Welcome to the Plastics Weekly, NEO’s regular news monitoring of the plastics industry.
This week’s highlights:
- The European Union has provisionally agreed on a new law to cut packaging waste and ban single-use plastics, after packaging waste in the EU jumped by more than 20% in the last decade. The law sets packaging reduction targets of 5% by 2030 and 15% by 2040 and aims for all packaging to be recyclable by 2030. By then, a ban will apply to single-use plastic items such as disposable plates, cups and boxes used by fast food restaurants, along with a ban on “forever chemicals” in food contact packaging. (Reuters)
- Three South Korea-based companies have developed and commercialized the country’s first tire using chemically recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in a bid to reduce carbon emissions. SK Chemicals, Hyosung Advanced Materials Co. Ltd. and Hankook Tire & Technology Co. Ltd. say they have successfully developed the electric vehicle- (EV-) exclusive tire, dubbed iON, by applying circular recycled PET (rPET) fiber tire cords. The companies say this tire development is significant in the industry because it marks a collaborative, sustainability-focused effort between the chemical supplier providing raw materials, the material company processing the materials into fibers and the manufacturer producing the finished product. (Recycling Today)
- A Japanese plastic recycling company is preparing to go public in the US through a SPAC merger this month, amid other IPO hopefuls delaying or scrapping such plans. Kawasaki-based Jeplan Inc. plans to merge with special purpose acquisition company AP Acquisition Corp. to debut on the New York Stock Exchange. Jeplan develops chemical recycling through technology that breaks down used plastic to near-virgin resin with only one part per million residual metal, according to the company. (Bloomberg)
