An outreach campaign sees success in boosting plastic bottle recycling in North Carolina, and a major city decides not to pursue bag fees. Degradable plastics: A producer of biodegradable plastic packaging has moved into the coffee market. Tipa is making a package for coffee beans made from flexible film that it claims is fully biodegradable, according to beveragedaily.com. Measurable difference:...

Chinese importers enter their fourth month without renewed import quotas, and ISRI says meeting a 0.3 percent contamination limit is impossible. Paper crackdown: Chinese importers have not received renewed permits allowing additional imports for more than three months. According to paper market publication RISI, importers are not confident they'll receive new permits any time soon. Sources told the publication Chinese...

More than 500 industry professionals converged on Minneapolis last week for the 2017 Resource Recycling Conference. Staff photographer Jared Paben captured the action. The slideshow below offers a collection of photos from the week. Hover over a photo to bring up arrows that allow you to advance through the sequence, or view the album on Flickr.  

The National Recycling Coalition made a handful of important announcements during the Resource Recycling Conference in Minneapolis last week. The NRC announced it has hired Marjie Griek as its executive director, marking the first time in nearly a decade that position has been filled. Griek is a former executive director of the Colorado Association for Recycling, as well as the...

Recycling processors report that early September pricing for recovered plastic and aluminum packaging rose slightly over August levels. Bales of natural HDPE bottles were bid at about 30 cents per pound (truckload of bales picked up in the eastern U.S.). This is up approximately 4 percent. PET bottles opened the month at a value of 15 to 16 cents per...

Details and predictions about China's import restrictions drew our readers' attention last month. The list below shows our top stories published in August in terms of unique page views. 1 | China offers clues on what will (and won’t) be allowed in Chinese authorities have released more specifics about which materials are likely to be affected by a proposed import...

A Canadian company acquires additional sorting facilities and a hauling operation, and a survey looks at how facilities handle glass. Fire camp recycling: As wildfires rage across Oregon, a Bend, Ore. company is helping to divert materials generated at firefighter camps. Triple Flare Recycling, which has been contracted by the U.S. Forest Service to operate the recycling pilot program, is...

Linda Li E-Scrap 2017 kicks off in Orlando in less than two weeks, and we're highlighting a few of the experts who will take the stage to share their insights. This week, we talk with Linda Li, chief strategy officer at reverse supply chain management firm Re-Teck, to learn her thoughts on planning for and embracing industry changes, and what...

Recent upward price movements for some precious and base metals have made e-scrap recycling executives happy. The value of gold has been on a month-long price rise, with investors moving money from equities into commodities. At the same time, the value of copper and aluminum on the metal exchanges has risen to three-year highs as a result of lower-than-expected global...

Mac fans complain that Apple receives unfair scrutiny, and the global e-scrap market is positioned to rise during the next decade. Repair risk: Third-party replacement components pose threats to data security, according to a new report. The International Business Times writes about the study from Ben Gurion University, describing how replacement displays, card readers, wireless charging components and other parts...