Plastics Recycling

Metro, in partnership with Agilyx, will now collect expanded polystyrene foam, also known as Sytrofoam, products at the facility in Oregon City. Instead of going into the landfill, these items will be recycled into new products.

Agilyx is an advanced recycling company that specializes in converting plastics. Before this pilot program, their facility in Tigard was one of the few places in greater Portland that could reuse polystyrene waste.  

Metro, in partnership with Agilyx, will now collect expanded polystyrene foam, also known as Sytrofoam, products at the facility in Oregon City. Instead of going into the landfill, these items will be recycled into new products.

Agilyx is an advanced recycling company that specializes in converting plastics. Before this pilot program, their facility in Tigard was one of the few places in greater Portland that could reuse polystyrene waste.  

The Washington-based American Chemistry Council (ACC) and Sonoma, California-based More Recycling (MORE) have announced a new website designed “to accelerate end market development” for plastic scrap.

“The Recycling Market Development Platform will help connect stakeholders, accelerate the continued growth of plastics recycling and provide guidance on how to better support plastics’ circularity,” says the ACC and MORE in a news release. “This free, open-source digital platform was developed by MORE with ACC as a founding partner.”

In a win-win for sea animals and humans, a scuba diving group is turning plastic water bottles that once polluted oceans into face masks for people to protect themselves against the coronavirus.

The face masks are made by the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), in partnership with Rash'R, a company that sells eco-friendly active wear. Each reusable mask costs $20.40 and comes with five replacement filters. The price reflects the cost it takes to make each mask, PADI says on its website.

Portland, Oregon-based Agilyx Corp., a company focused on chemically recycling postuse plastics back into polymers, chemicals and low carbon fuels, has announced that it has licensed its technology to Japan-based Toyo Styrene Co. Ltd., an affiliate of Denka Company Ltd. 

According to a news release from Agilyx, the site technology license agreement enables Toyo Styrene to deploy the Agilyx technology near Toyo Styrene’s facility in the Chiba Prefecture of Japan. The facility will focus on recycling postuse polystyrene (PS) back to styrene monomer.

Europe’s ambition to be less wasteful just ran into a coronavirus crisis reality check.

One month after the European Commission launched an ambitious package to move from a throwaway culture to a more circular economy, the pandemic is creating mountains of plastic litter and tons of rotting food.

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended the global economy and disrupted the waste, plastic, and recycling industries. While waste management, plastics production, and recycling sectors at first glance appear only tangentially linked to essential services, they are intimately connected to a thriving economy and critical public health roles. The uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 pandemic have caused significant limitations on recycling and municipal waste services in the U.S. and beyond.

A mutant bacterial enzyme that breaks down plastic bottles for recycling in hours has been created by scientists. The enzyme, originally discovered in a compost heap of leaves, reduced the bottles to chemical building blocks that were then used to make high-quality new bottles. Existing recycling technologies usually produce plastic only good enough for clothing and carpets.

Read more at Waste Advantage

NERC & the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) have formally announced their new partnership to grow a groundbreaking campaign that expands market demand for recycled resins and improves plastic recycling in North America. The Government Recycling Demand Champions, a companion to APR’s well-established Recycling Demand Champions Campaign, will be tailored to state, regional and local governments around the United States.  It will be hosted by NERC, working in close collaboration with APR.

Plastic Roads Is Fundraising!  

Plastic Roads recently announced an important fundraising campaign and needs your donations!   Katharine Valentino,  RA member and Co-Founder of Plastic UpCycling Oregon, answers questions: