With industry-wide attention on building up recycled material end user demand, the Northeast Recycling Council is urging materials recovery stakeholders not to forget about ensuring there is adequate supply.

Of the 124 million pounds of e-scrap nationwide processor ERI collected last year, 97% was processed for commodity recovery and the remaining 3% went to reuse. That was one takeaway from the company's latest sustainability report.

In recent weeks and months, disclosures by consumer goods giant PepsiCo and resin producer Shell have indicated the companies will either miss targets or adjust timelines to meet plastics recycling-related goals. Meanwhile, Nestle has received media scrutiny for changing how it describes its goals, even as it continues to make progress toward those targets.

Minneapolis nonprofit MRF operator Eureka Recycling is seeing larger volumes of smaller plastics coming through its doors, creating challenges to maintain the same level of material quality. These changes spurred the company to plan substantial facility upgrades, a co-president said this week.

Minneapolis nonprofit MRF operator Eureka Recycling is seeing larger volumes of smaller plastics coming through its doors, creating challenges to maintain the same level of material quality. These changes spurred the company to plan substantial facility upgrades, a co-president said this week.

Upcoming changes to the Basel Convention are likely to disrupt some industry practices when they take effect next year. But the changes have already had one remarkable impact: They've brought together two often rival certification organizations to advocate for industry-wide compliance with the new rules.

Increasing film recycling takes coordinated efforts by both brand owners and reclaimers – and it takes a true understanding that one sector can't solve the issue alone, speakers said at the 2024 Plastics Recycling Conference in March.

Just five years after converting to use 100% recycled fiber in containerboard production, McKinley Paper Company will idle its mill in Port Angeles, Washington, in August. A company representative said West Coast OCC prices and depressed containerboard demand contributed to the closure.

The Basel Action Network this week rolled out a confidential reporting website seeking to make it easier for observers to report poor e-scrap management practices, such as questionable exports of devices and e-plastics, data security lapses and problematic storage or disposal.

Seeking to quash a regulatory change that would remove over 100 million pounds of North American post-consumer resin demand per year, EFS-Plastics, Merlin Plastics and PreZero US have joined together to advocate for retaining recycled-content reusable plastic bags in California's bag regulations.