Over the past decade, the materials recovery facility in Northumberland County, Ontario has enjoyed a series of upgrades, including new balers, a new screen system and optical sorters for fiber. But Karl Allen, plant manager, has learned that equipment is only one of the ingredients for success. “You need staff who work collaboratively to adapt quickly to material changes, understand...

Meal kits delivered straight to your doorstep are marketed as providing fresh, healthful food in a convenient way. But they also contain a lot of non-recyclable packaging, much of which carries problematic labeling. Numerous companies have launched to sell the meal kits, which have all of the raw ingredients, including meats, vegetables and spices, to make a full meal. They're...

With global discussions around climate change evolving, Steve Alexander has seen a narrative emerge that reducing greenhouse gas emissions in packaging development is the key to sustainability. "I'm concerned that there could be a potential de-emphasis on the fact that recyclability is really a key driver in sustainability," said Alexander, executive director of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR). A...

A professor has been honored by the U.S. EPA for developing a fast and low-cost method of recycling rare earth elements, including those inside electronics. A team led by Prof. Eric J. Schelter of the University of Pennsylvania conducted research into separating blends of rare earth elements found in consumer devices. Schelter received the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award during...

An electronics reuse and recycling company CEO has been sentenced to 15 months in federal prison for his role in an effort to copy, import and sell counterfeit Microsoft software. Clifford Eric Lundgren, 33, pled guilty to criminal copyright infringement and conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods in federal court on Feb. 28. In May, a judge for the U.S....

The Bureau of International Recycling has begun its study on worldwide e-scrap generation and flows. The Bureau of International Recycling's (BIR) E-Scrap Committee has started the analysis of available global e-scrap information, assisted by a consultant at the Harokopio University of Athens in Greece. The goal of conducting a review was announced late last year. The study will entail a...

As Loop Industries pushes forward its depolymerization method on multi-layer packaging, the startup is also highlighting the potential of recycling opaque PET containers and textiles. The Quebec-based company, which is publicly traded, uses a heatless, pressureless depolymerization process to break down PET into its component monomers, which can then be reassembled into new plastic. In an interview, Daniel Solomita, the...

A materials recovery facility spent $671,000 to buy and install glass cleanup equipment, which is generating $296,000 in annual savings. The project in Guelph, Ontario shows how investing in glass recovery technologies can pencil out favorably for MRFs. Many MRFs struggle to manage glass collected in curbside carts. Often mixed up, broken and highly contaminated, the material costs U.S. sorting...

Once known as the “Egg Capital of the World,” the town of Petaluma, Calif. is where the egg incubator was invented. It also once had the world’s only drugstore meant exclusively for poultry. The local recycling processor just hatched a long-incubating egg as well: a new materials recovery facility (MRF) capable of boosting the area’s already-high diversion rate. Republic Services...

Hundreds of authorized third-party repair shops around the world are set to begin using a system developed by one of the most prominent OEM brands. Reuters reports that, for the first time, Apple acknowledged the existence of what it calls the Horizon Machine, which it has been using at retail stores and mail-in repair centers. By the end of the...