NewsBits

NewsBits

A new report from Frost & Sullivan says that demand for plastics in South Africa is on the rise, with imports from Asia and Europe primed to corner that market. The nation's mining and agriculture industries are largely the cause of the recent growth in demand for plastics and chemicals.

Washington D.C. is the first city in the nation to partner with Pepsi's new DreamMachine recycling initiative, effectively quadrupling the number of public recycling collection points in the city's downtown.

A vote on Hawaii County's potential plastic bag ban has been delayed at the last minute [1] when three councilors asked for a series of public hearings on the issue.

Australia's Northern Territory has passed a historic bill establishing both a ban on single-use plastic bags and a container deposit redemption program. The bill sets a 10-cent deposit on all aluminum, glass and plastic beverage containers sold. The plastic bag ban prohibits retailers from distributing single-use non-biodegradable plastic bags.

Plastics News [2] is reporting that new research from the British Environment Agency shows that single-use polyethylene bags have a smaller carbon footprint than alternative paper or reusable bags.

Products without bisphenol-A may still pose a health risk, according to an article in Packaging Digest [3]. The article cites a report that shows leeching of chemicals from plastic containers may still occur when they are placed in a microwave or exposed to prolonged sunlight.

Remember those SunChips bags made out of plant material that were praised for being compostable, but were excoriated by consumers for loudness and pulled from the shelves? Frito-Lay says strong interest in the compostable bags remained, and set out to reengineer them in quieter form. Recently the company announced that it had succeeded, and the bags will be back on the shelves soon.

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