Carpet recycling experts discuss how emerging recycling technologies are allowing companies to recycle plastics derived from post-consumer carpet into a wider variety of applications. | ND700/Shutterstock
Post-consumer carpet has long been hard to handle, a bulky waste item that rapidly fills up landfills.
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Bagged recyclables cause major headaches for MRFs, so the state of Washington wants to teach people to fill their bins with loose items. | Alexander Lukatskiy/Shutterstock
Washington state is looking to convince residents to stop bagging recyclables, according to officials and industry partners.
KC Recycling is heavily involved in recycling lead batteries, which are roughly 4-5% polypropylene by weight. | Courtesy of KC Recycling
A British Columbia recycling company has struck a supply deal allowing true closed-loop recycling of polypropylene from lead batteries.
Waste Management (WM) has committed to investing more than $800 million to enhance recycling infrastructure, including $56 million to upgrade three Pacific Northwest materials recovery facilities (MRFs). | Pavel Kubarkov/Shutterstock
Dow and Waste Management are partnering on a pilot program that will give some Chicago residents the option of recycling plastic films curbside.
Global consulting firm McKinsey & Company views secondary sortation facilities and high prices for PCR as potential avenues for preventing non-bottle plastics from going to landfill. | TY Lim/Shutterstock
Plastics producers rolling out chemical recycling technologies can access new feedstock streams by helping to finance secondary sortation facilities, according to a McKinsey study.
LyondellBasell will chemically recycle scrap plastic feedstock produced by the Cyclyx sorting facility in Houston. Pictured are LyondellBasell’s crackers at its Channelview, Texas complex, which is near Houston. | Courtesy of LyondellBasell
Global plastics producers will invest about $100 million in a plastic scrap sorting facility to generate feedstock for both mechanical and chemical recycling processes.
Founded in Costa Rica in 2018, CRDC now operates in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, South Africa, Mexico, the U.K., New Zealand and Hong Kong. | The Image Party/Shutterstock
CRDC Global is turning hard-to-recycle plastic into a concrete additive in Pennsylvania and plans to expand across the country as quickly as it can. Continue Reading
The study demonstrated 99% accuracy for the detection and sortation of films and flexibles. | Courtesy of Digimarc
A Canadian group’s study of Digimarc Recycle’s digital watermark showed that it does in fact improve accuracy for sorting flexible plastic packaging.
As of Dec. 31, TerraCycle US has over 150 brand-sponsored national recycling programs in 48 states. | photo gonzo/Shutterstock
TerraCycle US continued to rake in more money from companies paying it to operate mail-in recycling programs, but it incurred steeper losses doing the actual recycling of plastic and other materials.
A bill passed in New York establishes goals for carpet recycling and post-consumer content, requires the creation of a collection network and more. | Steven Belanger/Shutterstock
New York is close to becoming the second state to require producers to fund carpet collection and recycling. Meanwhile, California regulators approved carpet fees that vary based on recycled content.