Current Plastics Industry Intel

U.S. bottle recycling rate rises
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (Oct. 28, 1:20 p.m. ET) -- In absolute pounds, the number of high density polyethylene and PET bottles recycled continued to increase in 2008, and so did the HDPE and PET recycling rates. But the amount of pounds added to the recycling stream in 2008 for reclaimers was less than in 2007, and the primary reason that both recycling rates increased was because both sales of virgin HDPE and PET resins decreased in 2008...

European PET bottle collection rises 11%
(Oct. 28, 5 am EDT) -- PET bottle collection reached 1.26m tonnes across Europe in 2008, up 11% from 2007 levels, according to a new (more) ... Source: European Plastics News

Mexico's Anipac planning pro-plastic ad campaign
MEXICO CITY (Oct. 26, 10:05 p.m. ET) -- In its second major initiative within a week, Mexico’s (more) ... Source: Plastics News

UAE three-year campaign to end use of plastic bags
(Oct. 22, 7 am EDT) -- The UAE's Ministry of Environment and Water is working on a compulsory specification for biodegradable (more) ... Source: PRW

Higher PET recycling rate masks some problems
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (Oct. 23, 11:55 a.m. ET) -- The amount of PET bottles recycled increased for the sixth (more) ... Source: Plastics News

Another bump in the road for PS recycling
Recycling foodservice polystyrene products offers some unique challenges. The light weight of the PS foam is one of the biggest stumbling blocks, and so is contamination....