Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Governments across Southeast Asia continue to restrict recovered material imports. In the latest developments, Taiwan added plastic and paper restrictions, Vietnam rolled out new guidelines and Malaysia considered importing from certain countries only.
Recovered paper end users commented on some of the key trends in the recycled paper industry during their recent quarterly earnings calls.
The head of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) recently voiced concerns that plastics recovery progress could get dampened by stakeholders’ transition to more holistic approaches to materials management.
Even as exporters move off of China as a destination for certain recyclables, the country remains a crucial market. And several recent Chinese developments carry industry-wide implications.
A company billing its technology as a landfill alternative is scaling up to create a solid recovered fuel from otherwise disposal-bound material.
Malaysia has laid out new criteria for scrap shipments as the country plans for a reduction in imports over time.
China has ramped up its purchases of U.S. OCC in recent months, according to the latest trade data. Meanwhile, Southeast Asian restrictions continue to stifle scrap plastic movement.
WestRock and other players in the paper supply chain recently completed a pilot project that collected and recycled 25 million fiber cups from Starbucks.
DJ VanDeusen of WestRock speaks on stage at the 2018 Resource Recycling Conference.
During the recycling markets plenary session at the Resource Recycling Conference last year, the Chinese ban on imports of key recyclables had been recently announced and was yet to be implemented.
China is proposing tariffs on U.S. pulp made from recycled paper, a material that has received recent attention as a potential export to China to replace recovered paper bales.