CarbonLite and Verdeco implied there was friction between the companies and the trade group around recent California legislation. | Looka/Shutterstock
PET-focused CarbonLite Industries and Verdeco Recycling recently exited the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), saying the group has “not embraced fundamental changes in our industry.”
Published: October 9, 2019 Updated: by Colin Staub
The city of Boise rolled out the EnergyBag program in 2018. | Aleksandr Grechanyuk/Shutterstock
The Hefty EnergyBag program is collecting but not currently processing hard-to-recycle plastics in Boise, Idaho. The program’s downstream processor suspended EnergyBag processing earlier this year to install new equipment.
Published: October 30, 2019 Updated: by Colin Staub
CarbonLite’s Reading, Pa. plant will produce recycled PET for use in water bottles, thermoforms and other products. | Rendering courtesy of CarbonLite
PET processor CarbonLite is nearing the opening of its third facility, which will produce 85 million pounds of post-consumer resin per year.Continue Reading
Published: November 13, 2019 Updated: by Colin Staub
PreZero Polymers’ Jurupa Valley, Calif. campus, which is set to open early next year, will process post-consumer film. | Image courtesy of PreZero US
A joint venture is set to launch two U.S. processing plants for hard-to-recycle plastics in 2020, bringing new outlets for lower-grade materials. Investments in the projects will total at least $90 million. Continue Reading
The graph below shows the downstream trends for four major plastic resins collected for recycling in the U.S. and Canada going back to 2009 (the graph stops at 2017 because that is the most recent year for which figures are available).
From 2009 to 2016, the total amount of post-consumer plastic exported to overseas markets from the U.S. and Canada stayed relatively stable, but that number dropped considerably in 2017. That fact is hardly surprising: China stated in 2017 that it was planning to implement its import ban on many grades of recovered material at the outset of 2018, and the announcement itself caused major market shifts.
On the domestic processing front, the total amount climbed steadily before plateauing between 2016 and 2017. With more material needing a home as many Asian markets enact restrictions, opportunity exists for continued domestic processing growth. The keys will be infrastructure improvements to deliver cleaner loads to reclaimers and greater end market demand for the recycled resins.
Data Sort is produced each quarter by More Recycling. For additional information, go to morerecycling.com.
This story originally appeared in the Summer 2019 issue of Plastics Recycling Update. Subscribe today for access to all print content.
Published: November 21, 2019 Updated: by Jared Paben
Clear Path Recycling installed a new wash trommel to remove contamination, including sleeve labels, from PET bottles. | Courtesy of Clear Path Recycling.
A $1 million-plus equipment investment is helping North Carolina-based Clear Path Recycling boost PET throughput while using less water and energy.
After being founded in 2015, A1 Polymer Recycling began running its processing line full tilt in the second quarter of 2017. That was right around the time China started signaling its plans for an import ban on scrap plastic and shaking the foundations of recycling markets.
Published: December 11, 2019 Updated: by Colin Staub
A close-up view shows the wide variety of materials in the mixed-plastic bales. | Jared Paben/Resource Recycling, Inc.
A demonstration project found that by routing mixed bales and MRF residue to a central sorting location, more than 17,000 tons of additional plastics could be captured in the Pacific Northwest each year.