As of 2021 there were more than 40 companies working to develop or manage chemical recycling projects in the United States. | paul prescott/Shutterstock
Mechanical recycling should take priority over chemical recycling, but there will need to be several technical solutions to the world’s plastic problem, argued panelists on a recent Product Stewardship Institute webinar.
Waste Management (WM) has committed to investing more than $800 million to enhance recycling infrastructure, including $56 million to upgrade three Pacific Northwest MRFs. | Pavel Kubarkov/Shutterstock
Dow and Waste Management are partnering on a pilot program that will give some Chicago residents the option of recycling plastic films curbside.
The latest Greenpeace report challenges the viability of U.S. plastics recycling. | MuhammadAzman/Shutterstock
This story has been updated.
An updated report from Greenpeace USA maintains that no plastics in the U.S. actually meet the definition of recyclable and calls for companies to switch to other materials.
Nationwide PET reclaimer Evergreen has installed advanced sorting equipment at its Riverside, Calif. facility over the past year. | Courtesy of Google Maps
Two reclaimers have recently made or are planning multi-million-dollar upgrades at their California PET recycling facilities. The following are details on the projects by Evergreen and Peninsula Plastics Recycling.
California’s plastic quality incentive payment (QIP) program offers $180 per ton for clean PET bales. | MarieKaz/Shutterstock
California last year started a unique program of providing cash payments to MRFs that produce ultra-clean PET bottle bales. Recently released data suggest the payments aren’t juicy enough morsels.
LyondellBasell will chemically recycle scrap plastic feedstock produced by the Cyclyx sorting facility in Houston. Pictured are LyondellBasell’s crackers at its Channelview, Texas complex, which is near Houston. | Courtesy of LyondellBasell
Global plastics producers will invest about $100 million in a plastic scrap sorting facility to generate feedstock for both mechanical and chemical recycling processes.
Balcones Resources’ upcoming San Antonio facility will sort residential and commercial recycling streams using equipment supplied by CP Group. | Dmitrijs Kaminskis/Shutterstock
After winning the recycling contract for San Antonio, Balcones Resources decided to partner with CP Group to equip its upcoming facility.
PureCycle met community resistance to the company’s desired site near Winter Garden, Fla. | Noah Densmore/Shutterstock
Americans are united in their desire for better plastic recycling, but the question of where to locate facilities is running into familiar not-in-my-backyard resistance, complicated further by concerns about racial and social justice.
ExxonMobil recently disclosed some details about the company’s chemical recycling plans. | JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
A sustainability executive at ExxonMobil recently laid out details on the energy giant’s multifaceted strategy around chemical recycling, and it’s clear hopes are high.