Despite challenges caused by the pandemic starting in March, the first quarter of 2020 showed strong sales for some businesses that use recycled plastic. | Chaosamran_Studio/Shutterstock
Three major recycled plastic consumers recently reported their business performance during the first few months of 2020. They touched on COVID-19, recycled material costs and their outlook for the future.
California cities of 50,000 residents or more are seeing inbound contamination rates between 8% and 46%, with an average of 20%. | Oksana Shturo/Shutterstock
Plastic film has long been identified as a major contaminant in municipal materials recovery programs. Research from the West Coast shows just how challenging it has been to educate residents around proper bag behavior.
California’s governor recently suspended the state’s single-use bag ban for 60 days. | Joanna Dorota/Shutterstock
California’s single-use bag ban has been suspended for two months, with the governor citing coronavirus safety concerns. One plastics reclaimer said the move led to an immediate drop in PCR sales.
Trex uses about 500 million pounds of recovered polyethylene film and sawdust to make composite lumber each year. | Photo courtesy of Trex online product gallery.
Trex, which uses recovered polyethylene film to make composite wood products, boosted its sales and profits in 2019.
The Washington legislature passed a bill prohibiting retailers from providing single-use plastic bags and requiring reusable bags have post-consumer content. | anystock/Shutterstock
Washington state lawmakers will send the governor a bill mandating use of recycled plastic in beverage bottles. They also passed a bill banning thin plastic bags and mandating recycled content in thicker reusable bags.
Bag producers pledged to support municipal programs in educating the public on proper bag recycling. | Ivanova Tetyana/Shutterstock
A coalition of bag manufacturers is committing to use more recycled plastic in the coming years. Recycling stakeholders are reacting to the pledge, which will include both post-consumer and post-industrial resin.
Avangard plans to bring a Mexico City-area facility on-line at the end of the fourth quarter of 2020 or early in the first quarter of 2021. | taniascamera/Shutterstock
After opening a film recycling facility in the Houston area, Avangard Innovative will develop a similar processing site in the Mexico City area, the company’s CEO said.
Millions of pounds of PE film will be flowing to Berry Global from Georgia-Pacific Recycling. | mindroom14/Shutterstock
Under a newly inked deal, packaging company Berry Global will recycle PE film supplied by Georgia-Pacific into new film products.
An Arkansas-based plastics reclaimer and manufacturer is furthering its growth on the West Coast with the acquisition of two California companies.
Avangard Innovative recently installed a customized recycling line at its LDPE recovery facility in Houston. The system is aimed at tackling an issue the company faced while processing commercial film: odor.