Sustainable Packaging Industry News, EPI Updates and Upcoming Events

On June 24, Thailand's Department of Industrial Works issued a prohibition on imports of electronic and plastic waste. The Department will also be proposing "an indefinite ban on these imports in the near future," and officials will soon begin inspecting recycling facilities nationwide.

California-based advocacy group As You Sow has organized $1 trillion in assets into a new Plastic Solutions Investor Alliance, after shareholders began calling upon major consumer product companies to reduce plastic packaging, increase recyclability and aide in the recycling collection process. As You Sow believes that its community of investors will have a positive influence in raising public and governmental awareness about the problems associated with plastic pollution, especially as it relates to marine litter.

India, the host country on World Environment Day this year, announced on June 5 that it would eliminate all single-use plastics nationwide by 2022. The country also committed to joining the UN Environment's Clean Seas campaign, as well as making 100 national monuments litter-free.

Since the 1970s, the world has come together to focus efforts on local, national and global scales to start a conversation and take care of the earth. This year’s theme, “Beat Plastic Pollution”, calls for us to focus on reducing our reliance on plastics in everyday life.

In a recent letter from Vietnam’s Tan Cang-Cai Mep International Terminal (TCIT) that was obtained and shared by the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), it was announced that the terminal was stockpiling scrap materials and, as a result, will temporarily stop accepting all containers of scrap plastic and paper from June 25 through October 15, 2018.

On April 27, 2018, APCO was endorsed in a Meeting of the Environment Ministers (MEM) to lead Australia’s response to China’s National Sword policies, setting a target in line with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s three-year plastics initiative project. APCO CEO Brooke Donnelly is calling the lead historic target “one of the most ambitious and decisive environmental targets to be supported in Australia.”

According to a new study by QuadPackaging and Package InSight, 50.7 percent of consumers answered that a clear and simple rating system for sustainable packaging would affect their purchase decisions – but 92 percent of participants did not notice the sustainability rating logo.

The move is in response to growing concerns over plastic waste – especially due to single-use items like plastic straws. In the U.S. alone, it is estimated that more than 500 million plastic straws are used every day, or an average of 1.6 straws per person per day.

On May 2, 2018, the California Department of Resource Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) announced that it was postponing the release of its packaging reform paper – initially expected by the end of 2017 or early 2018 – due to upheavals caused by China’s National Sword policies.

The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) stated on May 18 that the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment has confirmed its announcement that the import of high-grade PET chips as “ordinary goods” is now allowed, as they are in accordance with general trade regulation.