Chinese authorities have issued the first five rounds of recyclable-material import permits for 2018. Compared with 2017, the country has allowed in substantially less recovered plastic and approved permits for far fewer companies across all material types. The first five batches approve 21,300 metric tons of scrap plastic, according to data published by China’s Ministry of Environmental Protection. For comparison,...

Municipal programs are often short on funds, and it’s easy for recycling outreach to fall on the back burner amid budget constraints. East Hartford, Conn. recently took action on the issue by partnering with a plastics industry initiative. According to a program leader in East Hartford, the Wrap Recycling Action Program (WRAP) can substantially boost film diversion and help shift...

Leaders from Waste Management and two giant consumers of recovered fiber last week detailed the variety of ways their operations have been impacted by recent import shifts in Asia. They also laid out some ideas to help lift material quality. In their comments at the Waste Management Sustainability Forum, the executives indicated that responding to Chinese restrictions will take system-wide...

Chinese authorities have issued the first five rounds of recyclable-material import permits for 2018. Compared with 2017, the country has allowed substantially less recycled plastic to enter the country and approved permits for far fewer companies across all material types. The first five batches approve 21,300 metric tons of scrap plastic, according to data published by China’s Ministry of Environmental...

Credit: Pekka Niemi/Kuusakoski Finnish recycling company Kuusakoski has refined its method for processing a key component of MRI machines and is now producing distinct streams of high-grade metals. Most of the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine can be dismantled and processed using traditional mechanical methods. But the coil inside the device poses some challenges for effective recovery. The coil is...

Credit: Nerijus Juras/Shutterstock A North American recycling operation will open an e-plastics-focused facility in response to Chinese import restrictions. BoMET Polymer will take in shredded and baled e-plastics, sort and process them, and produce a commodity-grade pellet. The operation, located in Brantford, Ontario, will purchase feedstock from primary scrap electronics processors, as well as use material generated by parent company...

A North American recycling operation will open an e-plastics-focused facility in response to Chinese import restrictions. BoMET Polymer will take in shredded and baled e-plastics, sort and process them, and produce a commodity-grade pellet. The operation, located in Brantford, Ontario, will purchase feedstock from primary scrap electronics processors, as well as use material generated by parent company BoMET's own electronics...

Five consumer-products companies recently made public commitments to produce recyclable packaging or increase their recycled content by 2025. The Ellen MacArthur Foundation announced the new corporate vows during the World Economic Forum this month. The organization noted there are now 11 companies that have made these commitments in recent months - six brand owners in October announced their plan to...

About 85 percent of mixed paper and OCC exported out of California has been bound for China in recent years, and as the Asian behemoth closes its doors to some of those imports, the state’s recycling industry is feeling the hit. In 2016, California's exports of recyclables amounted to 15 million tons, worth an estimated $4.6 billion. Some 62 percent...

New Jersey-based Pace Glass is set to build a facility cleaning up MRF-sourced glass for use in containers, fiberglass insulation and other products. The company plans to open the 1,500-tons-per-day glass beneficiation plant in Andover, N.J. It will employ up to 40 workers inside the facility and 60 truck drivers, according to the plan. The company already runs a glass...