Olympia, Wash. | Christoper Boswell/Shutterstock
A state-ordered analysis in Washington describes steps to grow regional end markets and processing capacity. One of the top recommendations: the development of a plastics recovery facility.
Colin Staub has been a staff writer at Resource Recycling since January 2017. Before that he worked as a reporter at the weekly newspaper in Newberg, Oregon, and has been a freelance writer at other publications in Portland. He can be contacted at [email protected]Olympia, Wash. | Christoper Boswell/Shutterstock
A state-ordered analysis in Washington describes steps to grow regional end markets and processing capacity. One of the top recommendations: the development of a plastics recovery facility.
Regulatory changes could prevent the U.S. from exporting mixed plastics to a number of countries. | rawf8/Shutterstock
Federal regulators are asking countries that are major buyers of U.S. recyclables to refrain from implementing new trade restrictions laid out in the Basel Convention, a treaty covering global scrap material shipments.
2017 brought the lowest volume of film recovered and sold since 2010. | taniascamera/Shutterstock
Non-bottle mixed plastics and film recycling have experienced their first major drops in a decade, two studies indicate. But amid the challenges, domestic use of both streams increased.
Calif. legislators have heard from a cadre of industry groups recently. | ZikG/Shutterstock
As a plastic packaging reduction bill moves forward in California, an industry group is recommending a per-item fee to fund recycling efforts.
The average blended value for recyclables at U.S. MRFs was recently calculated at around $35 per ton. | hiv360/Shutterstock
With overseas import restrictions, tariff impacts and domestic market volatility, an erratic business environment has become the norm for recycling operators around North America.
A wash line from equipment supplier Herbold Meckesheim USA cleans a variety of inbound recycled plastic streams as they enter the recycling process.
Recycled ocean plastic was recently used to create a small batch of “handplanes,” which are tools employed by bodysurfers. The project partners are planning additional, larger production runs.
Mixed plastics are the feedstock for a chemical recycling partnership between resin giant Sabic and home goods manufacturer Tupperware Brands.
Experts say a deposit system for non-alcoholic beverage containers would complement a Canadian province’s curbside recycling system, by cutting costs and increasing the volume of material recycled each year.
Various approaches to increasing end market material utilization are detailed in a report featuring interviews with stakeholders across the recycling chain.