Researchers found a number of challenges to the development of curbside flexible plastic packaging recovery. | Jared Paben/Resource Recycling, Inc.
A multi-stakeholder project was able to hit some goals separating flexible plastic packaging from other recyclables at a MRF. But backers also reported significant hurdles moving material downstream cost-effectively.
A recent report estimates up to 50,000 tons of blades per year will enter the end-of-life stream in the U.S. by 2023. | Rudmer Zwerver/Shutterstock
Groups representing electricity producers and composites manufacturers released a study exploring landfill diversion options for wind turbine blades.
Boise will send materials to a Utah cement manufacturer on a temporary basis until September. | Charles Knowles/Shutterstock
Boise, Idaho will send hard-to-recycle plastics to be used as fuel for a cement manufacturing operation in Utah, after being without a solid downstream market for more than a year.
TerraCycle US sold $5.81 million worth of recycled plastic and other materials in 2019, well over double its net sales from the prior year. | Courtesy of TerraCycle.
This article has been updated.
A car seat recycling deal with a major retailer helped boost TerraCycle’s recovered commodity sales by over $3.5 million last year, according to a financial report.
Cement Lock can use scrap plastic to fuel its rotary kilns, which produce an additive used in cement production. | Courtesy of Cement Lock.
A Florida company is working to commercialize a process that uses low-value scrap plastic as fuel in cement production.
Direct Pack has acquired a Mexico-headquartered recycling operation with capacity to process 40 million pounds per year of PET. | Courtesy of Direct Pack.
U.S. plastic thermoform manufacturer Direct Pack Inc. has acquired a PET reclaimer and is now processing recovered thermoforms at a Mexico site.
Boise’s EnergyBag program has explored a number of alternative processing options while awaiting Renewlogy’s upgrades. | Sean Pavone/Shutterstock
A program collecting hard-to-recycle plastics in Idaho’s largest city has been without a solid market for about a year since downstream outlet Renewlogy stopped accepting loads. After an equipment supply delay due to the coronavirus, the city now says this will continue at least through the summer.
The new effort will explore how PP packaging types that are not currently recycled could be in the future. | JohnKwan/Shutterstock
The Recycling Partnership is gearing up to launch the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition to develop holistic solutions for diverting the growing array of packaging made with No. 5 plastic.
A recent Greenpeace report noted companies are increasingly calling a wider variety of products “recyclable.” | Marko Rupena/Shutterstock
Environmental advocacy group Greenpeace USA released its findings that products made from plastics Nos. 3-7 are being billed as widely recyclable despite low MRF acceptance nationwide.
