnership (TRP) hired Sarah Dearman, formerly of The Coca-Cola Co., to work on TRP’s policy efforts. Additionally, TRP partnered with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and consumer products company Love Beauty and Planet to expand curbside recycling in Nashville, Tenn.

Renew ELP received first place in the 2019 FlexPack Recovery Challenge, an initiative hosted by the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and the Center for the Circular Economy, a division of Closed Loop Partners.

Clearly Clean Products, a manufacturer of food trays that incorporate post-industrial PET, is developing an 80,000-square-foot thermoforming plant in Frackville, Pa.

Plastics recycling equipment company EREMA Group reported its most successful year of business in the company’s history, describing a 16 percent revenue increase.

The Foam Recycling Coalition awarded a $41,000 grant for Live Thrive Atlanta to expand its Center for Hard to Recycle Materials, which will purchase a foam densifier to increase its expanded polystyrene recycling efforts.

PAC Next published its Packaging Sustainability Checklist, a tool for packaging designers to reference.

March 2019

Agilyx worked with an Oregon concert venue and event waste management company to chemically recycle more than 2,000 pounds of PS products last year.

Chemical Recycling Europe formed as a trade association to promote chemical recycling of scrap plastic across Europe.

Eldan Recycling reported a strong increase in recycling equipment demand in 2018. The company cited global changes in waste management regulations as influencing the trend.

Herbal Essences and TerraCycle developed a recyclable shampoo and conditioner bottle made from 25 percent recycled plastic collected from beaches.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) hired Holly Arthur, who comes to ISRI from Portland Cement Association. She will oversee communications, marketing, publications and more.

Equipment company Universal Dynamics acquired CMG America, which manufactures size-reduction equipment, including granulators, shredders and more.

The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) announced that 13 more companies have joined its Recycling Demand Champions Campaign.

Lawmakers in Maryland are considering a bill banning expanded polystyrene (EPS) foodservice packaging statewide.

Nestlé and Veolia will collaborate in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America on projects advancing plastic waste collection, sorting and recycling, with an emphasis on flexible plastic packaging.

PepsiCo Latin America launched Recycling with Purpose, a program to promote recycling through outreach and incentive efforts.

Plastic packaging developer PTI named Sumit Mukherjee as the company’s chief technology officer.

Cannabis packaging company Sana Packaging launched a line of 100 percent recycled ocean plastic packaging in partnership with Oceanworks.

Tomra Sorting Recycling published an e-book examining the use of 100 percent recycled plastic in products and packaging.

Spanish plastics research center AIMPLAS issued a press release noting the RepescaPlas marine plastics project in Spain will begin focusing on finding recovery solutions for litter collected during the first year of the project.

Circulate Capital released “Investing to Reduce Plastic Pollution in South and Southeast Asia: a handbook for action.”

SC Johnson will build an additional recycling center in Indonesia, after seeing more than 20,000 tweets and retweets supporting the reduction in ocean plastics.

Shoe company Sperry introduced a footwear line made with BIONIC brand fabric, which uses recovered marine plastics.

The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) published a list of events taking place around the world for Global Recycling Day, held on March 18.

First Environment hired Mike Levy as a certified life cycle executive at the consulting firm. Levy formerly worked at the American Chemistry Council (ACC), where he was involved in a variety of projects to promote recycling.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) announced its 2019 advocacy agenda, which is based largely on the organization’s legislative accomplishments in 2018.

Nestlé Waters North America named David Tulauskas as its vice president and chief sustainability officer.

ProAmpac, a manufacturer of flexible packaging, has developed several products that are recyclable, compostable, incorporate recycled content or are made from bio-based materials.

The Smart Prosperity Institute released “A Vision for a Circular Economy for Plastics in Canada.”