Plastics

Padnos to increase plastics recycling

The Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC) has announced that Holland, Michigan-based recycling company Padnos intends to expand its plastic recycling operations in Wyoming, Michigan.

A news release from the MEDC says Padnos’ $6.6 million investment is designed to increase its “capabilities into recycling ocean-bound plastics.”

The plans include adding new loading docks, a laboratory and a maintenance garage. Padnos also will invest in electrical and infrastructure upgrades.

“We are seeing an increase in demand for recycled material, and we are committed to working with our partners to get these materials back into new products and keeping them out of our landfills and oceans,” says Jonathan Padnos, president and CEO of the company.

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US Plastics Pact releases list of problematic plastics

The U.S. Plastics Pact, Asheville, North Carolina, has released its “Problematic and Unnecessary Materials List.” The list identifies items that are not reusable, recyclable or compostable at scale in the U.S. and are not projected to be kept in a closed loop in practice and at scale by 2025.

The organization says the list was developed by U.S. Plastics Pact members—more than 100 businesses, nonprofits and government organizations, or “activators,”—looking to develop guidance on circular alternatives to eliminate the items on the list by 2025.

The U.S. Plastics Pact’s consumer packaged goods (CPG) retailer and converter activators produce 33 percent of plastic packaging in the U.S. by weight. In 2020, 66 percent of business activators were making plans and taking steps to eliminate specific materials, formats and components or to move from nonrecyclable to recyclable package designs, the U.S. Plastics Pact says.

Eleven items comprise the U.S. Plastic Pact’s list, which applies only to plastics packaging:

• cutlery provided with prepared packaged food;
• added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances;
• nondetectable pigments, such as carbon black;
• opaque or pigmented polyethylene terephthalate bottles (any color other than transparent blue or green);
• oxo-degradable additives;
• PETG, or polyethylene terephthalate glycol;
• certain label constructions;
• polystyrene, including expanded polystyrene;
• polyvinyl chloride, including polyvinylidene chloride;
• stirrers; and
• straws.

“The elimination of these problematic and unnecessary materials will enable advancements in circular package design, increase opportunities for recovery and enhance the quality of recycled content available for manufacturers,” says Emily Tipaldo, U.S. Plastics Pact executive director. 

The American Chemistry Council and Plastics Industry Association have offered their critiques of the list. To read them, visit http://bit.ly/plastics_pact.