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Category: News

Packaging EPR bill re-introduced in Tennessee

Published: January 8, 2025
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Tennessee State Sen. Heidi Campbell is re-introducing a packaging EPR bill crafted to gain Republican and business support. | RebeccaDLev/Shutterstock

Editor’s note: Learn more about policy trends and many other topics at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference on March 24-26 in National Harbor, Maryland. 

A Tennessee lawmaker is reintroducing an extended producer responsibility bill for packaging – with some twists, in an attempt to get it through the Republican-controlled Legislature.    Continue Reading

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ExxonMobil sues California AG for defamation

Published: January 8, 2025
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Court gavel with blurred background.

As 2024 wound to close, major plastic resin producers were hit with two similar recycling-related class-action lawsuits – the latest in a growing trend of pursuing legal means of recouping costs for plastic pollution.  | Zolnierek/Shutterstock

ExxonMobil on Monday filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alleging that he and several environmental groups defamed the global oil and chemical company “for politics, publicity and private gain.” Continue Reading

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Panelists: Secondary sorting fills vital recycling role

Published: January 8, 2025
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Secondary sortation will continue to play a role in the recycling value chain, panelists said. | Dan Holtmeyer/Resource Recycling

With materials recovery facilities becoming ever more sophisticated and AI and robotics providing customizable levels of materials sortation, chemical recycling feedstock provides the most promising end market for secondary sorting, according to panelists at the recent Resource Recycling Conference.
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CA publishes material list, source reduction updates

Published: January 8, 2025
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A recent study in California found that in 2023, 2.9 million tons of plastic were used in single-use packaging and food-related items, made up of 171.4 billion plastic components. | Marina Onokhina/Shutterstock

The recyclability and compostability of materials covered under California’s extended producer responsibility law for packaging got an update recently, as did the baseline for single-use plastic reduction.  Continue Reading

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Collection, recovery facility worker deaths increased

Published: January 8, 2025
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Safety vests and hard hats hanging on a wall.

While overall workplace fatalities decreased in the U.S. in 2023, the waste and recycling industry was a troubling outlier. | Wave Break Media/Shutterstock

Nine workers died in U.S. materials recovery facilities in 2023 and the death rate for refuse and recyclable material collectors jumped more than 80%, according to the latest annual numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Continue Reading

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Bans of some EPS take effect in California, Oregon

Published: January 8, 2025
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Many polystyrene takeout containers in a waste bin.

With the addition of EPS bans in California and Oregon, the entire West Coast now has some level of restriction on the material. | Kittiwat Chaitoep/Shutterstock

As of the first of the year, restrictions on EPS foodware items in California and Oregon are officially in effect.  Continue Reading

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Amcor to acquire Berry Global in $8.4B all-stock deal

Published: November 19, 2024
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Amcor company logo on building exterior.

The combination of the two packaging giants aims to strengthen positioning in high-growth, high-value categories. | 360b/Shutterstock

Switzerland-headquartered packaging giant Amcor will acquire Indiana-based Berry Global in an $8.4 billion all-stock deal that’s expected to close in mid-2025, the companies announced Nov. 19, marking a continuing trend of consolidation in the packaging industry.

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PET bottle recycling reaches new high

Published: December 18, 2024
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Empty PET bottles for recycling.

The data also indicated that RPET flake and pellet may have been imported as plastic scrap rather than resin, potentially skewing the data. | Monticello/Shutterstock

Recycling for U.S. PET bottles in 2023 gained 4 percentage points on the year to reach 33%, the highest rate since 1996, according to a report from the National Association for PET Container Resources industry group.  Continue Reading

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