Small plastic items such as travel shampoo bottles often cannot be captured at materials recovery facilities. | Kris Black/Shutterstock
Five brands have partnered with a nonprofit and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to find a way to keep small plastic items in the recycling stream.
Continue Reading
The study looked at mechanical recycling and solvent-based dissolution of PE, PET and PP, as well as enzymatic hydrolysis, glycolysis and vapor methanolysis of PET. | tezzstock/Shutterstock
A study conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory evaluated various PET recycling methods from technical, economic and environmental standpoints to provide a big-picture overview of today’s options. Continue Reading
About 2% of total energy consumption in the U.S. is used to make plastics, resins and synthetic rubber, and the production of fossil-fuel-based plastics generates about 3.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a recent federal report. | JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
The federal government is eyeing plastics recycling to tackle energy, environmental and manufacturing goals and the Department of Energy recently released an updated Strategy for Plastics Innovation report. Continue Reading
Environmental group Oceana estimates Amazon produced 709 million pounds of plastic packaging in 2021. | oasisamuel/Shutterstock
Amazon recently disclosed data on its plastic packaging footprint and sustainability efforts. But where the online giant sees progress, an environmental group sees cherry-picked numbers.
The REMADE Institute-funded research found that, over the course of their full life cycles, several common polymers account for about 1.5% of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. | rochariberio/Shuttestock
By the time plastic products reach their end of life, the bulk of their climate damage has already been done, according to a study that reaffirms greenhouse gasses tied to plastics are mostly generated in prime resin production, shipping and molding.
Global consulting firm McKinsey & Company views secondary sortation facilities and high prices for PCR as potential avenues for preventing non-bottle plastics from going to landfill. | TY Lim/Shutterstock
Plastics producers rolling out chemical recycling technologies can access new feedstock streams by helping to finance secondary sortation facilities, according to a McKinsey study.
A tandem chemical and biological process that draws from decades-old studies on chemical oxidation can be used to break down a variety of plastic types. | PowerUp/Shutterstock
Researchers have developed a way to turn mixed polymer plastics into a single chemical product, which could potentially eliminate the need to sort plastic by type prior to recycling.
Researchers found success with partial depolymerization of virgin PET and PET bottles recovered from the sea. | Rich Carey/Shutterstock
A chemical recycling research project concluded that a partial depolymerization technique can break down scrap PET in a relatively short time and under mild conditions with little energy use.
A new effort from industry group The Recycling Partnership aims to assess and change behavior. | Air Images/Shutterstock
Recycling doesn’t work unless people can put material into the stream, so The Recycling Partnership is expanding its efforts to both understand and change consumer behavior at the bin.
Continue Reading
