Axion Consulting, Dow Chemical, Nestlé, Unilever and other global companies say they have made "significant" progress in a project that aims to improve the recyclability of flexible packaging.

The boom in natural gas production in the U.S. is "rippling downstream" to the plastics industry, and chemical companies will need to invest more in export logistics facilities as they ramp up U.S. plastics production, says Owen Kean, senior director of the American Chemistry Council. "For the most part, what's happening in the chemical industry is largely an export story."