Industry Announcements

November 2018

Agilyx signed a letter of intent to pursue development of a polystyrene recycling facility with AmSty, a polystyrene and styrene monomer producer.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC) highlighted a new study that found replacing plastic with alternative materials in packaging would cause negative environmental impacts.

Braskem, a major virgin plastics producer, announced several recycling and sustainability goals.

Charter NEX Films Inc. General Counsel Bryan Steil won the Wisconsin Congressional seat being vacated by outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan. In August, Plastics Recycling Update wrote about Steil, whose company uses post-consumer plastic, advancing to the general election.

Plastics Recyclers Europe released a statement calling for an overhaul in inefficient, unsustainable recycling practices in response to the market turbulence caused by China’s scrap import restrictions.

Academic journal Resources, Conservation and Recycling will publish an article examining and questioning pyrolysis. An online version of the article is available in its entirety for a limited period of time.

The Global Recycling Standards Organization, which administers the the Recycling Industry Operating Standard (RIOS), elected Darrell Hogan as its chairman for a two-year term. Hogan is vice president of global operations and compliance at AER Worldwide.

Online scrap material trading platform Waste-Outlet.com announced its launch.

Equipment manufacturer Weima announced that sales manager Bill Zoller died Oct. 29 after a battle with cancer.

October 2018

Plastics recycling equipment provider Erema provided an update on its newest business unit, Keycycle.

Skincare and haircare products company Garnier announced that Winston-Salem State University received a Garnier Green Garden made from recycled beauty and personal care products. Additionally, university student Miranda Legg was named the winner of Garnier national Rinse, Recycle, Repeat campaign.

Kellogg announced its goal to work toward 100 percent recyclable, reusable or compostable packaging by the end of 2025.

A New York State appellate court upheld New York City’s right to ban expanded polystyrene products. The decision came after the city was sued last fall for the second time over its ban.

PepsiCo announced a goal to use 25 percent recycled content in its plastic packaging by 2025.

Brand owner Unilever and waste management company Veolia signed a collaboration agreement to jointly work on technologies to create a circular economy on plastics across various geographies, starting in India and Indonesia.

Break Free From Plastic published the results of its September “brand audit,” noting which brands made products collected during litter cleanups around the world.

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association named Emmie Leung, founder and CEO of Emterra, as the industry’s “Leader of the Year.”

Dow Packaging and Specialty Plastics, a business unit of The Dow Chemical Company, created two leadership positions related to plastics recycling. Dow also announced its collaboration with the Ocean Conservancy and other organizations for a marine debris cleanup effort called #PullingOurWeight.

The Global Recycling Foundation announced the theme for the 2019 Global Recycling Day will be “Recycling into the Future.”

GreenWaste Recovery created a plastic whale art installation made from ocean plastics to raise awareness of marine plastics debris.

IHS Markit released a study indicating the growing plastics sustainability movement “is one of the biggest potential disruptors” for the plastics industry.

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition launched the FlexPack Recovery Challenge to identify innovative methods of recovering multi-material flexible packaging.

Western Michigan Compounding announced a $6 million expansion that the plastics recycling company attributes to growing demand.

Pact Group Holdings, an Australian packaging maker, signed deals to roll out 100 percent RPET milk and hair care containers.

Petcore Europe released a statement saying a French law banning single-use plastic containers at schools, universities and nurseries violates European Union law.

Plastics manufacturer Royal DSM and outdoor recreation brand Starboard are collecting and recycling discarded fishing nets into surfboard components.

Stuffed animal manufacturer Service Systems Associates announced its core plush animal line will use fill made from 100 percent recycled PET beginning in January 2019.

United Nations Environment launched its Global Plastics Platform to fight plastic wastes worldwide.

September 2018

A study supported by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and conducted by The City College of New York found that plastics help drive down MSW generation despite increasing per capita income and consumption.

Recycling equipment company Bulk Handling Systems (BHS) named Matthias Erdmannsdoerfer managing director of Max-AI.

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed bills requiring restaurants to provide straws only upon request; prohibiting non-recyclable and non-compostable food packaging at parks, beaches, colleges and fairgrounds; and initiating a statewide microplastics strategy.

New investment firm Circulate Capital announced the launch of The Incubator Network by Circulate Capital and SecondMuse, an initiative to accelerate solutions to ocean plastic waste.

Clothing giant H&M unveiled a new collection of clothing made from recycled polyester.

Savers thrift stores, which include the Value Village chain, announced they will phase out plastic bags from stores across North America by the end of 2018.

TerraCycle launched a mail-in recycling program with eos Products, which makes lip balms, shave creams and hand and body lotions.

Unifi appointed Helen Sahi as the company’s vice president of global corporate sustainability. Sahi has previously worked with companies including Avery Dennison Corporation and Bank of America.

Agilyx appointed David Aardsma and Graeme Burnett to the company’s board of directors.

American Express issued a $250,000 grant to the Ocean Conservancy in support of several ocean plastics cleanup and prevention projects.

Clearly Clean Products rolled out the Roll-Over-Wrap, a 100 percent recyclable smooth-edge overwrap tray line for packaging.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) hired Scott Wiggins as its vice president of EH&S.

PepsiCo joined the NaturALL Bottle Alliance, a group that aims to produce a 100 percent bio-derived PET bottle. Other members include Danone and Nestlé Waters.

ReVital Polymers, Pyrowave and INEOS Styrolution have formed a partnership to recycle post-consumer EPS.

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) launched a series of online training courses titled the Essentials of Sustainable Packaging.

TerraCycle and several partner companies announced the winners of their Recycled Playground Challenge. The grand prize winner, Bethesda Elementary School in Waukehsa, Wis., won a playground made from oral care scrap plastics.

Unifi awarded its Repreve Champions of Sustainability Award to Intradeco Apparel, which uses recycled polyester Repreve fabric in its products.

Avery Dennison announced it will introduce a liner made from post-consumer recycled PET in a pressure-sensitive label available in Europe.

Plastics Recyclers Europe and the Association of Plastic Recyclers released testing protocols to help determine whether film is recyclable.

Market research firm Smithers Pira released a report offering forecasts for recycling, recovery and reuse of packaging globally in the next five years.

Keep America Beautiful kicked off its eighth annual Recycle-Bowl, a four-week recycling competition for students around the country.

PE producer Nova Chemicals will contribute $2 million over the next three years to the global initiative Project STOP, which works to combat the ocean plastics problem.

Petcore Europe hired ICIS Consulting to conduct its annual analysis of PET recycling across Europe.

The Philadelphia Eagles NFL team partnered with PP producer Braskem for a nine-year project that involves collecting bottle caps from Eagles facilities and sending them to reclaimer R.J. Evercrest Polymers for recycling.

Temperature controlled packaging producer Softbox has launched a service to recycle EPS and other materials for customers across the U.S. and Canada.

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) approved a technical policy that addresses recycling metrics and measurement.

Unifi, maker of the Repreve brand of recycled polyester, helped raise awareness on the importance of plastic recycling during the 79th annual Wyndham Championship golf event in Greensboro, N.C.