The National Recycling Coalition's recently elected president sees the recycling industry facing challenges in two major ways: false accusations and challenging markets. Bob Gedert, director of Austin, Texas' recycling department, was elected president of the national nonprofit organization during the winter board meeting on Dec. 10. A number of other industry professionals were also elected to officer positions at the...

As a Baltimore-area plastics recovery facility ramps up to full production, a project leader discusses the plastics currently entering and leaving the building. Jonathan Sloan, president of Canusa Hershman Recycling Co. (CHRC), recently talked with Plastics Recycling Update about the Dundalk, Md.-based plastics recovery facility (PRF), which has been in full swing since October. The facility, a partnership between CHRC...

A bill in the U.S. House of Representatives aims to create a federal grant program providing up to $100 million a year to build large-scale composting and anaerobic digestion facilities. The Food Recovery Act of 2015, House of Representatives 4184, would take multiple steps to reduce food waste at the farm, retailer and consumer levels while helping to provide more...

Tens of thousands of people around the country are owed millions of dollars in unpaid appliance rebates after the failure of a major appliance-recycling company, court documents show. Bothell, Wash.-based JACO Environmental, which will have its assets sold off, also owes creditor Key Bank more than $15 million, according to court filings. At the request of Key Bank National Association,...

A bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would discourage federal agencies from buying electricity generated by burning fibers. The House on Dec. 3 approved H.R.8, the North American Energy Security and Infrastructure Act. The bill includes a provision targeting electricity from waste-to-energy (WTE) facilities that burn substantial amounts of fiber. Federal agencies are required to purchase a certain percentage...

A U.K. company that developed a 100 percent recycled ABS 3-D printing filament is now working to develop six other filaments made from various resins. Sheffield, U.K.-based ObjectForm was recently honored by the Plastics Industry Awards for its recycled ABS filament, part of the company’s Fila-CYCLE brand. The company and its efforts were recently featured by international plastics recycling company...

Most e-scrap leaving U.S. shores is reused in developing countries, not dumped, an Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries official said. Scott Horne, counsel at the Washington, D.C.-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) and a longtime international trade expert, talked with E-Scrap News about what he said are misconceptions about e-scrap exports.The interview came after the Bureau of International Recycling...

A North Carolina company that once hoped to establish e-scrap recycling across the U.S. using a franchise system now finds itself in bankruptcy and embroiled in a series of legal disputes. The fights in court include allegations the company's founders helped produce knock-off equipment and used investor money to fuel a NASCAR career for a son of one of the...

SERI has begun conducting surprise audits of R2-certified facilities, with auditors concentrating on downstream due diligence and other topics of concern. Sustainable Electronics Recycling International (SERI), the Boulder, Colo.-based nonprofit organization managing the R2 e-scrap environmental standard, began conducting spot – or unannounced – audits of facilities in mid-August. So far, it has conducted about a dozen."We see them in...

The creation of a major glass-processing program in the nation's heartland started with a frank conversation at a beer tasting. Now it's arguably the most successful venture of its kind. Owens Corning staff members were tasting beers at Kansas City's Boulevard Brewing and started talking with management about the dearth of glass recycling in the area. Boulevard Brewing was concerned...