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.
Shipping company MSC stopped accepting scrap cargo headed to China and Hong Kong as of June 1. | Fomin Roman/Shutterstock
A major shipping line will no longer accept recovered plastic and other scrap material shipments bound for Hong Kong, which remains a large market for U.S. exports.
The Alliance to End Plastic Waste announced earlier this month it would be supporting a female-led plastics recycling plant in Ghana. | Courtesy of ASASE Foundation.
The Alliance to End Plastic Waste is currently working to implement more than a dozen initiatives worldwide. The group’s leader recently explained key details, as well as how COVID-19 has impacted progress.
Circulate Capital announced $6 million in funding to recycling companies to prevent marine debris. | Igor Batenev/Shutterstock
Circulate Capital invested $6 million in plastics recycling companies in India and Indonesia, the brand-backed firm’s first outlay designed to prevent marine plastics.
The U.S. in 2019 shipped 9.7 million pounds of recovered PET to South Korea. | Mariusz Bugno/Shutterstock
A large market for U.S. scrap plastic is planning measures to reduce PET imports and increase domestic recycling.
The U.S. exported 1.46 billion pounds of scrap plastics in 2019, down 38% from the year before. | qingqing/Shutterstock
Scrap plastic exports from the U.S. continued a steady decrease that has unfolded over the past few years, dropping in 2019 to their lowest total volume since 2002.
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.