Senate Bill 1053 revises California’s bag ban to state that reusable bags provided at point of sale cannot be made from plastic film. | Bowonpat Sakaew/Shutterstock
A bill that expands California’s bag ban to prohibit all plastic bags – even the reusable recycled-content bags that are a major driver of post-consumer film resin sales – is working its way through the California legislative system. Reclaimers and bag producers have come out against the bill. Continue Reading
Oregon residents generated about 6.1 million tons of material in 2022, with 3.7 million tons going to landfills and incinerators and 2.4 million tons recovered. | Maksim Safaniuk/Shutterstock
The amount of material Oregonians disposed of in 2022 dropped significantly from the year before, largely due to fewer building-destroying wildfires, and about 2% of overall material was plastic. Continue Reading
Emily Friedman, a recycled plastics senior editor at ICIS, expects steady growth in U.S. mechanical recycling capacity despite a slowdown on the announcement of greenfield facilities. | Zombiemaster/Shutterstock
After attending NPE 2024, ICIS’s Emily Friedman walked away thinking that producers of durables are showing interest in recycled resins, the plastics industry needs to add its voice to policy discussions, and there’s growth on the horizon for both mechanical and chemical recycling capacity. Continue Reading
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office recently extended a tariff exemption on shredder parts that wear down until the end of May 2025. | cybrain/Shutterstock
The U.S. Trade Representative’s office has extended tariff exemptions that cover certain shredder components imported from China, drawing praise from the Recycled Materials Association. Continue Reading
ADS purchases over 1.1 billion pounds of resin annually from 525 suppliers, half of it recycled, making it the largest plastic recycling company in the U.S. | Courtesy of Advanced Drainage Systems
Advanced Drainage Systems, currently the largest plastics recycling company in the U.S., saw lower sales over the past year due to lower demand in the construction and agricultural markets in mid-2023. But the company still reported record profit, largely due to lower feedstock prices. Continue Reading
Minnesota sent an EPR bill to its governor in a budget bill. | Rawf8/Shutterstock
Minnesota is officially the fifth U.S. state to pass extended producer responsibility for packaging after adding the program language into the 2024 Environment and Natural Resources Budget, which the governor signed. Continue Reading
Shannon Gordon, the chief operating officer of Circular.Co., speaks about the growing trend of digital commodity trading at the 2024 Plastics Recycling Conference. | Big Wave Productions/Plastics Recycling Update
Online buying, selling and trading is the future of recycled commodity sales – but we’re not in the future quite yet, digital platform providers said at the 2024 Plastics Recycling Conference in March. Continue Reading
The equipment upgrades will allow the MRF to recycle more types of plastics, including polypropylene plastic bottles, jars, jugs and tubs. | Ken Wolter/Shutterstock
WM has finished $23 million in automation updates at its Pittsburgh MRF, increasing the facility’s capacity by 10 tons of material per hour. Continue Reading