David Biderman, far right, addresses the audience at the 2022 Plastics Recycling Conference. | Brian Adams Photo
Interest in minimum-recycled-content mandates and extended producer responsibility bills is at an all-time high, but the reality of passing legislation is more complicated, according to industry experts.
Census Bureau data shows U.S. companies exported nearly 18 million short tons of recovered fiber in 2021, up 13% from the year prior. | DifferR/Shutterstock
Scrap fiber exports to China collapsed in 2021, but the rest of the world more than made up the difference. Scrap plastics, however, continued their years-long decline in shipments.
The PET Recycling Coalition will launch in the next few months and will provide grants to MRFs and other facilities to increase the capture of PET beyond bottles. | Kwangmoozaa/Shutterstock
The Recycling Partnership will launch a PET recycling coalition, a representative of the nonprofit group announced at last week’s Plastics Recycling Conference.
As part of the settlement Keurig cannot label, market, advertise or otherwise represent the cups as recyclable without a clear and prominent revised qualifying statement that the materials are not recycled in many communities. | zimmytws/Shutterstock
Keurig Green Mountain reached a class-action settlement with a consumer who sued over coffee pod recyclability claims, agreeing to pay $10 million and add language indicating the cups are “not recycled in many communities.”
Volatile pricing in resin markets has presented challenges for Advanced Drainage Systems over the past year. | Chris Tennant/Shutterstock
Using recycled plastic is good business for Advanced Drainage Systems, but recent reports and interviews make clear that it’s not always painless.
During a recent SWANA webinar, leaders from Seattle and Phoenix offered insights from their work toward circular economy goals. | Diana Parkhouse/Shutterstock
Two municipal officials and a Plastics Pact representative shared tips for moving away from a “make, take, waste” framework during a recent webinar. Public-private partnerships and system redesigns were two of the ideas shared.
Avangard Innovative’s Waller, Texas facility will be home to the first U.S. deployment of Honeywell’s chemical recycling technology. | Courtesy of Avangard
Avangard Innovative has become one of the first examples of a large mechanical plastics recycling company embracing chemical recycling technologies.
Every 1,000 square feet of Everboard prevents about 1 ton of mixed paper-plastic from going to landfill. | Courtesy of Continuus
Within three years, Waste Management could be sending 150,000 tons of mixed paper and plastic each year to a factory that will recycle the otherwise-landfill-bound material into a high-quality roofing board.
A factory team working on the sorting process conveyor in Polindo’s aggregation center. | Courtesy of Circulate Capital
A partnership involving Circulate Capital, Bantam Materials and an Indonesian processor will help to recover PET from remote areas of the Asian nation and deliver it to grocery store shelves in Europe and America.
PS packaging made the list of problematic materials.| Minh Mi Goi/Shutterstock
The U.S. Plastics Pact says PS and PVC packaging and other materials should be phased out in coming years. A curbside recycling operator called the potential elimination of PVC and PS packaging “two really big steps in the right direction,” though several groups criticized the Pact’s work.
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