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Author Archives: Colin Staub

About Colin Staub

Colin-StaubColin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].

A famed ski region is planning to improve diversion

Published: January 23, 2025
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Recycle Utah is working to bring a diverse array of shareholders together on a $25 million MRF project. | Photo courtesy Recycle Utah

Summit County, Utah, boasts one of the largest ski resorts in the U.S., bringing tourists from around the world to experience the majestic slopes in Park City. The region has even been selected as the site of the 2034 Winter Olympics.

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Takeaways from EPA nominee Zeldin’s confirmation hearing

Published: January 23, 2025
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Lee Zeldin is President Trump’s nominee to lead the federal agency that is closest to the recycling industry. | Photo courtesy C-SPAN

During a three-hour confirmation hearing, President Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. EPA administrator said he is still learning about chemical recycling, praised the marine debris-focused Save Our Seas Act as a model of bipartisan plastic pollution legislation and said PFAS regulation will be a “big issue” for him.

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Industry-managed film drop-off guide launches

Published: January 15, 2025
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Plastic film collected for recycling.

The guide directs users to various retail and other collection sites around the U.S. that accept film for drop-off recycling. | Mabeline72/Shutterstock

Editor’s note: Learn more about film recycling trends and many other topics at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference on March 24-26 in National Harbor, Maryland. Continue Reading

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Collection, recovery facility worker deaths increased

Published: January 8, 2025
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Safety vests and hard hats hanging on a wall.

While overall workplace fatalities decreased in the U.S. in 2023, the waste and recycling industry was a troubling outlier. | Wave Break Media/Shutterstock

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.

Nine workers died in U.S. materials recovery facilities in 2023 and the death rate for refuse and recyclable material collectors jumped more than 80%, according to the latest annual numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continue Reading

European plastics recycling sector faces slew of challenges

Published: December 18, 2024
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European recycling capacity growth slowed markedly in 2023, an industry report found. | Fahroni/Shutterstock

A combination of decreasing post-consumer resin demand, high energy costs and stiff competition from both virgin and imported recycled resin struck a blow to Europe’s reclaimers in 2023, according to an annual industry association report. Continue Reading

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PureCycle opens secondary sorting plant targeting PP

Published: December 18, 2024
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Bales of plastic for recycling.

The PureCycle facility in Denver, Pennsylvania is primarily sourcing PP bales from MRFs across the Northeast. | Ulrich Mueller/Shutterstock

Polypropylene recycling firm PureCycle has started up a feedstock preparation plant in Pennsylvania, bringing in plastic bales from MRFs and extracting the PP for processing at the company’s main Ohio facility. Continue Reading

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Vinyl industry reports flat recycling figures

Published: December 11, 2024
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The Vinyl Sustainability Council reported an annual estimated North American PVC recycling figure of 1.1 billion pounds, which includes both post-industrial and post-consumer. | Warin Keawchookul/Shutterstock

Plastics recycling firms continue to process about 958 million pounds of post-industrial PVC and 142 million pounds of post-consumer, non-packaging PVC each year, together accounting for an estimated 27% of annual North American PVC waste generation, the Vinyl Sustainability Council said this week. Continue Reading

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Strategies MRFs, brands use to add materials to the bin

Published: December 4, 2024
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Amy Uong, second from right, speaks during ‘Saying Yes in the Land of No,’ a session held during the Resource Recycling Conference in Kentucky last month. | Dan Holtmeyer/Resource Recycling, Inc.

Faced with challenges moving recycled materials in recent years, MRFs and curbside recycling programs have occasionally opted to stop accepting certain materials, particularly experimental or harder-to-market packaging types.

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Study: E-plastics additives present in home goods

Published: December 4, 2024
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E-plastics / Jared Paben

The study found flame retardants in some black plastic kitchen utensils that contained recycled resin. | Jared Paben/Resource Recycling

A recent study has focused public attention on household products containing plastic that the authors suggest was recovered from electronics, raising safety concerns about chemicals contained within the recycled content.

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Plastic exports see stability through third quarter

Published: November 20, 2024
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Export shipping containers

For the first nine months of 2024, recovered plastic exports remained steady year over year, marking a change from multiple years of annual declines in export volume. | Qingqing/Shutterstock

For the first nine months of 2024, recovered plastic exports remained steady year over year, marking a change from multiple years of annual declines in export volume. Continue Reading

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