In 2008, Nestle, the company behind Nescafe coffee and Pure Life water, set a U.S.-wide goal to make water bottles out of 60% recycled plastic within a decade.
That's a goal the company says was never met. Nestle told Reuters it was an ambitious target that didn't get the groundswell of industry and policy-maker support it needed.
According to DEC, the SABIC plant in Selkirk, which uses the styrene to make plastic, failed to follow procedures when it stored on its property since May a loaded rail tanker car that had a frozen valve.
Officials said that is what led to the release of approximately 15,825 pounds of styrene vapor, a release could be smelled by people miles away. The gas is considered to be toxic, but it also poses a fire and explosion danger if allowed to heat up while under pressure. Although stabilizers are added to tanker cars full of styrene, those additives can wear out over time.
Once the leak was detected, state officials and local firefighters began cooling the tanker car with a steady stream of water to keep it from rupturing. Officials also closed roads near the plant.
This is exactly what environmentalists are afraid of.
"The government has to encourage people to produce more waste,” Ymata said, adding that the government may allow the importation of waste from other countries just to provide continuous waste feedstock for these WTE facilities.
“[I]t's like a can of worm[s],” he said. “When you start allowing it, there will be...other problem[s] that will surface along the way."
In a move aimed at reducing huge amounts of plastic litter in the ocean and on land,�California Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed a first-in-the-nation law requiring plastic beverage containers to contain an increasing amount of recycled material.
Under it, companies that produce everything from sports drinks to soda to bottled water must use 15% recycled plastic in their bottles by 2022, 25% recycled plastic by 2025, and 50% recycled plastic by 2030.
Supporters of the new law say it will help increase demand for recycled plastic, curb litter in waterways and along roads,�and reduce consumption of oil and gas, which are used to manufacture new plastics.
PET Plastics are some of the more commonly discussed plastics when searching for solutions for drinking water. Unlike other types of plastics, polyethylene terephthalate is considered safe and is represented on water bottles with the number "1", indicating it is a safe option. These plastics are a type of thermoplastic polymer resin, useful in various applications including in synthetic fiber production, in containers containing food and in thermoforming applications. It does not contain polyethylene - despite its name.