Black Friday has come and gone, but chances are you still have holiday shopping to do. Why not get your loved ones gifts made from recycled materials? Check out these ideas from us here at Resource Recycling. From toys to handbags to kitchen knives, all the products are made with recycled content. They were each featured in print editions of Resource...

A man is caught defrauding Germany's bottle redemption program, and one California city mulls zoning changes targeting bottle redemption centers. Recycling center crackdown: The City of Fresno, Calif. is working on zoning changes that will affect beverage container redemption centers. Yourcentralvalley.com reports residents are upset about crime near the centers. Coffee cup recycling: A trial program underway in Australia hopes...

Refurbishers have competition in Apple, and a lot of Americans might soon be ditching their old TVs. Touch disease repair: Apple has launched its own repair program for the so-called "touch disease" that is afflicting the iPhone 6 Plus. The Verge reports Apple will fix the phones for $149. Touch disease renders the touch screen useless and Apple claims it...

Chicago's City Council backs a fee on plastic bags, and your laundry may be sending microplastics into the ocean. Bags in the budget: The Chicago budget proposal was passed unanimously by the City Council, according to ABC 7. The budget includes a 7-cent fee for consumers on all paper and plastic bags distributed by retailers. Boston weighs bag ban: The...

A recyclable, recycled-content polyester material has been developed for automotive components, and a high-molecular-weight PLA could replace PP in packaging. PLA to replace PP? A new, stronger PLA has been created that researchers say could replace PP in packaging. The European Innorex project led to the development of a process to formulate PLA without metallic catalysts and using alternative energies, according...

Numbers for the first nine months of the year show volume drops in all materials but paper. In September, the most recent month for which figures are available, scrap plastics exports totaled 354.25 million pounds, a drop of 5.8 percent from August 2016 export levels. However, when matched against September 2015 levels, the volume of plastic scrap exports in the...

Chicago passes a budget that includes a fee on shopping bags, and Whirlpool offers an answer to food waste. Compost at home: In an effort to cut down on food sent to disposal, Whirlpool has designed an appliance that turns food scraps into fertilizer. As reported by Digital Trends, the Zera Food Recycler turns food scraps into usable fertilizer in...

The federal government finalized rules affecting reporting of CRT exports, and a funding dispute between a processor and California leaves students out in the cold. Showdown over bill: New Jersey's e-scrap community is pushing lawmakers to approve, without amendment, legislation overhauling the state program on Nov. 21. That is when the New Jersey General Assembly will do its final votes...

Features from the October 2016 print edition:   Subscribe today for access to all print content.

Soccer uniforms made of recycled ocean plastics make their Spanish debut, and a German company sees decreased demand for recycled resins. The Netherlands: Recycled plastic resin is taking a hit due to the low price of virgin plastic. Recycling International reports that an official with Germany-based recycling firm Interseroh said demand for recycled resin has gone down 20 percent. Spain:...