The US plastics and aluminum industries have sharpened their sustainability focus during the coronavirus pandemic, two industry executives said. Yash Lohia, the chief sustainability officer at PET plastic producer Indorama Ventures, said China’s National Sword policy effectively had shut the country’s door for Western waste since 2018. As a result, stricter regulation increases the rates of domestic waste collection, sorting, and recycling.
Steve Fisher, CEO of Novelis Inc, said the company saw a steady increase in demand for recycled aluminum for beverage cans as consumers stocked up more beverages at home. Fisher also noted that demand for recycled aluminum from the auto sector had recovered from pre-pandemic levels. Novelis is a unit of Hindalco Industries, the global leader in the recycled aluminum industry.
Both companies have proved resilient during the pandemic, with Indorama’s share price climbing to an 18-month high. Both executives said that the two industries had a lot of work to develop the circular economies of both materials and ditch linear economies.
