Bulk unlocking of cellphone and tablets for resale does not violate copyright law and should continue to be allowed, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries told the U.S. Copyright Office. ISRI's May 26 testimony came as federal officials consider whether to renew a three-year exemption allowing for the unlocking of mobile devices. Some mobile devices have software restricting them to...

Federally funded research into using robots to replace humans on MRF sorting lines could significantly lower materials sorting costs. "We'd like to reduce the cost of recycling and make it a little more cost-competitive with the cost of landfilling across the country," Matanya Horowitz of AMP Robotics told Resource Recycling. The National Science Foundation awarded the Boulder, Colo. startup a...

The Texas Legislature's serious consideration of a law mandating take-back and recycling for all household batteries sends a signal to other states considering the same, an advocate for the bill says. "If conservative Republicans in Texas are advocating for battery recycling, legislatures all across the country have the green light to do this," Robin Schneider, executive director of the Texas...

Offices will generate more recyclable materials and less contamination if each employee is given a large recycling bin and small garbage can, according to a study. The study, titled "Recycling at Work: Research to Inform Improved Recycling in the Workplace," was commissioned by Keep America Beautiful (KAB) with support from PepsiCo Recycling and commercial real estate giant CBRE. "It was...

"This is the place where thousands of tons of the world's electronics go to die," The Atlantic in December wrote about Agbogbloshie, a district in the middle of Accra, Ghana. One U.S. e-scrap expert, however, says he saw no evidence of that during a recent trip to the West African country. "It's basically a hoax," said Robin Ingenthron, founder of...

California officials no longer envision immediate cuts to programs funded by the state's beverage container fund because the fund's financial future looks brighter. That's according to a recent presentation by Susan Collins, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute (CRI), based in Culver City, California. Her analysis included data from an April financial report from CalRecycle, the state entity that...

  Reclaimers and recycling companies could avoid paying millions of dollars in sales taxes on purchases, under a bill in the California legislature. Assembly Bill 199 would expand the definition of projects eligible for sales tax exemptions to include that which "primarily processes recycled feedstock that is intended to be reused in the production of another product or utilizes recycled feedstock...

California officials no longer envision immediate cuts to programs funded by the state's beverage container fund – because the fund's financial future looks brighter. That's according to a recent presentation by Susan Collins, executive director of the Container Recycling Institute, based in Culver City, California. Her analysis included data from an April financial report from CalRecycle, the state entity that...

A "right-to-repair" bill in the New York legislature would require electronics manufacturers to provide repair and recycling information, parts and tools to independent e-scrap recycling entities. The bill, S3998 in the state's Senate and A6068 in the Assembly, would require manufacturers to provide the same information, parts and tools to independent shops and individual consumers that they provide to authorized...

Legislation in front of California lawmakers would require beverage companies to use at least 10 percent recycled plastic in bottles if they want to continue receiving discounts on fees they pay to the state. The state Senate’s Committee on Environmental Quality will hold a hearing today on one bill, while an Assembly committee is set to consider a separate bill...