Credit: Rich Carey/Shutterstock
A Spanish plastics research institute has begun work on two recycling initiatives. One effort will target floating ocean plastics, and the other will recycle PE and EPS generated by businesses.
Credit: Rich Carey/Shutterstock
A Spanish plastics research institute has begun work on two recycling initiatives. One effort will target floating ocean plastics, and the other will recycle PE and EPS generated by businesses.
Major brands fund a recycling outreach campaign to thousands of students, and prices increase for recovered PET and HDPE.
The world’s largest restaurant operator will increase access to recycling at its food establishments and make packaging changes to lessen environmental impacts.
Top manufacturers, recycling stakeholders and environmental organizations want to ban oxo-degradable plastic packaging because they don’t believe it actually prevents pollution.
California lawmakers have revised the state’s definition of PET to exclude PETG, meaning products made from the glycol-modified plastic are barred from using resin code No. 1.
Great potential exists for increased film recovery in North America, where the residential film recovery rate sits at about 4 percent. Experts have identified key sectors that would be effective targets for coordinated investment.
Anti-incineration activists are criticizing an industry program that diverts traditionally non-recycled plastics away from landfill and into energy-recovery facilities. In response, project backer Dow Chemical Co. has defended the program’s utility.
In Canada, a number of companies are tackling difficult plastic streams without using traditional mechanical recycling processes. One of them, Pyrowave, uses microwaves to depolymerize polystyrene scrap and has recently made some strong steps forward.
A polymer modifier technology was used compatibilize different resins in multilayer packaging so they could be recycled into new garbage bags. Those bags were then used by volunteers to clean plastics from coastlines.
Nina Bellucci Butler speaks at the Resource Recycling Conference.
U.S. and Canadian end users could consume more of the recovered plastics generated domestically if prices and specifications meet their needs. But a handful of converging market trends are standing in the way of significant growth.