This article originally appeared in the Spring 2019 issue of E-Scrap News. Subscribe today for access to all print content.   Recycling professionals know well how shifts in markets, materials and more have recently forced adjustments and revamped strategies on the part of facility operators. But materials recovery trends carry ripple effects for stakeholders throughout the sector, including equipment manufacturers. For...

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2019 issue of Plastics Recycling Update. Subscribe today for access to all print content.   It’s easy to get hung up on recycling rates, especially when it comes to polymers. The latest materials diversion report from the U.S. EPA showed a 9.1 percent recycling rate for plastics nationally, a number that is cited often in...

This article originally appeared in the April 2019 issue of Resource Recycling. Subscribe today for access to all print content. Kerry Getter is not a man prone to hyperbole. Here, for instance, is how the MRF executive described his company's perspective on the blended value of material in the curbside stream, which has fluctuated enormously of late: "We lick our wounds when...

Communities that want to offer home pick-up of end-of-life electronics must overcome a number of challenges. Bureaucracy, it seems, is one of them. The city of Pittsburgh had hoped to roll out an initiative in January that would allow residents to make an appointment to have electronics and hazardous materials collected at their homes. Residents would pay a $50 pick-up...

An initiative that collects hard-to-recycle packaging from the curb in several cities could be extended to another 100,000 households by the end of this year, a plastics executive said. The Hefty EnergyBag program was launched in Nebraska in 2016 and sends material for energy recovery. Resin producer Dow has partnered with Reynolds Consumer Products, Keep America Beautiful and others on...

An initiative that collects hard-to-recycle packaging from the curb in several cities could be extended to another 100,000 households by the end of this year, a plastics executive said. The Hefty EnergyBag program was launched in Nebraska in 2016 and sends material for energy recovery. Resin producer Dow has partnered with Reynolds Consumer Products, Keep America Beautiful and others on...

Hundreds of packaging stakeholders came together in early April in Seattle to talk sustainability. And recycling factored into the conversation in a number of ways. At the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) Impact conference, speakers discussed how society's pollution concerns are affecting materials decisions. They also offered insights into brand owner goals, the development of a recycled material standard that would...

Hundreds of packaging stakeholders came together last week in Seattle to talk sustainability. And recycling factored into the conversation in a number of ways. At the Sustainable Packaging Coalition (SPC) Impact conference, speakers discussed how society's pollution concerns are affecting materials decisions. They also offered insights into brand owner goals, the development of a recycled material standard that would foster...

Lawmakers in Iowa and Tennessee recently passed legislation that eases regulation for gasification and pyrolysis facilities that handle recovered polymers. The similar bills - SF 534 in Iowa and SB 923 in Tennessee - define gasification and pyrolysis as activities distinct from solid waste processing. The pieces of legislation in both states also categorize feedstocks for those processes separate from...

At least 60 organizations are working to scale up depolymerization, pyrolysis and other emerging plastic processing methods. The North American market for the resulting products could top $100 billion annually. Those statistics come from "Accelerating Circular Supply Chains for Plastics," a market-landscape report released yesterday by Closed Loop Partners. It is the first comprehensive analysis of the range of approaches to...