News - Page 306 of 306 - Plastics Recycling Update

Ocean freight lines push for container shipping rate boost

Published: January 12, 2016
Updated: January 12, 2016
by Editorial Staff

Shipping / alan_smillie, Shutterstock Container shipping lines serving the U.S.-to-Asia market are confronting new market dynamics.

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged exports, markets |

PetroChem Wire: Recycled HDPE loses pricing ground in 2015

Published: January 12, 2016
Updated: January 12, 2016
by PetroChem Wire Staff

PetroChem Wire logo Prices for recycled HDPE peaked at the beginning of 2015 and never quite recovered to that level for the remainder of the year, following the general downward trend in prime HDPE pricing.

Posted in News, PetroChem Wire |

China puts squeeze on informal plastics recycling

Published: January 12, 2016
Updated: January 12, 2016
by Bobby Elliott

A sort line at a PET recycling facility in China. Photo courtesy of Patty Moore.

Revamped regulations in China require plastics recycling operations to meet minimum processing benchmarks and a variety of other standards.

Posted in News, Top stories | Tagged Asia, exports |

The latest plastics recycling news

Hawaii Pacific opens summer short classes on plastics
Hawaii Pacific University is offering plastics- and recycling-related short courses over the summer that are aimed at plastics professionals.
EPA report includes 2019 recycling rate estimates
The U.S. EPA’s recent recycling infrastructure report was largely focused on the investments needed to improve the system but also included new recycling rate estimates for specific materials, some of the first data updates the agency has released since its last Facts and Figures report several years ago.
California RPET market lightly affected by wildfires
As the threat from wildfires in Southern California subsides thanks to heavy rains in the region, market participants said that so far the effect on RPET market has been minimal, though workers’ lives were disrupted.
Industry groups form recycling alliance for PS
In an effort to raise polystyrene recycling rates, the Plastics Industry Association has created a Polystyrene Recycling Alliance.
PCR procurement shifts as needed volumes grow
Editor’s note: Learn more about procurement trends and many other topics at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference on March 24-26 in National Harbor, Maryland. PCR procurement has changed over the years, though exactly how is difficult to put into words due to the nuances involved in getting post-consumer material into new products, said Crystal Bayliss, director of strategy and engagement at the U.S. Plastics Pact. “But it’s really the nuances that are driving changes in the buying behavior,” she said. Bayliss will present “Reimagining PCR Procurement: Building Industry Capacity and Exploring Alternative Strategies” at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference, March 24-26 in National Harbor, Maryland. At packaging giant Berry Global, dominant players in PCR supply are beginning to emerge along with consistent quality, said Doug Hano, vice president of sustainable resin purchasing. After years of buying PCR, “we’ve got enough history to compare and contrast quality levels, we can do more of a bidding sort of process, so that we can swap out one (supplier) for another,” he said. As a result, recycled resin is becoming more commodity-like, especially in A-grade LDPE film and also, to some degree, for HDPE. However, “polypropylene is still all over the place” in terms of consistent color and quality, Hano said. In the past, PCR was largely purchased on a spot basis and was closely tied to virgin resin pricing. Durable goods such as carpet fiber were the primary applications and didn’t require high-quality material, so RPET was used as a cost-saving measure. But as focus shifted toward using PCR in packaging, quality requirements increased, which has helped drive an increase in longer term contracts to secure supply, Bayliss said. “We’re starting to see those shifts happen, not all the way there to justify the investment that’s needed to be able to get to where PCR content goals are, but we are definitely headed in that direction,” she said. Moving forward, brands that need higher-quality grades of PCR will have to make longer term contracts and commitments, Bayliss added. “I think that as brands understand that their packaging has to get recycled to prove responsible end markets for the emerging EPR legislation, they’re going to realize that they’ve got to incentivize the investment to collect and recycle their packaging, and the only way to do that is longer term contracts, with the types of contracting methods that incentivize investment,” Bayliss said. Contracts are already common in the RPET market, Hano said. “Given the age of the RPET market, that tends to be a little bit more formulaic,” and resin pricing tends to be more formally based on bale prices. However, “since the olefins market is still kind of developing, and there’s a lot of newer players, I think pricing is more spot, less formal, because there are so many competitive dynamics,” he said. Hano added that Berry buys most PCR except RPET on a spot basis, by submitting a bid and “letting people kind of fight for the volume that they’re interested in.” Although spot pricing and “used-car sales haggling” style negotiations may suit suppliers for one commodity, Bayliss said, a small startup may offer a unique material that a buyer wants to lock down and help ensure the business remains viable. Longer-term contracts can be tied to a pricing index, based on a cost-plus model, correlate to price movements for raw materials, feature price floors or ceilings, and so on, she said. Regardless of the pricing mechanism, a contract helps ensure continuing and consistent demand, which also allows a supplier to continue to invest. “I think as folks understand the true need to make sure their packaging is recycled and that being tied to them bringing in the same quality of PCR, including the back-end packaging, you will see some of those contracting methods evolve to meet those needs,” she said. Hano agreed, saying Berry’s customers “desperately” want pricing to be indexed, “but PCR markets haven’t been booming like virgin, and there’s not reliable enough indices yet. So that’s the next big, kind of structural thing that I think folks hope for.” Berry started indexing some raw materials, but vendors would move pricing to remain competitive, Hano said. “If they thought they had the upper hand, price would go up; if I could introduce another player, prices would go down. But they’re stabilizing enough and there’s enough industry-wide capacity that I hope they’re becoming a little bit more commodity-like.” Although Bayliss expects PCR procurement eventually will be indexed like other commodity markets, the recycling industry presents unique challenges. Traditional polymer markets tend to have only one or two supply chain links, whereas PCR has several – MRFs, traders or brokers, reclaimers, secondary sorters, converters and brand owners – who each may have their own pricing mechanisms. “So it’s not necessarily just a straight pass-through, because they need to factor in any additional costs they’re having on different equipment or material handling or whatever the case may be,” Bayliss said. Common complaints include reclaimers who say they don’t have enough demand for their products, and brand owners who say they can’t get the recycled resin they need because the prices are too high. “And that, to me, makes no sense,” she said. “How are the sellers saying they don’t have any markets and the end users are saying they can’t get it?” “I think we’re seeing a true disconnect in the supply and the demand for the types of PCR, and that only gets solved by investment to be able to produce more of the higher quality grades, which is what the brand owners are needing,” Bayliss said. “It’s not as efficient as I would have expected in this type of market, and we need to really look at these different contracting methods to make sure that we’re marrying up supply and demand on the correct grade of PCR.” In addition, consolidation has made the market a lot less fragmented and has helped improve the quality of the material as well to have […]
Fast fashion company begins chemically recycling textiles
Global clothing e-commerce retailer Shein has developed a chemical recycling process alongside a Chinese research university and is planning to start up a facility in June, producing 6.6 million pounds per year of chemically recycled polyester for use in its apparel.
Trump admin reverses grant freeze
A pause on several federal funding programs by the Trump Administration could affect new recycling facilities and other projects across the country, though several leaders in the recycling industry said they expect the impact to be temporary and limited.