Waste watchdog Basel Action Network tracked containers of mixed paper that were shipped from the U.S. to Indonesia and were rejected. | Naruedom Yaempongsa/Shutterstock
Contaminated bales of recycled paper stonewalled at Indonesian ports were not returned to the U.S. as promised, according to environmental organizations.
The Ellen MacArthur Foundation released an update on organizations’ progress toward their global plastic packaging commitments. | Aykut Erdogdu/Shutterstock
Coca-Cola Co. uses considerably more recycled resin than many of its global packaging peers. But, like others, it still has a long way to go to hit its ambitious goals. Continue Reading
Green Impact Plastics will build a PET thermoform processing facility in California after reclaimer rPlanet Earth agreed to buy its output. | Courtesy of Green Impact Plastics
A Mexican company that developed a system to process post-consumer PET thermoforms will open a $7 million plant in the Los Angeles area. It’s now on the hunt for thermoform bales. Continue Reading
Recology CEO Michael Sangiacomo told an audience at the 2019 Resource Recycling Conference and Trade Show his company would help bankroll a California initiative taking aim at plastic waste. | Brian Adams Photography
The CEO of West Coast hauler Recology recently teamed up with environmentalists to submit an initiative that would put single-use plastics management in front of voters in the state. Continue Reading
Jenna Jambeck was the keynote at this year’s Resource Recycling Conference and Trade Show, held in late summer. | Resource Recycling Conference/Brian Adams Photography
The statistic has taken on almost household familiarity: 91% of plastic ever created has not been recycled, and a massive amount has become litter. Jenna Jambeck, a researcher who helped formulate that number, recently spoke about solutions to the pollution problem.
A report identified 142 businesses in the Northeast that are processing or using post-consumer materials.| pokku/Shutterstock
Two industry organizations have developed directories of manufacturers that consume recycled materials in one region of the U.S.
UBQ currently operates in Israel but is eyeing Virginia as a possible location for a large-scale facility. | Courtesy of UBQ Materials
A nascent company that makes a composite material from the non-recycled waste stream is looking to site a processing plant in the U.S.
The price of natural HDPE has skyrocketed over the past month, roughly doubling in some areas to a high of 52 cents per pound. Color HDPE also took a notable jump.
The city of Boise rolled out the EnergyBag program in 2018. | Aleksandr Grechanyuk/Shutterstock
The Hefty EnergyBag program is collecting but not currently processing hard-to-recycle plastics in Boise, Idaho. The program’s downstream processor suspended EnergyBag processing earlier this year to install new equipment.
Trade data shows the U.S. has exported 4.2 million short tons of recovered fiber to China from January through August this year. | apiguide/Shutterstock
China continues to import a substantial amount of OCC from the U.S. and elsewhere. But an all-out ban and other regulatory changes loom on the horizon.