Plastics

A regional initiative in California establishes closed-loop stretch film recycling, enabling collection, processing and remanufacturing of stretch film within a North American supply chain.

Indorama Ventures Public Company Limited, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Genesis Power & Energy Solutions Ltd have entered into a partnership to develop an rPET production facility in Nigeria. The planned plant will be located in Lagos and is designed to produce up to 45,000 tonnes of food-grade recycled PET (rPET) resin annually. Start-up of the facility is targeted for the first half of 2027.

Polymer Comply Europe has joined the industry initiative Circular Plastics Made in Europe, which promotes a stronger and more resilient European value chain for circular plastics within Europe (EU27+EFTA+UK). The initiative focuses on increasing the recycling of plastics collected in Europe and reintegrating recycled materials into European manufacturing processes.

Sulayr Recycling, based in Granada, Spain, has expanded its PET tray-to-tray recycling operations by integrating sorting technology from Tomra Recycling.

RecyClass has revised its packaging recyclability guidelines following more than 20 testing campaigns conducted in 2025. The updated Design for Recycling Guidelines incorporate scientific findings for major plastic packaging streams. At the same time, the organisation revised its recyclability evaluation protocols to improve clarity and repeatability.

The European composites market 2025 continues to face challenging conditions. Macroeconomic weakness in several regions and declining industrial production in key application sectors continued to affect the market. However, the downturn in production proved less severe than previously expected.

RIGK GmbH and GCR Plastic Solutions have initiated a European pilot project on industrial packaging recycling. The initiative aims to demonstrate that complex post-consumer packaging streams can be processed and reintegrated into industrial production cycles while maintaining defined quality, traceability and safety standards.

Herbold Meckesheim has been commissioned by the Turkish recycling company Doğa PET to supply a second PET bottle washing line for its recycling facility in Kırklareli, Türkiye.

RecyClass has published a new protocol and the first sector-specific Design for Recycling Guidelines for plastic components used in the automotive and electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) sectors.

At the trade fair combination for the bulk solids, process and recycling industries, the Fraunhofer IZFP will present a demonstrator that identifies and sorts black plastics by polymer type using active thermography and machine learning.

With war in the Middle East, crude oil and natural gas prices are surging as ships are held back at the Strait of Hormuz with obvious negative implications for global economies. But another big constraint is exports of chemicals and plastics from the region which will put upward pressure on prices.