Foreign trade partners see risk as well as opportunity amid tariff-related chaos, market sources said. | Alones/Shutterstock
This story has been corrected.
Post-consumer plastics bales are defying typical springtime trends, with average pricing in May reported flat-to-softer on the month as the peak summer season nears. Continue Reading
Following dramatic staffing cuts and an overall lack of clarity from federal officials, the future of an important program for recycled plastics remains a question mark. | StanislauV/Shutterstock
Amid sweeping federal staffing cuts, the future of a government program to assess processes to make food packaging from recycled plastics is unclear, sources told Plastics Recycling Update in recent interviews.
Trex’s recycled plastic processing operation in Arkansas began production late in the first quarter. | Photo Courtesy of Trex
Pressures from tariffs and consumer spending slowdowns have contributed to lower revenues year over year at Trex, Mohawk and Indorama, according to their recent first-quarter reports.
A secondary sorting facility pulling deposit containers out of mixed plastic bales was awarded funding from the state of California. | Hiv360/Shutterstock
California’s state recycling agency will provide $10 million toward a facility sorting plastics with resin codes 2-7, additional multimillion dollar grants for several major MRF retrofits, and a handful of smaller awards for localities to install recycling collection containers. Continue Reading
The two chemical majors remain optimistic on demand for recycled polymers, while slowing plans for new U.S. capacity. | Rene Notenbomer/Shutterstock
Two U.S.-based chemical companies discussed upcoming recycling projects during recent earnings calls, expressing optimism despite persistent economic uncertainty and potential administrative hurdles.
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Andrea Bassetti, recycled plastics analytics lead at market intelligence firm ICIS, lays out factors driving recycled resin markets at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference. | Photo Credit: Big Wave Productions/Resource Recycling, Inc.
Analysts from market intelligence firms emphasized the lack of solid footing and stiff competition from virgin resin and imports as key challenges for the plastics recycling market, during sessions at the recent Plastics Recycling Conference. Continue Reading
The hauler has been pre-buying post-consumer bales from across the Midwest for several months for the complex, which features a Polymer Center and the Blue Polymers resin production plant. | Photo courtesy Republic Services
Republic Services officially opened its Indianapolis plastics recycling complex this week, marking the hauler’s entry into the recycled plastic resin market and continuing its expansion from supplying bales to processing and converting the plastics reclaimed within. Continue Reading
Traceability tools can act as a scorecard, providing proof that recycling works and helping counter an often one-sided narrative in consumer media outlets. | 9dream Studio/Shutterstock
Editor’s note: Learn more about traceability technology and many other topics at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference on March 24-26 in National Harbor, Maryland. Continue Reading
Three companies announced funding and other progress toward building chemical recycling capacity. | Menzl Guenter/Shutterstock
Several companies recently announced progress toward chemical recycling capacity, including a developing method to recycle PET that could require much less energy. Continue Reading
Scrap PET imports rose faster than overall scrap plastic imports did last year, continuing what has been an emerging challenge for the domestic plastics recycling industry. | S Oleg/Shutterstock
Domestic RPET market participants have struggled to compete with inexpensive imported material for nearly two years. But the lack of a specific Harmonized Tariff System code obscures the scale of the issue even as PET’s share of scrap imports surpassed 50%. Continue Reading