Washington — The U.S. Department of Energy announced Oct. 16 that it is providing $27 million in grants to 12 projects to support plastics recycling.

More than 30 companies, among whom several plastics companies, as well as environmental groups and governments have issued a call for a new global treaty to tackle plastic pollution.

Packaging manufacturer Alpla Werke Alwin Lehner GmbH & Co KG is investing €15 million ($17.7 million) in a high-density polyethylene recycling plant in Mexico, adding to a portfolio of HDPE recycling operations it bought in 2019.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Sept. 11 it's adopted plastic waste management rules that it called "partial progress" on dealing with exporting of scrap within its 37 member nations.

For the first time in more than 30 years, food wrappers, many made of plastics, have replaced cigarette butts as the most littered item on the world's beaches and waterways, according to an environmental group that coordinates a prominent cleanup.

The industry-funded Alliance to End Plastic Waste and its members have invested at least $400 million of their $1.5 billion commitment in environmental projects since forming early last year, according to a Sept. 2 progress report from the group.

A backyard compostable plastic straw from Danimer Scientific and Wincup has won the 2020 Innovation in Bioplastics Award from the Plastics Industry Association.

Flexible packaging maker Sealed Air Corp. said Aug. 11 it's made an unspecified equity investment in recycling company Plastic Energy Ltd.

A new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts offers a stark assessment of what will happen to plastic in the ocean without major new action: It will nearly triple by 2040, and all the commitments made so far from government and industry will barely dent that.

The largest consumer product makers and retailers in the U.S. are doing a poor job of making their plastic packaging more responsible and financially supporting efforts to boost recycling, according to a new report from socially responsible investment advisory group As You Sow.

There are still too many questions about chemical recycling of plastics, including its carbon footprint and emissions, for it to be considered a viable solution to plastics waste problems, according to a new report.

In the wake of China's ban on recyclable plastics, a new industry coalition wants to try to make polypropylene into the next PET and HDPE in the curbside recycling system. It's ambitious project — PP has some of the lowest recycling rates now in plastics packaging and there are economic headwinds — but industry officials say they see opportunities.

Cleaning up ocean plastic and environmental pollution will take a lot more than the $1-$1.5 billion pledged from the industry-funded Alliance to End Plastic Waste, probably something in the range of $150 billion.

Chinaplas 2020 may be delayed until sometime in the third quarter of this year as organisers monitor the impact of the coronavirus epidemic while also balancing the logistics of running the biggest plastics show scheduled for this year.