Providing less than a day of warning, China began imposing a 25 percent tariff on recovered aluminum shipments from the U.S. this week. The metal is one among 128 U.S. products China slapped duties on starting April 2. The Ministry of Commerce announced the penalties in a press release posted at 7 a.m. Monday local time, or Sunday evening in...

An initiative that has been the source of industry debate over recovery of hard-to-recycle plastic packaging is awarding $100,000 in grants to expand to more communities. The Dow Chemical Co. and nationwide nonprofit group Keep America Beautiful (KAB) will award grants to organizations to establish Hefty EnergyBag programs locally. Last year, the program gave two $50,000 grants to establish programs...

A Nespresso-backed recycling program for single-use aluminum coffee capsules has moved from the 'burbs to the big city in British Columbia. Vancouver, B.C. residents now have curbside access for their Nespresso single-use coffee pods via a brand owner-funded collection program. The program, which began March 1, is the next step in a pilot project started in the much-smaller British Columbia...

Providing less than a day of warning, China began imposing a 25 percent tariff on recovered aluminum shipments from the U.S. this week. The metal is one among 128 U.S. products China slapped duties on starting April 2. The Ministry of Commerce announced the penalties in a press release posted at 7 a.m. Monday local time, or Sunday evening in...

In some ways, the success of a recycling program depends on outreach to residents. In other ways, the key is sortation efficiency and technology. Officials in Kent County, Mich. are making strides on both fronts. “We are developing an outreach campaign to help increase the regional recycling rate, improve the quality of materials we are receiving and to further showcase...

Researchers will use compatibilizers to determine what kind of properties they can achieve when recycling multi-material flexible plastics from hospitals. Their work will help determine recycling options for a substantial portion of the health care plastics waste stream. The Healthcare Plastics Recycling Council (HPRC) has begun its project to determine recycling options for the difficult-to-recycle stream. Up to 60 percent...

A company using enzymes to break down PET into its components has successfully applied its technology to textiles. Carbios, located in central France, has used its enzymatic depolymerization process to break down polyester fiber into two PET monomers, TPA (terephthalic acid) and MEG (mono ethylene glycol). They can then be used to make new plastic. "Turning unwanted polyester textiles into...

Flake-washing equipment from Italian equipment company Amut removes contaminants from flake via centrifugal force. The company's line of Turbo Washers removes inorganic and fine pollutants from PET, HDPE and LDPE flakes with a rotating process. In a plastics processing facility's line, it's ideal for washing flakes coming from the wet grinder or rinsing material leaving a strong washing process with...

A byproduct from corn harvesting is a key component in a new method of e-scrap leaching. Researchers on two continents have recently made breakthroughs on the use of leaching techniques to recover critical materials from e-scrap. American research Scientists conducting research for the U.S. Department of Energy's Critical Materials Institute (CMI) developed a method of using bacteria to produce acids...

Operators of Hong Kong's massive new electronics and appliance recycling plant have released video footage and photos showing the facility's scale and technology. ALBA Integrated Waste Solutions (ALBA-IWS) on March 19 hosted an opening event for the WEEE Park, which is owned by the Hong Kong government. The facility can process about 30,000 metric tons per year. ALBA-IWS issued a...