Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Circularix will double the capacity of its Pennsylvania plant, pictured here, and open a new facility in Florida. | Photo courtesy Circularix
A company that brings in recycled PET flake and processes it into food-grade pellets will open its second U.S. facility in Florida the coming months and double the capacity of its first plant later this year. Continue Reading
Shein’s interest in chemical recycling comes as the company works toward a goal to increase annual recycled polyester use from 7.9% to 31% in its apparel by 2030. | Graffitimi/Shutterstock
Editor’s note: Learn more about textile recycling and many other topics at the upcoming Textile Recovery Summit, part of the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference on March 24-26 in National Harbor, Maryland.
Global clothing e-commerce retailer Shein has developed a chemical recycling process alongside a Chinese research university and is planning to start up a facility in June, producing 6.6 million pounds per year of chemically recycled polyester for use in its apparel. Continue Reading
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.
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.
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
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 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
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
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
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.