EPA is soliciting comments on the “Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution,” which builds upon EPA’s National Recycling Strategy and focuses on actions to reduce, reuse, collect, and capture plastic waste.
As a company built on eco-minded values, Trex Co., Winchester, Virginia, a leading manufacturer of high-performance, wood-alternative decking and railing, is enlisting communities and organizations to partner in its recycling efforts.
The recently launched NexTrex Grassroots Movement provides a turnkey framework for municipalities, universities, nonprofits and other qualifying businesses to serve as centralized drop-off locations for recycling polyethylene plastic film while earning funds for their organizations.
The U.S. recycling of plastic bottles, nonbottle rigids and film declined by 27 million pounds in 2019, or 0.5 percent, according to a new report released today by the Association of Plastic Recyclers, Washington. The report was sponsored by the APR, the Foundation for Plastic Recycling and the American Chemistry Council (ACC). According to the ACC, the decline points to systemic issues in U.S. recycling.
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To help retailers clarify the recyclability of their packaging, Trex Co., Winchester, Virginia, has introduced a free package labeling initiative as part of its NexTrex Retail Recycling Program.
A new Virginia executive order aims to decrease plastic pollution and reduce the amount of solid waste going to landfills. Governor Ralph Northam signed Executive Order Seventy-Seven Tuesday. According to a release from the governor’s office, the new order puts Virginia on a path to eliminate most single-use plastics at state agencies, colleges and universities, imposing a near-term ban on several common, but unnecessary disposable plastics and requiring the phase-out of other items by 2025. Gov.
Malaysia will return a container of plastic trash en route from the United States as it violates new U.N. rules governing hazardous waste, the environment ministry said, one of the first signs of the regulations being enforced. Two years ago, more than 180 countries agreed to ban hard-to-recycle plastic waste trade in an attempt to stop rich countries dumping trash in the developing world, where it often ends up polluting the local environment and the ocean.
Two members of Congress will revive the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, which includes a national container deposit system and other sweeping changes. Representatives from the plastics industry have countered the push.
According to a March 22 press release from Rep. Alan Lowenthal, D-Calif., the 2021 bill will be introduced on Thursday, March 25. Multiple virtual events are planned this week to discuss the bill.
Efforts to combat coronavirus spread have produced a plastics surge.
That ramped-up plastic production provides fresh impetus to proposals aimed at curbing how much of that material gets dumped into the environment.
Manufacturers have been working overtime to supply disposable personal protective equipment, takeout food containers and packaging required for all those home deliveries.
Officials in some areas last year also delayed or rolled back restrictions on single-use plastic bags.
Data shows that American exporters continue to ship plastic waste overseas, often to poorer countries, even though most of the world has agreed to not accept it.
When more than 180 nations agreed last year to place strict limits on exports of plastic waste from richer countries to poorer ones, the move was seen as a major victory in the fight against plastic pollution.
The Washington Senate approved legislation March 2 that would require increased recycled content in plastic beverage containers, trash bags and bottles for household products; ban expanded polystyrene food ware, recreational coolers and packing peanuts; and require that utensils, straws, cup lids and condiments only be provided to customers on request.
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