More than three months after China announced it will restrict recyclables imports, key details on logistics and timing of the new regulations remain unknown. But industry associations are piecing together some more concrete facts about the downstream and upstream ramifications of the actions.
Roche Harbor on San Juan Island in Washington.
Municipal programs in the Pacific Northwest continue to feel the impacts of China’s import restrictions, and multiple local programs are halting acceptance of plastics and other materials in response.
P&G, Coca-Cola and a handful of other major companies have committed to using products containing post-consumer resin in a range of storage and shipping applications, as part of a new program from the Association of Plastic Recyclers.
The upstream impacts of China’s import restrictions have been increasingly covered in national and local press, raising the level of public consciousness about where recyclables ultimately end up and how that could all change.
When it made landfall on Aug. 25, Hurricane Harvey became the wettest tropical cyclone to ever hit the U.S., dumping more than five feet of water on Houston. The resulting floods have impacted the recycling industry in multiple ways, driving up prices for virgin plastics, hampering freight systems and halting curbside collections.
Nina Bellucci Butler speaks at the Resource Recycling Conference.
U.S. and Canadian end users could consume more of the recovered plastics generated domestically if prices and specifications meet their needs. But a handful of converging market trends are standing in the way of significant growth.
Recycling processors report that early September pricing for recovered plastic packaging rose slightly over August levels.
U.S. recycling leaders who are closely tied to export markets say China’s proposed import prohibition on recovered plastic and other materials could drive changes all the way back to the curb.
Two large operations involved in PET recovery in Southern California will receive assistance from a state agency in expanding or bringing facilities on-line.
The future of recovered materials exports to China remains hazy, but the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) made a few things clear after a recent trip to Hong Kong and Beijing.