Federal rules attempting to regulate new recycling processes and potential contaminants continued a back-and-forth that has lasted at least five years. | John Hanson Pye/Shutterstock
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has withdrawn rules first proposed by the Biden administration that addressed chemical recycling and had attracted significant industry opposition. Continue Reading
With Ontario two years into its 2023-2025 transition to a producer responsibility model for paper and packaging recycling, stakeholders have asked for more time and lower costs. | Maxim Studio/Shutterstock
Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, is looking to make adjustments to its signature law for extended producer responsibility in packaging, in response to producer feedback about costs and other program concerns. Continue Reading
Scientists from nine universities worked together on a paper, focused on the need to reduce plastic production. | Poring Studio/Shutterstock
Scientists from universities in several countries released a paper that concluded production cuts must be part of the legally binding treaty to manage global plastic pollution if it’s to achieve its goals. Continue Reading
Two dozen plastics producers were penalized for failing to use the minimum recycled content required in Washington state. | Emilija Miljkovic/Shutterstock
Plastics producers who failed to meet Washington state’s minimum post-consumer resin threshold were recently hit with fines ranging from a couple hundred dollars up to $55,000. Continue Reading
The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery released a revised informal draft of SB 54 regulations. | Michael Warwick/Shutterstock
The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery released a revised draft of SB 54 regulations, two months after the governor rejected the first version of the extended producer responsibility for paper and packaging rules.
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.
The initial recyclable materials list classifies just under a dozen material types as readily recyclable under Maine’s EPR program, but state representatives emphasized it was a first draft. | KWJPHOTOART/Shutterstock
More than 100 people showed up in-person and virtually to an informal stakeholder meeting on Maine’s draft material types list for the state’s extended producer responsibility program for packaging. Continue Reading
The Trump administration included Canada’s Zero Plastic Waste Agenda among numerous barriers to foreign trade in a recent report. | Monticello/Shutterstock
The Trump administration has included Canada’s Zero Plastic Waste Agenda among foreign trade barriers, drawing criticism from a Canadian advocacy group and caution from the country’s chemical industry. Continue Reading
Smartphones and laptops are exempt from U.S. tariffs targeting Chinese imports, but other goods are currently subject to 145% in duties. | Metamorworks/Shutterstock
Country-specific “reciprocal” tariffs have been pushed out until July, but a universal base rate tariff rolled out last week, which covers all countries, and earlier metals tariffs remain in effect. Meanwhile, an all-out trade war between the U.S. and China is intensifying. Continue Reading
A proposed International Recycling Group facility in Pennsylvania, seen here in a 2021 rendering, has been canceled concurrent with the project’s loss of federal funding. | Courtesy of International Recycling Group
Dramatic federal funding cuts have affected at least two plastics recycling efforts, contributing to a major project being canceled in Pennsylvania and forcing an accelerated timeline for self-sufficiency at an Alaska composite lumber operation. Continue Reading