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Why are "Chasing Arrows" Still Used in RIC?

Even though the RIC symbols were changed from “chasing arrows” to solid triangles in 2013, I still see a lot of cosmetic products exported from U...

The Council of the European Union published on January 18, 2019, an amended version of the draft Directive on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment (also referred to as the “Single-Use Plastics Directive”). The amended draft directive makes significant changes to the European Commission’s (EC’s) original proposed draft of May 28, 2018.

The American Institute for Packaging and the Environment (AMERIPEN) has issued a guidance document aimed at improving the clarity and alignment of definitions for packaging materials and management processes. AMERIPEN is a coalition of companies covering the entire supply chain spectrum, from producers to end-of-life materials managers.

Germany’s new Packaging Law (VerpackG) became effective on January 1, 2019 and replaced the German Packaging Ordinance (VerpackV) . VerpackG establishes a new national authority (Zentrale Stelle), significantly increases targets for material recycling, and adds new registration and data reporting requirements.

Both the amount, by weight, of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles available for recycling and the amount of PET bottles recycled declined in 2017. However, since fewer PET bottles were available for recycling overall, the recycling rate actually increased between 2016 and 2017. These are among the finding in a report issued by the National Association for PET Container Resources (NAPCOR) and the Association of Plastic Recyclers (ARP).

The European Parliament (EP) adopted its position (i.e., amendments) on the proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment (Draft Single-Use Plastics Directive) on October 24, 2018. (A copy of the EP’s position can be found here.)

Treasury Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that the United Kingdom will introduce a new tax on the manufacture and import of plastic packaging that contains less than 30% recycled plastic during his recent Autumn Budget speech.

San Francisco has banned of the sale of food service ware: that contains fluorinated chemicals, is made from polystyrene foam, and that is not either compostable or recyclable. The polystyrene foam ban takes effect on January 1, 2019, while the other bans become effective on January 1, 2020.

Germany’s new packaging law, which becomes effective on January 1, 2019, is intended to both improve recycling and prevent packaging waste. Improved recycling rates of packaging will be accomplished through significant increases in recycling targets. For example, the recycling rate for plastic packaging will increase from the current 36% to 63% by 2022. The recycling quotas for metal, glass, and paper packaging materials will be increased to 90% by 2022.