The Dow Chemical Company is committing nearly $3 million toward recycling education and outreach programs as well as research into plastics recycling technology. The $2.8 million pledge over the next two years was announced at the Our Ocean Conference in Washington, D.C. Half of the money will be used in partnership with the Ocean Conservancy to research waste management pilot...

The Sustainable Packaging Coalition and The Recycling Partnership are coming together to study the U.S. recycling system. The aim of the program, called ASTRX (Applying Systems Thinking to Recycling), is to identify the tools to build a more uniform and cohesive recycling system. The two nonprofit organizations will study a range of factors affecting the infrastructure of materials recovery, including...

Education has won out over punishment in Little Rock, Ark., with hauler Waste Management announcing it will no longer track the households that are placing unacceptable materials into curbside recycling carts. Instead, the publicly traded waste and recycling giant says it will focus on outreach for the single-stream recycling program. The curbside contamination rate in the Little Rock area, where...

More than 1,200 people from 48 states, seven provinces and 34 countries flocked to the Big Easy for the 14th annual E-Scrap Conference. The Hyatt Regency was home to a French Quarter-themed exhibit hall plus dozens of workshops and sessions. The event kicked off Sept. 20 with several ancillary sessions, including a heavily attended session on state e-scrap programs across...

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland have developed a process for recovering gold from e-scrap that could cut down usage of toxic chemicals. The technique, outlined in an article on the university's website, includes submerging circuit boards in a "mild acid" to dissolve the metal parts. A special compound is then added to extract the gold. Researchers say...

The state of New Jersey is working to reform its e-scrap law, and lawmakers plan to have a bill to send to the governor by next month. The current law requires manufacturers to provide "free and convenient" recycling of their products. Frank Brill, a lobbyist for the Association of New Jersey Recyclers, told E-Scrap News that requirement was initially achieved...

The Fraunhofer Institute in Germany has received $1.5 million to recover more materials from used lithium ion batteries. The goal of the project, called NEW-BAT, is to find a way for valuable materials to be reintegrated into the battery supply chain. The funding comes from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.According to a press release, only certain elements...

Sales forecasts for PCs, tablets and smartphones have been released by International Data Corporation. Smartphone sales are expected to increase slightly with a year-over-year growth rate of 1.6 percent in 2016. Analysts say the smartphone industry is trying to increase product turnover by implementing buy-back or trade-in programs. Tablet and PC sales, meanwhile, are expected to continue their sales declines.Tablet...

A memo circulating within California's waste management agency says the packaging industry has failed to offer up viable voluntary options to help the state significantly cut down the amount of packaging material going to disposal. As a result, the memo states, staff within the California Department of Resources Recycling Recovery (CalRecycle) are recommending "a mandatory comprehensive, statewide packaging program in...

Unifi, Inc. last week opened a $28 million recycling operation to feed the Repreve fiber brand. Located in Reidsville, N.C., the project took a year to complete and will employ 87 people. The facility is capable of producing 75 million pounds of bottle flake each year, 22,000 pounds per hour, which will be turned into Repreve recycled fiber. That fiber...