Brussels will rule on the $80bn tie-up between Linde, the German chemicals group, and its US rival Praxair on Monday, an important milestone in a deal that would create the world’s largest industrial gas supplier.
Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s competition commissioner, is expected to clear the merger after the companies provisionally agreed to sell €5bn of Praxair’s European assets to Japanese rival Taiyo Nippon Sanso, to address concerns that the deal would raise prices and reduce choice for consumers.
> Read the full article on the Financial Times website
By Rochelle Toplensky
Source: Financial Times
The US State of New York is introducing two new bills to combat over-packaging, poor recycling rates and litter issues, including an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program requiring companies such as McDonald’s and Amazon to pay for the cost of packaging disposal and recycling.
The new organization’s mission is to redesign the critical steps of the plastics sorting and recycling system for post-consumer lightweight packaging (LWP) to speed up circularity, born from a need to meet the rising market demand for high-quality recyclates for use in high-end plastic applications.
Starbucks and Hubbub have launched a £1 million (US$1.22 million) “Bring It Back Fund” to increase the uptake of reusable packaging in the F&B industry. The funding will go toward innovative ideas that make it easier for customers to use alternatives to single-use packaging by supporting pilot projects that help shift consumption habits.