News about the latest approvals to use recycling technologies to create recycled plastic for use in food packaging captured attention last month. | Dolores M. Harvey/Shutterstock
Readers last month were drawn to articles about consumer product brand owners, food-contact RPET approvals, a flexible packaging recovery project and plastics exports.
Researchers looked into multi-layer pouch recycling through the use of enzymes. | Ploylada/Shutterstock
A paper authored by a Spanish plastics research institute says enzymes can be used to degrade adhesive layers in multi-layer scrap materials, allowing the plastics to be separated for recycling.
Encina and Braven Environmental are new to the chemical recycling sector. | Tunatura/Shutterstock
A pair of companies recently announced plans to build commercial-scale pyrolysis facilities, with one set for Texas and the other in Virginia. The plants will convert scrap plastics into chemical products.
Tomra’s upgraded Autosort includes a broad range of sensors to detect small but important differences between materials.
Equipment supplier Tomra rolled out the latest generation of its Autosort optical sorter, which is geared to provide greater accuracy and speed while performing complex sorting tasks.
Reclaimers install specially designed shredders, scientists tweak scrap thermosets so they can be remolded, and four technologies win over $1 million in grants.
Hapag-Lloyd announced that it will not accept “solid waste” cargo that would arrive in China after Sept. 1. | Solarisys/Shutterstock
This article has been updated.
Shipping company Hapag-Lloyd announced it will stop taking recycled material loads to China this year, citing the country’s recent law that referenced an all-out “solid waste” import ban in the near future.
The RecyClass platform is focused on encouraging producers to sell packaging that’s compatible with current plastics recycling processes and technologies. | Africa Studio/Shutterstock
A European trade association has published step-by-step guides allowing packaging producers to rate the recyclability of their products and receive a certification.
PreZero’s Riverside, Calif. facility has begun running test loads of LDPE and LLDPE recovered film and producing pellets.
A company planning multiple U.S. processing plants taking in hard-to-recycle plastics has begun operating its first location in Southern California.
Investments by Closed Loop Partners have touched plastics recycling in a number of ways. | Chones/Shutterstock
Brand owners and corporate foundations have pledged another $54 million to the Closed Loop Infrastructure Fund, money that will go toward supporting recycling in the U.S.
A view of the recently installed e-plastics sorting and washing line at eCycle Solutions. | Courtesy of eCycle Solutions
A major North American e-scrap company has invested approximately $1.5 million into a plastics cleanup line, partly to get ahead of tighter international rules on plastics exports.