Blog
New Data on Advanced Recycling Emissions
| April 2, 2021 | BlogI’ve written about the promise of advanced recycling a lot on this blog. These technologies take a raw material – in this case, used plastics with their inherent hydrocarbon/energy value – and create valuable new materials that can be turned into new plastics, chemicals, lubricants, waxes, coatings and transportation fuels, and more. That helps keep…
New Study Measures the Potential for Additional Recovery of Recyclable Materials in the Northeast
| March 23, 2021 | BlogThe American Chemistry Council (ACC), in partnership with Titus MRF Services, launched a secondary sorting study to measure the potential for additional capture of recyclable materials otherwise destined for landfill. This study is projected to wrap up in early 2021 and will provide real-world data to help guide recycling infrastructure decisions. The Northeast Secondary Sortation…
The Roadmap to Reuse
| March 5, 2021 | Chemistry MattersOver the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, I’ve continued to say how extremely proud I am of our industry for the many ways in which it has stepped up to fight the pandemic, and today I can double down on that. Today America’s plastic makers announced a path to help jumpstart a once-in-a-generation journey, one that we believe will lead us to a better world – one that’s economically strong, that has a cleaner environment...
The Year of Advanced Plastics Recycling (And Watch the Video)
| February 26, 2021 | Chemistry MattersInterest in advanced plastics recycling (or chemical recycling) is soaring for many reasons, in no small part due to growing awareness of plastic waste in our environment. While many communities are able to collect and process traditionally recyclable plastics...
Policies to Modernize Plastics Recycling End 2020 on a High Note
| February 19, 2021 | Chemistry Matters2020 ended on a couple high notes for plastics recycling. One at the state level and another at the federal level. In the run-up to Thanksgiving, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed into law bipartisan legislation to help jumpstart advanced plastics recycling technologies in the state. Like many other states, Pennsylvania’s former laws and regulations had treated these advanced technologies—in which used plastics are...
Making a Difference for Polypropylene Recycling
| February 12, 2021 | Chemistry MattersPolypropylene (PP) is a widely-used food packaging material—think yogurt cups, coffee pods, butter and sour cream tubs, and some food service takeout containers—for which there is growing demand for recycled content. The challenge is to be able to collect and sort polypropylene packaging to create a high-quality stream of post-consumer material, and to do so at scale. To help meet this challenge, ACC’s Plastics Division, along with Plastics...
New Dollars and Sense for Recycling
| February 5, 2021 | Chemistry MattersRecycling has faced strong headwinds over the past few years. China announced its National Sword policy restricting imports of recyclables in 2017, and other Southeast Asian countries following suit shortly thereafter. Long-established recycling markets were disrupted and communities had to search for newer, less-established markets for the plastics (and other materials) they collected...
To All Our Essential Sanitation and Recycling Professionals: Thank You
| January 29, 2021 | Chemistry MattersIn the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, while many of us are working from home, many American workers who are part of “essential” industries continue to go to their place of work. Hospital and healthcare workers are the most obvious examples, but this list includes those who work in food production and grocery stores, delivery and postal services… and of course those making chemicals and plastics that go into...
How Do We Measure Sustainability? Just One Word: Standards.
| January 15, 2021 | Chemistry MattersWhen everything works right, coffee drinkers can rest assured that their coffee meets certain standards. What about recycling? Sometimes an item carries a label indicating that it’s made with a certain amount of recycled content. That label applies to recycled content from a mechanical recycling process, but currently does not apply to plastics recycled using advanced technologies that break down plastics into chemical building blocks...
Advanced Plastics Recycling Scores Big at Latest Recycling Conference
| January 8, 2021 | Chemistry MattersNot the football game. The plastics recycling “Super Bowl.” Held just a few weeks after the (somewhat more) popular sporting event, the Plastics Recycling Conference and Trade Show for years has been the ultimate opportunity to gather key stakeholders to analyze the state of plastics recycling. Sponsored by the Association of Plastics Recyclers (APR), this year’s event attracted more than 2,200 key players across the plastics recycling value chain...