Construction is underway on the rPlanet Earth facility in Vernon, Calif.
Construction is underway on a massive Los Angeles-area plastics recycling facility that will take in bales of PET bottles from curbside collection and other channels. The rPlanet Earth facility will produce recycled-content products used to make bottles and food packaging.
A handful of top global brand owners have made or restated pledges to use or attempt to use only reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.
The Association of Plastic Recyclers has launched a program aimed at increasing demand for post-consumer polyethylene and polypropylene by having companies commit to using recycled content in pallets and other internal items.
In a bid to reduce contamination in the recycling stream, California lawmakers have revised the state’s definition of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to exclude the glycol-modified version of the resin PETG. The change means products made from the altered plastic are barred from using resin code No. 1.
Major brands, nonprofit organizations and industry groups will raise $150 million to boost the collection and recycling of plastics that may otherwise become marine debris.
For Sonoco Recycling, which collects, sorts, and sells recycled materials, China’s imports restrictions have particularly stung in one area: mixed-paper bales.
When it made landfall on Aug. 25, Hurricane Harvey became the wettest tropical cyclone to ever hit the U.S., dumping more than five feet of water on Houston. The resulting floods have impacted the recycling industry in multiple ways, driving up prices for virgin plastics, hampering freight systems and halting curbside collections.
DJ VanDeusen of WestRock speaks at the Resource Recycling Conference.
Some of the key recovered commodities generated by materials recovery facilities have been fetching high prices lately, including aluminum and fibers. But China’s import restrictions have introduced an element of the unknown in the market.
California lawmakers have sent the governor a bill mandating that carpet stewards achieve a 24 percent recycling rate and discouraging the use of incineration. Meanwhile, carpet makers are sticking with their beleaguered stewardship group, instead of submitting alternative collection and recycling plans.
Anti-incineration activists have released a report criticizing efforts to burn waste in the U.S., calling them misguided attempts to achieve sustainability.