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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].

Brightmark bankruptcy: Parent company wins auction bid

Published: May 29, 2025
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A judge favored Brightmark’s parent company over a slightly higher bid, preferring Brightmark’s plan to keep the facility operating over the competing bid’s liquidation plan. | Photo courtesy of Brightmark

Brightmark’s bankrupt Indiana pyrolysis facility has been sold to parent company Brightmark for $14.3 million in a move that will keep the facility operating and retain most or all of its more than 100 employees, a judge ruled this month. The latest development came after a competitive auction process with plenty of twists and turns.
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Pepsi reduces global PCR goal, extends target date

Published: May 29, 2025
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PepsiCo will now shoot for 40% global recycled plastic use by 2035, instead of 50% by 2030. | FotograFFF/Shutterstock

Citing factors outside the company’s control, brand giant PepsiCo has softened its global post-consumer recycled content target and given itself more time to achieve the goal. Continue Reading

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Industry nuance is key in adopting emerging technology

Published: May 21, 2025
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A technology-focused panel at ReMA’s 2025 conference featured Blake Gordon of Georgia-Pacific Recycling, Lisa Kagan of Buddy and Geoff Aardsma of AMCS, and was moderated by Jennifer Betts of Magnar Metals. | Photo by Colin Staub / Resource Recycling

For Blake Gordon, general manager of digital trading at Georgia-Pacific Recycling, defining next-generation technology can be boiled down to a simple question: Does it simplify something that is unnecessarily complex? If so, it’s next-gen. Continue Reading

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Experts emphasize safety after ‘disconcerting’ fatalities

Published: May 14, 2025
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The safety-focused summit came after the latest federal data showed a backslide in waste and recycling industry safety. | Sirisak baokaew/Shutterstock

As recycling companies seek to improve workplace safety amid an industry-wide increase in on-the-job fatalities, experts at a recent industry summit advised managers to focus their attention on — and for top executives, even to attend — the regular pre-shift safety meetings.

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California will fund mixed plastics facility, other projects

Published: May 14, 2025
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Stacked bales of mixed plastics.

A secondary sorting facility pulling deposit containers out of mixed plastic bales was awarded funding from the state of California. | Hiv360/Shutterstock

California’s state recycling agency will provide $10 million toward a facility sorting plastics with resin codes 2-7, additional multimillion dollar grants for several major MRF retrofits, and a handful of smaller awards for localities to install recycling collection containers. Continue Reading

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Packaging, recycling sectors connect on curbside in Seattle

Published: May 7, 2025
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Extended producer responsibility was a hot topic throughout the three-day event held in Seattle last week. | Photo Courtesy of GreenBlue Org

A common complaint among MRF operators is that they have little meaningful contact with the packaging industry, despite dealing with headaches from that industry’s products every single day.  Continue Reading

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Resin producer, environmental group lawsuits heat up

Published: April 30, 2025
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Several lawsuits centering on ExxonMobil’s role in plastic recycling and plastic pollution are slowly moving through the legal process. | Kirkam/Shutterstock

Three connected lawsuits between resin supplier ExxonMobil, a handful of nonprofit organizations and California’s attorney general are working their way through the courts. Recently, a Texas city that’s home to an ExxonMobil pyrolysis plant has joined the fray to support the company. Continue Reading

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Most major bottlers upped PCR use in California last year

Published: April 23, 2025
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California began requiring beverage manufacturers to report their annual virgin and recycled resin use beginning in 2018. | DonPablo Lorez/Shutterstock

Newly released data shows many major bottlers increased their post-consumer PET use in beverage containers sold into California last year, surpassing the state’s 15% minimum recycled content mandate for that year and putting them on track to hit the expanded mandate for 2025. Continue Reading

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Delays, retaliation mark latest tariff developments

Published: April 16, 2025
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Smartphones and laptops are exempt from U.S. tariffs targeting Chinese imports, but other goods are currently subject to 145% in duties. | Metamorworks/Shutterstock

Country-specific “reciprocal” tariffs have been pushed out until July, but a universal base rate tariff rolled out last week, which covers all countries, and earlier metals tariffs remain in effect. Meanwhile, an all-out trade war between the U.S. and China is intensifying. Continue Reading

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MRFs, reclaimers finding added value from AI

Published: April 16, 2025
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The data gleaned from AI imaging systems can help improve MRF operations on a wider scale. | Photo courtesy EverestLabs

Equipment supplier EverestLabs recently highlighted a handful of examples of how artificial intelligence-equipped data analytics can help MRF operators modify equipment settings to improve commodity recovery. Continue Reading

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