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...

A group of socially minded e-scrap firms have joined together to help open job opportunities for people with disabilities or previous incarcerations.The Los Angeles-based Impact Recyclers is a network of certified social enterprise e-scrap recycling companies. The network currently includes seven recycling entities – some for-profit and some nonprofit groups – with locations in California, Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Minnesota and...

A New Jersey lawmaker may introduce legislation boosting the government’s role in e-scrap recycling, a move electronics manufacturers would likely fight. State Sen. Bob Smith, who helped write the Garden State's original e-scrap recycling law, is working on legislation that would update the law, said Marie Kruzan, executive director of the Association of New Jersey Recyclers.A bill hasn’t been introduced...

To meet growing demand, e-scrap recycling company Hugo Neu Recycling will close its facility in Mount Vernon, New York and open a larger, more advanced one in New Jersey, the company says. "It certainly will meet the demands of our growing business,” Alan Ratner, the company's president, told E-Scrap News.Hugo Neu Recycling provides various services for organizations. While Ratner said...

Nearly 6,000 tons of batteries and cell phones were collected for recycling by Call2Recycle in 2014, marking a new record for the manufacturer-backed group. The amount collected represented a roughly 3 percent increase over 2013's haul, when 5,800 tons of batteries and cell phones were collected. Founded in 1994, Call2Recycle is the first and largest consumer battery stewardship program in...

A new grant program will help U.S. and Canadian organizations purchase the equipment needed to process and prepare expanded polystyrene for recycling. The Foam Recycling Coalition has launched the new grant program, which will pay for equipment needed to process post-consumer expanded polystyrene (EPS) food service packaging, egg cartons, meat trays and protective packaging used for shipping fragile items. Formed...

Composting experts have developed verbiage for possible legislation that states could use to limit claims made on plastic product packaging. The model law would make it illegal to sell plastic packaging or products labeled as “compostable” without evidence to prove it, and advocates hope states around the country will adopt the legal language, which was modeled off California legislation, to...

Composting experts have developed verbiage for possible legislation that states could use to limit claims made on plastic product packaging. The model law would make it illegal to sell plastic packaging or products labeled as "compostable" without evidence to prove it, and advocates hope states around the country will adopt the legal language, which was modeled off California legislation, to...

Washington's recycling rate fell slightly in 2013, marking the fourth consecutive year of flat annual figures for the Evergreen State. The state recycling rate fell to 48.9 percent in 2013, down from 50.1 percent in 2012, according to a new report from the Washington Department of Ecology. That number is still well above the national average of 34.5 percent, but...