When it comes to recovering polyester from textiles, chemical recycling technologies might just be what the reclaimer ordered, a new report suggests. An analysis by nonprofit group GreenBlue looks at how emerging chemical recycling technologies can tackle the difficult-to-recycle PET in clothing, carpet, commercial-use textiles and office furniture. The study was sponsored by clothing company Patagonia and office furniture company...

Polystyrene producer INEOS Styrolution has recently partnered with a pair of companies that are developing emerging chemical PS recycling processes. An INEOS executive said the activity is the first step toward what partners hope will be a full-scale polystyrene recycling consortium. Earlier this month global PS supplier INEOS signed a memorandum of understanding with Oakville, Ontario-based Pyrowave, which uses microwaves...

The state of California has awarded millions of dollars in grants to projects that will recycle ag plastics and PET bottles. The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) awarded $3 million to Revolution Plastics and $3 million to rPlanet Earth. Revolution Plastics will use the money to increase collection capacity for LDPE ag film and irrigation tube and...

Real Alloy, which runs 15 sites in the U.S., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, seeking to continue operating as usual while it works to restructure and cut costs. On Nov. 17, Real Alloy and its parent holding company, Real Industry, Inc., filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The filing doesn't affect the company's operations...

Electronics recycling supports 920 jobs and injects more than $200 million into the Texas economy, researchers estimate. The Study on the Economic Impacts of Recycling was conducted by Burns & McDonnell for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). It estimated electronics recycling companies working in Texas directly employ 432 people, an additional 295 jobs are supported by commerce generated...

A study takes a wide-ranging look at the health and environmental impacts of improperly managed scrap electronics, and it suggests ways the whole value chain can work to solve the problems. The analysis, slated to be published in the journal Environment International in January, is entitled "Has the question of e-waste opened a Pandora's box? An overview of unpredictable issues...

New York City is expanding a program in which households can make a reservation to have end-of-life devices picked up by city crews. The New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) announced that curbside collections are now available in the northern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The service started last year as a pilot program on Staten Island, the...

Two recent teardowns dug into the guts of Apple's latest device, yielding insights on repairability and the estimated cost of the phone's components. Device repair hub iFixit conducted a teardown of the phone and gave it a 6 out of 10 on the repairability scale (10 denotes easiest to repair). It got good marks for ease of display and battery...

Cascade Asset Management's facility in Indianapolis. Cascade Asset Management has doubled the size of its Indianapolis facility, a response to greater demand from enterprise customers for its services. The IT asset disposition (ITAD) company expanded into a recently vacated space adjacent to its Indianapolis facility. After the expansion, the location has the ability to process more than 250,000 devices per...

The latest Canadian province to launch an industry-managed electronics recycling program is finding healthy use of its drop-off locations. CBC News reports residents in New Brunswick are utilizing the more than 60 drop-off locations. "The response has been great. We're really pleased with how New Brunswickers have really come out," Karen Ulmanis, New Brunswick program director at nationwide stewardship group...