With adequate screening and optical sorting capacity, flexible plastic packaging can be efficiently captured in a single-stream materials recovery facility, potentially creating a new stream of recovered materials while improving the quality of other recycling streams.

Shale-advantaged resins are affecting job growth in the plastics industry in a big way, according to Martha Moore, senior director, Policy Analysis and Economics, for the American Chemistry Council.

By 2020, the average car will incorporate nearly 350 kg of plastics, up from 200 kg in 2014, according to analyst IHS Chemical. Meanwhile, the market for carbon fiber in car manufacturing will increase to 9,800 tonnes in 2030, up from 3,400 tonnes in 2013.