California lawmakers have approved a bill mandating that carpet stewards achieve a 24 percent recycling rate and discouraging the use of incineration. The legislation will now head to Gov. Jerry Brown’s desk. Assembly Bill 1158 was passed by the State Senate on Sept. 12 in a vote of 30-10, and the Assembly gave its final go-ahead on Sept. 15 with...

The role of plastics in the larger sustainability movement has been the focus of plenty of industry conversations over the past decade. And it's out of that environment that the Plasticity series of events has formed. The Plasticity Forum, which has been held eight times since 2012 in different locations around the globe, brings together a range of leaders from...

When it comes to the way states measure materials diversion, it's less apples to oranges and more apples to 49 different types of fruit. That makes it difficult to comprehensively assess the industry. "We can't manage something if we can't measure it," noted Will Sagar, executive director of the Southeast Recycling Development Council (SERDC). A summit early next year aims...

Some of the key recovered commodities generated by materials recovery facilities have been fetching high prices lately, including aluminum and fibers. But China’s import restrictions have introduced an element of the unknown in the market. That was one takeaway from a markets-focused plenary session at the 2017 Resource Recycling Conference in Minneapolis. Taking the stage to discuss recovered fiber, metals...

California lawmakers have sent the governor a bill mandating that carpet stewards achieve a 24 percent recycling rate and discouraging the use of incineration. Meanwhile, carpet makers are sticking with their beleaguered stewardship group, instead of submitting alternative collection and recycling plans. Earlier this year, the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) rejected a proposed carpet recycling plan...

Real Alloy is restarting an idled aluminum recycling plant in Kentucky because of increased customer demand and a new contract. The company, a subsidiary of publicly traded Real Industry, is already working to restart the Morgantown plant, which has been idled since December 2015. On an annualized basis, the facility will process about 55,000 short tons, or more than 6...

For the e-scrap industry, business as usual may not cut it in the future. To help, this week's E-Scrap Conference is providing information and connections that allow processors and others to stay on top of changes in the fast-evolving sector. E-Scrap 2017, which kicked off yesterday in Orlando, Fla. with a series of workshops and other events, will open today...

Tech Dump employs 50 people, many of whom have struggled to find or maintain steady work. For e-scrap recycling organization Tech Dump, it’s not all about the recycling. It’s also about the people doing the work. “Tech Dump was founded to create jobs for people with barriers to employment, such as time in the justice system or prior addiction, and...

Scientists have developed an environmentally friendly way to recover rare earth elements from shredded electronic scrap without the need for pre-sorting of materials. Researchers at the Critical Materials Institute (CMI) found a way to dissolve rare earths metals, which are used in hard drive magnets, using an acid-free solution. The process recovers high-purity rare earths for recycling, while also preserving...

A European project will release a data platform providing a wealth of information on changes in the end-of-life stream. The particulars can help processors better recover commodities from scrap electronics. The Prospecting Secondary Raw Materials in the Urban Mine and Mining Wastes (ProSUM) project will unveil what it's calling the Urban Mine Knowledge Data Platform this fall. The result of...