Last year, 1.77 billion pounds of PET bottles were collected and sold to reclaimers. | Picsfive/Shutterstock
The U.S. PET bottle recycling rate declined by a percentage point to 27.9% in 2019, though the amount of RPET used to make new bottles increased.
Bales of plastic material for sortation at the Pacific Northwest demonstration facility. | Jared Paben/Resource Recycling, Inc.
Following a similar demonstration in the Pacific Northwest last year, industry stakeholders are launching an initiative to recover additional material from the municipal stream in New York and four other states.
A life-cycle analysis found that using recycled PET resin in place of virgin resin can lead to a 40% reduction in process and transportation energy. | GenViewFinder/Shutterstock
The National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) says using recycled PET offers a 60% greenhouse gas reduction over virgin material, one of several recent findings the group added to its PET environmental impact resources.
The pact members are aiming to launch a roadmap document publicly in April 2021. | chainarong06/Shutterstock
The director of the U.S. Plastics Pact says the effort is marked by two key components: focusing on a target-based national strategy to tackle plastic waste and employing rigorous accountability through reporting to the public.
In the U.S., dozens of brand owners, retailers, government agencies and nonprofit groups have joined the U.S. Plastics Pact. | Nagy-Bagoly Arpad/Shutterstock
A program called U.S. Plastics Pact, associated with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, will pursue strategies to eliminate unnecessary packaging, increase recyclability, and ensure packaging contains recycled plastic. It has more than 60 industry backers.
In 2019, Waste Management processed a record amount of recyclables: 15.5 million tons, up from 15.2 million tons in 2018. | Courtesy of Waste Management.
The largest hauler in North America processed a record amount of recyclables in 2019, and it invested more than $100 million to improve its recycling infrastructure, according to its latest sustainability report.
The Recycling Partnership recently released “Accelerating Recycling,” a policy document outlining a proposal that includes fees paid by brands and packaging producers. | photka/Shutterstock
Two major industry groups are promoting packaging fees on product makers to support recycling infrastructure development, a shift one recycling facility operator described as a “historical moment.”
PET bottle labels can be problematic to the plastics recycling process, but a PET bottle label innovation recently received a letter confirming its compatibility. | Ho Su A Bi/Shutterstock
Testing has shown that a label for PET bottles and several tube packages are compatible with current plastics recycling processes.
The new California law requires that plastic bottles covered by the bottle deposit program contain at least 15% post-consumer resin by 2022. | hedgehog94/Shutterstock
California’s decision to require post-consumer resin in drink bottles could inspire other states, particularly in the Northeast, to pursue similar laws, according to an industry leader.
