The European Commission is expected to announce the revisions of the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive the week of Nov. 28. | VanderWolf Images/Shutterstock
This story has been updated.
Online delivery packaging, takeaway cups and plastic drink bottles could see new targets for reuse and recycled content under proposals from the European Commission.
Although the majority of companies continued to decrease virgin plastic use, collective use of plastic packaging increased by 4.3% from 2020 to 2021. | Zety Akhzar/Shutterstock
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s latest report showed that major packaging companies doubled their collective PCR percentage from 2018 to 2021. However, pandemic-related commerce trends also helped accelerate virgin plastic consumption.
California’s plastic quality incentive payment (QIP) program offers $180 per ton for clean PET bales. | MarieKaz/Shutterstock
California last year started a unique program of providing cash payments to materials recovery facilities that produce ultra-clean PET bottle bales. Recently released data suggest the payments aren’t juicy enough morsels.
Legislators recently spoke about their challenges and successes with EPR legislation. | Banlai/Shutterstock
Four state-level elected officials who have worked on extended producer responsibility bills for packaging recently discussed how they became champions of recycling policy and offered tips to help advance legislation.
The industry-supported bills would establish a grant program and mandate better reporting. | Orhan Cam/Shutterstock
The U.S. Senate unanimously passed two bills that would improve rural recycling and composting accessibility as well as boost data collection, sending the legislation to the House for a vote.
Polypropylene rigid containers have been upgraded to “widely recycled” under the How2Recycle labeling protocol. | Colleen Michaels/Shutterstock
Two years after downgrading rigid polypropylene containers to “check locally,” a label system has returned the material to its previous status, determining at least 60% of the country has access to PP collection.
Proposed regulations in Canada would limit the use of the chasing-arrows symbol among other provisions. | Alexander Sviridov/Shutterstock
The Canadian government will develop rules for recyclability and compostability labeling and establish a federal plastics registry for producers of plastic products.
So far, 20 states have passed laws in the past few years to regulate chemical recycling as manufacturing. | JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
In a letter to the EPA, 35 members of Congress urged the federal department to continue to regulate chemical recycling as combustion, not manufacturing, under the Clean Air Act.
California legislators, environmentalists and industry groups are working on a plastics pollution and recycling bill that they hope will persuade ballot measure backers to withdraw their initiative before the deadline at the end of this month. | rarrarorro/Shutterstock
The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) on April 14 released 2021 data on virgin and recycled plastic usage in beverage containers covered by the state’s deposit law. | Pazargic Liviu/Shutterstock
This story has been corrected.
Numbers for 2021 show some big beverage brands were ahead of the game when it comes to complying with California’s recycled-content law, including BlueTriton Brands, Coca-Cola Co. and PepsiCo. Others remained far short of the targets set by the state.