News from Glass Half Full, Maine Department of Environmental Protection and more

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery announced a request for proposals for the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (SB 54) Consumer Education and Access Study. 

The Container Recycling Institute sent letters to the California legislature reporting errors in the governor’s 2025-2026 budget compared to CalRecycle’s year-end financial reports. 

MRF designer and manufacturer CP Group named Richard Coupland as its new senior vice president of strategy and growth.

Glass Half Full opened a glass recycling facility in Chalmette, Louisiana, with a capacity of more than 300,000 pounds of glass per day, a 30-fold increase over its previous facility. 

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has opened public comment for the draft initial packaging material types list covered by the state’s extended producer responsibility law, with a public meeting set for April 16 and comments accepted through April 30. 

Several advocacy groups and New York legislators called for passage of the state’s Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act, an extended producer responsibility bill. 

NextCycle Washington opened registration for its 2025 Pitch Showcase, where projects focused on material reuse, repair, recycling, composting and recycled content products can compete for cash prizes.

The Recycled Materials Association‘s Paper Stock Industries Chapter added seven new members: Bloomberg LP, Kadant Paal LLC, LP American Paper Ltd., National Fiber Supply, Nexus Circular LLC, Synergy Waste Management and UsedCardboardBoxes. 

Materials management consultant RRS published findings that used beverage cans move from recycling bin to newly formed cans in less than 60 days on average in the United States.

The U.S. EPA and Department of Energy on April 7 are hosting the first virtual meeting to kick off the development of a battery extended producer responsibility framework.