Changes to Iowa’s bottle redemption program are awaiting the Governor’s signature. | Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock
Iowa lawmakers have approved container deposit legislation that triples the bottle handling fee but allows grocery stores and other retail entities to opt out of the collection system, a fact that could significantly reduce redemption access.
Over 260 million pounds of scrap plastics were exported from the U.S. in the first quarter of 2022. | nattanan726/Shutterstock
The U.S. continues to export less and less scrap plastic overseas, the latest trade figures show.
Researchers at Rice University turned milled-together bumpers, gaskets, carpets, mats, seating and door casings from Ford F-150 pickup trucks into graphene. | mynewturtle/Shutterstock
An experiment by Rice University and Ford turned mixed plastic from old vehicles into graphene, which was then used in a polyurethane foam for new vehicles.
Milliken’s Blacksburg, S.C. plant will increase production capacity for the company’s Millad NX 8000 polypropylene clarifier, which is used in PP recycling. | Courtesy of Milliken
Global manufacturer Milliken & Company says its newest clarifier plant is coming on-line, boosting Milliken’s production capacity for its PP clarifier by over 50%.
Phillips 66 shareholders voted to support a resolution asking the energy company to detail its market risks of continuing to invest in virgin plastics. | Courtesy of Phillips 66
This story has been updated.
A slight majority of shareholders at Chevron Phillips’ parent company recently voted to support a resolution on shifting toward more recycled plastic use, while 37.4% of ExxonMobil shareholders voted in favor of a similar resolution. Amazon shareholders vote on a similar resolution this week.
In the company’s annual report, ADS showed gross profit was over $800 million, up 16% from the previous year. | Leonid Sorokin/Shutterstock
Advanced Drainage Systems, now the largest plastics reclaimer in North America, increased its product sales by nearly 40% last year.
Goodwill Industries of West Michigan will partner with recycled-plastics product maker HydroBlox. | Joni Hanebutt/Shutterstock
A new plant in western Michigan will recycle recovered plastic from Goodwill into stormwater drainage infrastructure.
Indorama Ventures developed its PET food tray recycling technology over the past six years. | Pavel Kapysh/Shutterstock
Indorama Ventures is moving into the commercial stage of a project in which post-consumer PET trays are recycled into flake used in food packaging.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year provides about $350 million to the U.S. EPA over several years to fund recycling infrastructure and education grants. | RozenskiP/Shutterstock
The U.S. EPA is working to build several grant programs from the ground up thanks to an influx of money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and it is reaching out to stakeholders to make sure the programs will meet industry needs.