China will ban the sale of plastic bags in certain areas, stepping up to a complete ban nationwide by 2025. | olesea vetrila/Shutterstock
After shaking up the U.S. recycling sector with an import ban on post-consumer plastics, the Chinese government is taking aim at its own plastic waste generation.
In April, the Chinese government will enact new requirements for pellet imports. | Piyathep/Shutterstock
Officials in Beijing are set to enact new requirements around the purity of recycled pellets imported into China.
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In October, India’s imports of U.S. scrap plastics dropped to their lowest single-month volume since at least 2002. | November Studio/Shutterstock
Export figures continue to show the power of recycled plastic import restrictions in Southeast Asia. Countries that were previously the largest overseas markets have seen massive decreases in U.S. plastic imports since mid-2018.
Circulate Capital’s April Crow (center) at the 2019 Resource Recycling Conference and Trade Show, held in August in New Orleans. | Resource Recycling, Inc./Brian Adams Photography
An ocean plastics prevention fund has $106 million in hand and is gearing up to announce its first investments in Southeast Asian waste management infrastructure.
U.S. electronics recycling companies and brokers say they’re currently able to move e-plastics. | Alexey Lesik/Shutterstock
Asia remains the destination for many plastics recovered from electronics. But as buyers relocate from China to other countries, prices are down and quality and volume are increasingly critical factors.
Dow recently announced it will collaborate with a Thai virgin plastics producer on recycling solutions. | Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock
Dow recently inked agreements to boost plastics recovery in Europe and Southeast Asia, including through the use of chemical recycling technologies.
During the first six months of 2019, India brought in 156 million pounds of U.S. scrap plastics. | Avigator Fortuner/Shutterstock
Recovered plastic has largely stopped flowing from the U.S. into India, which until recently has been among the top importers of the material.
U.S. exporters shipped out 773 million pounds of scrap plastic in the first half of 2019. | aapsky/Shutterstock
Federal trade statistics released last week show U.S. export volumes for the first six months of 2019. Recycled plastics have seen a major drop when compared with figures from a year ago.
84 containers will be returned to countries of origin. | porjai kittawornrat/Shutterstock
More Southeast Asian nations are sending contaminated recyclables back to their originating country, as governments in the region continue to grapple with higher scrap plastic and paper import volumes.
U.S. recovered plastic exports grew slightly in April, hitting their largest monthly volume so far in 2019.