Plastic recycling news from the world of waste in September

It’s time for the next instalment of our news round-up blog series, bringing you the latest interesting developments from the plastic waste and recycling industry.

From Samsung investing in its recycling efforts to new legislation from the EU Commission, there’s a lot to catch up on in the world of waste! Find out more below…

Tech giant eyes more circularity, device collection

Samsung has recently announced its plans to “double down on efforts to improve the resource circularity of electronics.” The company has created a Circular Economy Lab to carry out research into material recycling technologies, and has also put a system in place to reuse the minerals from all batteries collected by 2023.

By operating an e-scrap collection system in 50 countries, the device manufacturer has also set a target to include 50% recycled resin in its plastic by 2030.

EU Commission adopts updated food-contact recycled plastic requirements

The EU Commission has recently adopted new legislation to update the rules on food-contact recycled material equipment – including both mechanical and chemical engineering.

This may prove to be problematic for chemical recyclers, due to the restrictions on the type of input waste used for recycling to food contact. The new legislation mandates the use of “suitable technologies” for recycling waste, which currently include mechanical polyethylene terephthalate (PET) recycling, and chemically uncontaminated closed-loop recycling.

Specsavers goes green in York

In a bid to reduce the city’s plastic usage, Specsavers has launched its own initiative in York – as well as in other areas of the UK – to recycle customers’ contact lenses and packaging.

Once collected, the items will be stored and sent to TerraCycle.

Earth is now our only shareholder – Patagonia

“Instead of going public, you could say we’re going purpose,” Yvon Chouinard, owner of sustainable apparel brand, Patagonia, explained earlier this month.

With 100% of the company’s voting stock being transferred to the Patagonia Purpose Trust, the revenue generated each year will be distributed to help fight the climate crisis – a first in history for any brand within the apparel industry.

Keep up to date with our favourite news stories next month, and don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn, for more recycling updates and news from Indigo Environmental.