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Architect Seth Amman sculpted and painted slabs of EPS foam to create a stunning ceiling in a boutique chocolate shop in Buffalo, N.Y.

Italian chemicals and materials supplier RadiciGroup took home an SPE Automotive Award in Europe recently for its development of an air intake manifold made entirely out of its recycled nylon. Marelli Group designed and manufactured the component.

Le Pavé, a small French industrial startup, is playing an outsize role in creating uses for recycled plastics at the upcoming Paris Olympic Games. The Paris-based company has provided 11,000 recycled HDPE seats for use in two Olympic arenas as well as recycled plastic panels for use in the award podiums.

University of Southern Queensland researchers are recycling polyethylene mulch film into low-carbon hydrogen and graphene.

ExxonMobil is using Techmer PM’s TechSperse dispersion technology to help HDPE blow molders reduce the let-down ratio of the colorant, thereby saving money and enabling thinner-walled containers while maintaining consistent coloring.

UBQ Materials Ltd. takes common household garbage, screens and processes it, and turns it into cost-competitive thermoplastic materials that can be processed into valuable products.

NetImpact, Hillenbrand and Coca-Cola partnered to organize a Circular Plastics Challenge designed to boost the supply of recycled PET (rPET). At NPE they named the winner as a team from Boise State University in Idaho, whose Strong Bottle concept proposes a bottle design that will not crush so flat in recycling facilities, enabling more PET resin to be reclaimed.

Swiss packaging machinery manufacturer PackSys Global and California’s Origin Materials have jointly developed a PET bottle cap that they say can help enable easier recycling by offering a mono-material solution to PET bottle makers.

The University of Maine has unveiled a polymer 3D printer four times larger than the world’s biggest –– which is also on its campus. UMaine researchers foresee using it to print houses, boats, and infrastructure and to develop military vehicles.

Billie Eilish plans to use recycled and bio-based vinyl, as well as recycled packaging materials, to make her upcoming third album as sustainable and eco-friendly as possible.