The 13th annual Plastics Recycling Conference, taking place this week in Tennessee, has brought together nearly 2,000 sector executives. That record-high number is a sign of the widespread industry thirst for connection and guidance at a time of unprecedented market disruption.
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A North American recycling operation will open an e-plastics-focused facility in response to Chinese import restrictions.
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Chinese authorities have issued the first five rounds of recyclable-material import permits for 2018. Compared with 2017, the country has allowed in substantially less recovered plastic and approved permits for far fewer companies across all material types.
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A plastics reclaimer and exporter plans to close its doors, citing impacts from China’s import restrictions as a major factor in the company’s downfall.
Scrap plastic exported out of the U.S. is moving to Southeast Asia, where reclaimers are dramatically increasing purchases as China closes its doors to recovered materials. New figures illustrate that shift.
Chinese officials have announced the first batch of plastic scrap import permits for 2018, and the volumes laid out in those authorizations represent a massive reduction from one year ago.
A representative from a European firm that has felt the direct impacts of China’s import restrictions on recovered plastic recently offered an inside look at the fallout from the unprecedented disruption to industry trade.
China is unprepared to effectively roll out and enforce its planned Jan. 1 ban on imports of certain recyclables, according to recycling leaders who recently traveled to the country in search of answers.
There is growing chatter that China’s ban on imports of many recovered plastics will grow the country’s demand for virgin resins.
Chinese officials have reiterated that some post-consumer plastics will be banned from import by the end of the month, and have elaborated on stringent future enforcement and regulatory plans. Even so, one exporter sees the potential for washed flake to be allowed in under the new restrictions.