Extended producer responsibility expert Caroline Mitchell joined professional services firm HDR as the Colorado recycling and circularity lead. The City of Portland, Oregon, announced that 20 tons of batteries were collected in the first year of its curbside battery collection program. The University of North Florida launched a survey to gather solid waste management professionals' perspectives on the potential benefits...

Battery management insights at the Recycled Materials Association's 2025 conference drew reader attention last month, as did stories covering the liability fallout from an Iowa CRT stockpile, solar recycling developments, battery processor Li-Cycle's financial woes, and enforcement actions against e-scrap imports in Southeast Asia. The list below shows our top stories published in May in terms of unique page views. 1 | Battery danger...

Assurant released its mobile trade-in and upgrade trends report covering the first quarter of 2025, which saw the highest average age of traded-in devices at 3.79 years for iPhones and 3.93 years for Androids. Battery producer Clarios announced plans to invest up to $1 billion in a U.S. critical minerals processing and recovery plant, which will "utilize cutting-edge technologies to...

The following are facilities that have achieved, renewed or otherwise regained R2 certification recently: Advanced Micro of Olive Branch, Mississippi; Belmont Asset Management DBA Full Circle Electronics of Cuautitlán Izcalli, Mexico; BTR Colombia DBA Full Circle Electronics of Cuautitlán Izcalli, Columbia; and Repair Republic of Dallas, Texas. After completing successful audits, the organizations listed below achieved one or more of...

The uncertain fate of the Food and Drug Administration's food-contact packaging assessment program drew reader attention last month, as did stories covering a new film recycling plant in Texas, a chemical recycling project losing federal funding, one recycled plastic end user's take on EPR, and the latest bale pricing.

Packaging firm AeroFlexx announced it received patents for a mono-material flexible plastic packaging that is designed to act like a rigid bottle in the recycling stream. Chemical recycling firm Agilyx announced that its European-focused feedstock sourcing joint venture, Plastyx, has executed memorandums of understanding covering 150,000 metric tons of scrap plastic. Plastyx aims to source material from Europe and supply...

Facility closures by Smurfit Westrock drew substantial reader interest last month, alongside stories covering state extended producer responsibility policies and a glass collection pilot project in California.

Kingston, Ontario-based battery recycling firm Cyclic Materials signed a deal with e-bike and e-scooter company Lime to recover rare earth metals from end-of-life motors. Dallas, Texas-headquartered battery processor Ecobat is in the process of selling its battery recycling and lead manufacturing operations in France, although Ecobat's French lithium-ion collection business in France is not part of the deal. Jennie Romer,...

The following are facilities that have achieved, renewed or otherwise regained R2 certification recently: Belmont Asset Management DBA Full Circle Electronics of Cuautitlán Izcalli, Mexico; GSM Club of Bronx, New York; Procurri Canada of Mississauga, Canada; Pulse Supply Chain Solutions of Dallas, Texas; Recycle Emirates FZC of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; and Startouch Trading of Lincoln Park, Michigan. After completing...

Jennie Romer, known for plastics pollution work at Surfrider and at the EPA's pollution prevention office, will address e-scrap, textiles and circular economy policy in her new role at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Nova Chemicals held a grand opening for its new PE film recycling facility in Connersville, Indiana, which is expected to be in full production by early 2026....