Although changes at the White House have grabbed much attention recently, there are plenty of other developments taking place in the District of Columbia. Take Washington D.C.’s recycling program, for instance, which is on the cusp of big changes nearly 30 years after it first started. The District is pushing to become a leader in the recycling world, and will...

With implementation in New Brunswick last week, all 10 Canadian provinces now have extended producer responsibility programs for electronics. The New Brunswick collection infrastructure consists of 40 drop-off centers accepting TVs and monitors, computers, mobile devices and more. Recycle NB, the provincial body that oversees the program, estimates it will divert approximately 3,500 metric tons each year. The program was first...

New York state regulators have fined a recycling facility for allowing lead and other hazardous materials to seep into the ground last summer. Alpco Recycling must pay $225,000 over the next two years for improperly handling e-scrap, according to Rochester, N.Y. ABC affiliate 13WHAM. The Macedon, N.Y.-based company came to state environmental regulators' attention last summer after multiple tips alleging...

Public entities continue to take the pledge to become participants in the State Electronics Challenge, indicating their willingness to become better stewards of electronics. In 2016, the program reached 166 partners, up slightly from 160 the year before. The State Electronics Challenge asks participants to take steps to reduce the environmental impacts of their electronics in the areas of procurement,...

A bipartisan bill in the U.S. Senate expands efforts to combat marine debris and encourages the White House to work with countries most contributing to the problem. Introduced last week, the Save Our Seas Act of 2017 amends and reauthorizes through 2022 the Marine Debris Act, which directs the efforts of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the...

Chinese customs authorities are inspecting every container entering the country at certain ports, causing longer shipping times. And some observers say the enforcement efforts could also be driving down recovered paper prices. "All containers are being checked using X-ray machines, and where these are not available, then the containers will be opened for examination," U.K.-based group The Recycling Association recently...

A tech startup is developing a new product to verify trustworthiness among traders of recyclable materials. Scrap Connection plans to offer reports on companies in the scrap materials trading industry, using information gleaned from confidential reviews from former customers. Scrap Connection will assign companies an overall “trade score.” “The problem in our industry really has to do with you don’t...

E-scrap and hazardous material processor AERC has drawn investment dollars from a commercial recycling company and its parent holding company. Allentown, Pa.-based AERC Recycling Solutions was recently acquired by Hatboro, Pa.-based Clean Earth Inc., a commercial waste and recycling management company. Clean Earth is a subsidiary of Compass Diversified Holdings. In a statement, Clean Earth CEO Chris Dods said the...

The largest probe to date of used devices supposedly scrubbed of their data found that 40 percent still retained some amount of personal information. Conducted by the National Association of Information Destruction (NAID), the study examined a random sample of 258 smartphones, tablets and hard drives. NAID hired data security provider CPR Tools to analyze the devices. First announced in...

The Closed Loop Fund is nearly three years into its mission of funding recycling infrastructure across the U.S., and it has invested about a fifth of its hefty budget during that time. More than $20 million has been injected into 11 projects at sorting and processing facilities and municipal collection programs since the fund launched. But that figure doesn't tell...