A shuttered mixed-waste MRF has been sold to the city of Montgomery, Ala., and multiple companies are interested in running the facility either as a traditional MRF or mixed-waste plant. The former Infinitus Renewable Energy Park (IREP) opened in 2014 but closed in 2015 and has sat vacant ever since. A company official cited commodity prices and lower-than-expected material volumes...

A representative from a European firm that has felt the direct impacts of China’s import restrictions on recovered plastic recently offered an inside look at the fallout from the unprecedented disruption to industry trade. “For now, we are mostly focusing on Southeast Asia for our exports,” said Pablo Leon, Asia manager for Fosimpe S.L., a major Spanish broker of recovered...

Two midsize jurisdictions are joining a program that collects plastics not currently accepted for recycling and sends them to energy recovery facilities. However, an environmental group is speaking out against the development. The Hefty EnergyBag program will roll out in Boise, Idaho and Cobb County, Ga. this year. The local governments in those areas are receiving assistance from Dow Packaging and...

Computer Discounters Inc. has partnered with an Ireland-based reverse logistics and ITAD company to help both businesses bolster asset recovery operations within the U.S. Computer Discounters Inc. (CDI), a holding company that includes a variety of asset recovery and recycling subsidiaries, announced a partnership with Wisetek Solutions, an ITAD company headquartered in Cork, Ireland. CDI is headquartered in Hyattsville, Md....

Apple has been slowing down the performance of iPhones with older batteries, which likely led to more of the smartphones prematurely entering the end-of-life stream. After customers and media reports expressed suspicion last month that the company was artificially slowing devices, Apple confirmed the practice and described it in a post on the company’s website. Apple explained that it developed...

New York regulators have come up with a number of recommendations to improve the state’s e-scrap recycling program, according to a report recently delivered to the state’s governor. Issued in December, the document quantifies the New York State E-Waste Recycling and Reuse Act’s impact from 2013 through 2015. It indicates that during that time period, OEMs, consumers and the state's...

A common reason consumers discard mobile phones is cracked screens, but technology currently in development could one day change that. Researchers at the University of Tokyo have created glass from a low-weight polymer that can “heal” itself when it breaks, according to The Guardian newspaper. The glass, made from a polymer called polyether-thioureas, mends cracks when “pressed together by hand...

Large brand owners and manufacturers have formed an effort aimed at diverting millions of pounds of plastic material that could potentially end up as marine debris. NextWave is a collaborative effort to collect and incorporate marine plastics as recycled content in new products, and to reduce plastic usage overall. Its founding partners include Dell, General Motors, Trek Bicycle and others....

A representative from a European firm that has felt the direct impacts of China’s import restrictions on recovered plastic recently offered an inside look at the fallout from the unprecedented disruption to industry trade. “For now, we are mostly focusing on Southeast Asia for our exports,” said Pablo Leon, Asia manager for Fosimpe S.L., a major Spanish broker of recovered...

Two midsize jurisdictions are joining a program that collects plastics not currently accepted for recycling and sends them to energy recovery facilities. However, an environmental group is speaking out against the development. The Hefty EnergyBag program will roll out in Boise, Idaho and Cobb County, Ga. this year. The local governments in those areas are receiving assistance from Dow Packaging and...