Over 5,500 tons of expanded polystyrene (EPS) was recycled in the U.K. in 2009, according to the EPS Group of the British Plastics Federation. That volume accounts for 33 percent of the total EPS manufactured in the United Kingdom last year, and easily beats the government’s recycling target of 25.5 percent by 2010. The numbers are more impressive, considering many local authorities in the U.K. do not recycle EPS. The material is instead collected and processed through separate household and business recycling schemes.

Cited by Plastic Recycling Update

The potential single-use plastic bag ban in California (established under Assembly Bill 1998) may be getting the lion’s share of press coverage, but other states and communities are debating how to handle plastic bags as well.
In the Pacific Northwest, a bi-partisan bill is being crafted by two state senators, who are seeking to ban plastic bags and charge a nickel for every paper bag distributed in the Beaver State. Legislation, which could be introduced in the 2011 session, has the support of a mix of urban and rural legislators, led by Democratic Senator Mark Hass, from the Portland suburb of Beaverton, and Senator Jason Atkinson, a Republican from the rural Southern Oregon community of Central Point.
The two senators introduced Senate Bill 1009 during the legislature’s 2010 short session, which would have prohibited all retail establishments from distributing to customers plastic bags (as checkout bags) less than 2.25 mils thick, and levied a five-cent per-bag fee on all kraft paper bags distributed.
Not content to wait for state action, Portland Mayor Sam Adams will release a draft ordinance Friday that looks to ban plastic bags in Oregon’s largest city. Many grocery and retail outlets in the Portland metro area currently offer voluntary bag recycling programs, but pro-ban advocates have chided recycling as “ineffective” and “expensive.” Mayor Adams had previously explored regulating plastic bags in the city, but never formally introduced an ordinance, citing concerns over the impact on Portland’s economy.
Haas hopes that his bill is able to stave off a patchwork of local laws banning the sacks, and grocers agree on that point. “There’s unrest with how slowly the wheels of the Legislature are turning,” Joe Gilliam, president of the Northwest Grocery Association, told The Oregonian.
Elsewhere around the country, North Carolina has continued its gradual phase-out of plastic bags, moving to ban them in Currituck, Dare and Hyde counties. The move is an expansion of a law passed last year (Senate Bill 1018), which banned the distribution of plastic bags at stores with more than five stores in the state, or stores greater than 5,000 square feet in size. In their place, retailers must now offer reusable sacks or paper bags with at least 40-percent recycled content.

Cited by Plastics Recycling Update

Are you seeing signs at your company that the economy is turning around?

1.  Yes, jobs and benefits are being reinstated

2.  Things improving slowly

3.  Things remain uncertain

4.  Things are getting worse

This poll was posted in Plastics Exchange Magazine June 28, 2010

We hope you are doing well with your business and continue to grow and prosper for 2010! 

Domestic resin production is up 7.4 percent, to 24.8 billion pounds, for the first four months of 2010, compared with the same period last year. Production for April 2010 (the most recent data available) was largely flat compared to the same month in 2009, but did manage a slight increase of 0.1 percent, to 6.2 billion pounds. Sales and captive use of plastic resins for the first four months of the year largely kept pace at 24.3 billion pounds — a 5.8 percent increase over the same period in 2009.
The American Chemistry Council, which tracks the data, releases resin production reports monthly through its website.

Cited by Plastics Recycling Update

The Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers (APR) today issued a press release in support of keeping the caps on plastic bottles and containers prior to recycling, settling uncertainty among some recycling program coordinators and materials recovery facility (MRF) operators.
“We want to assure recycling coordinators, MRF operators and other collectors of recyclables that plastics recyclers will process these bottles and recover the caps for recycling purposes,” said APR Chairman Scott Saunders.
APR Executive Director Steve Alexander further clarifies by saying that APR “encourages this practice because we are committed to increasing the available supply and the actual amount of plastics being recycled while at the same time reducing the instances of litter and waste in local communities in North America.”
According to the release, APR member companies report a growing demand for resins such as the polypropylene (PP) commonly found in caps and lids.
The association further offered suggestions for manufacturers of packaging and brand owners to use APR Design for Recyclability Guidelines, noting that, “In this case, the recommendation is that PET and polypropylene bottles, such as beverage containers, use polypropylene caps,” said APR technical director Dave Cornell. “HDPE bottles, such as detergent containers, should use HDPE caps.”

Cited by Plastics Recycling Update

The board of directors for the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA) has endorsed the framework of a new recycling venture aimed squarely at improving local diversion. The blueprint “Material Recovery Program” works by setting temporary recycling goals and then funding diversion through grants from bottled water companies and local governments.
Specifically, the program supports multi-stakeholder, public/private corporations that establish community specific recycling goals, generate grant revenue from producer responsibility fees and public/private contributions, and then dissolve when the aforementioned recycling goals have been reached.
Money from the grants can be used to fund recycling infrastructure, equipment improvements, or community education campaigns. The IBWA says the new program is flexible enough to be tailored to the needs and funding resources available to a variety of communities.

Cited from Plastics Recycling Update

Over $100 million worth of plastic bags and film are landfilled each year in Illinois, according to a new report from the Solid Waste Agency of Lake County Illinois (SWALCO). The report was commissioned by the state legislature in 2007, in lieu of a bill that would have required retailers to provide for the recycling of bags, film and product wrap. It’s based on research gathered from a resulting pilot recycling program of 76 retail locations in Lake County.
In releasing the report, the task force administering the pilot program says that while public education and increased end markets are key components in bag and film recovery, these and other challenges can be successfully overcome, and recommends that the General Assembly again consider legislation to increase the recovery and recycling of bags and film.

Cited from Plastics Recycling Update

1.  Drive less

2.  Stop buying BP gas

3.  Change nothing

4.  Reduce the use of Plastics

Original poll questions cited through Plastics News (June 2010)

Question was “What would life be without plastics?”

73%   Unbearable

22%   Mildly Annoying

5%     Better

Cited from: Plastics News

PS (keep in mind we use recycled products, so the earth is a better place!)

The volume of plastic scrap exported in March, at 382.97 million pounds, increased by 3.3 percent when compared to its February figure. However, when weighed against March 2009’s position, the volume of exports fell by 8.2 percent.
The weighted average price of recovered plastic exports for March, at 21.10 cents per pound, increased 3.5 percent from its February standing. And, when compared to March 2009, the price rose 22.6 percent.
Through March, at 1.10 billion pounds, the volume of recovered plastics exported improved 12.2 percent over its 2009 year-to-date (YTD) figure. And, at 20.67 cents per pound, the average price through March was also up 23.7 percent over its YTD standing.

Cited from Plastics Recycling News