The U.S. PET bottle recycling rate dropped from 30.1 percent to 28.4 percent in 2016, a number that is emblematic of several concerning trends hitting the sector.
The U.S. PET bottle recycling rate dropped from 30.1 percent to 28.4 percent in 2016, a number that is emblematic of several concerning trends hitting the sector.
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.
Manufacturers will voluntarily subsidize post-consumer carpet sortation for an additional year.
The extended producer responsibility program for packaging in Portugal has seen improving recovery volumes in recent years.
California regulators are threatening to bring the hammer down on a carpet stewardship group, saying it has failed for years to grow carpet recycling.
In its first full year of operation, British Columbia’s printed paper and packaging recycling program notched a 77 percent recovery rate, beating the target set by the government.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will allow recycled PET fiber to be used to make tea bags, fruit or meat packaging and more. It also gave the go-ahead to use recycled plastics in several types of thermoform packaging.
Daniele Vinci
Chemicals giant Dow has developed an adhesive that allows flexible film packaging with layers of PET and aluminum to be replaced by all-polyolefin films, which are easier to recycle.
Recycling processors report that early September pricing for recovered plastic packaging rose slightly over August levels.
Roberta Barbieri, PepsiCo
A beverage giant wants to increase recycling rates so it can use more recycled content in its packaging, and the company recently joined The Recycling Partnership to further push toward that goal.