New York’s governor has introduced legislation prohibiting retailers from providing plastic shopping bags to customers at point-of-sale. The bill, S8257, was introduced by the Committee on Rules in both the state Assembly and Senate April 23, at the request of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. "The blight of plastic bags takes a devastating toll on our streets, our water and our natural...

Chinese authorities plan to halt imports of more scrap categories by the end of the year, including post-industrial scrap plastic and a variety of scrap metals. The country also announced a list of even more imports it will ban by the end of 2019. The Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) announced April 19 that it is set to...

Canadian equipment manufacturer Machinex has introduced a “self-aware” sortation robot, which uses artificial intelligence to quickly remove materials from processing lines. According to Machinex, the robot can perform 70 picks per minute, doubling the average human ability. In a press release, the manufacturer said two of the robots will be installed in recycling facilities in the U.S. and Canada during...

China plans to prohibit imports of post-industrial scrap plastic by the end of the year, according to documents published by the country’s environmental department. The Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment announced that it is set to recategorize post-industrial PE, PET, PS, PVC and other scrap plastic as materials banned from import, according to an online translation of the Chinese...

E-scrap materials, including CRT glass, sit abandoned in rural Wyoming, with the site's former owner in prison and regulatory agencies still working to determine who should handle a cleanup. As the conversation slowly moves forward, piles of scrap electronics remain inside and outside the vacant facility about 20 miles from Cheyenne, Wyo., and the site has experienced a fire. At...

A two-year study has highlighted key details about e-scrap exports to Nigeria, including the different device types entering the country, methods used to ship them and countries of origin. The study, which was authored by the Basel Convention Coordination Centre for the Africa Region as well as United Nations University, was released April 19. It found that roughly 60,000 metric...

Customs officers in China’s port city of Xiamen seized a load of end-of-life electronics last month, claiming the material didn't meet e-scrap import standards. The country’s General Administration of Customs reported last week on a load of 7.4 tons of LCDs that had been seized by agents in March. Authorities described the devices as “unusable wastes that are not worth...

Many recycling associations are preparing for their biggest gatherings of the year, and three group leaders recently explained how China-related market disruptions will be tackled at their events. The state association representatives also put the current export turmoil in historical context. Although 2013's Green Fence campaign in China was a precursor to the current situation, for some groups, last summer’s...

Swedish apparel giant H&M last year saw a notable drop in its consumption of recovered PET for polyester applications. But the company did report progress on marine debris, depolymerization and other initiatives. H&M posted more than $27 billion in 2017 revenue, including value-added tax. The company operates more than 4,700 stores in 69 markets, according to its website. In 2017, the...

China has issued its latest round of import permits for scrap materials, and approved volumes remain particularly low on the plastics side. Meanwhile, a separate data set shows stark year-over-year declines in imports during the first two months of 2018. The most recent permits, the 10th round this year from China, were issued Monday. They approve the import of 1,708...