Less plastic was recycled in Canada in 2017 compared with the previous year. Frank Middendorf/Shutterstock
Canada recycled less plastic in 2017 than it did the year before, with decreases in recovery of films, non-bottle rigids and bottles, according to an annual industry report.
The U.S. has become a focus of investment for a small yet growing portion of the Chinese scrap processing industry. Backers of two in-development operations note they are looking for regulatory stability and a strong supply of recyclables.
During the first six months of 2019, India brought in 156 million pounds of U.S. scrap plastics. | Avigator Fortuner/Shutterstock
Recovered plastic has largely stopped flowing from the U.S. into India, which until recently has been among the top importers of the material.
84 containers will be returned to countries of origin. | porjai kittawornrat/Shutterstock
More Southeast Asian nations are sending contaminated recyclables back to their originating country, as governments in the region continue to grapple with higher scrap plastic and paper import volumes.
Regulatory changes could prevent the U.S. from exporting mixed plastics to a number of countries. | rawf8/Shutterstock
Federal regulators are asking countries that are major buyers of U.S. recyclables to refrain from implementing new trade restrictions laid out in the Basel Convention, a treaty covering global scrap material shipments.
2017 brought the lowest volume of film recovered and sold since 2010. | taniascamera/Shutterstock
Non-bottle mixed plastics and film recycling have experienced their first major drops in a decade, two studies indicate. But amid the challenges, domestic use of both streams increased.
Mainstream media seems to be intensifying its coverage of plastics management problems, a trend emblemized this week by the launch of a series in The Guardian newspaper.
U.S. recovered plastic exports grew slightly in April, hitting their largest monthly volume so far in 2019.
A country that has taken in increasing volumes of scrap material will return dozens of containers to their countries of origin, including the U.S. and Canada.
The U.S. recycling industry, including the plastics recycling sector, is expected to feel the economic impacts of the escalating U.S.-China trade war.