Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].
Kelly Semrau, SC Johnson
For years, the plastics recycling sector has aimed to keep plastic film out of curbside bins and carts, in an effort to both keep the material clean and avoid the well-documented problems bags and other items cause at recycling facilities.
Thousands of tons of materials were seized during a raid in the Chinese province of Guangdong last week. It’s the latest enforcement action taken as part of China’s ongoing campaign to combat low-quality recovered-material imports.
Two large operations involved in PET recovery in Southern California will receive assistance from a state agency in expanding or bringing facilities on-line.
The future of recovered materials exports to China remains hazy, but the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) made a few things clear after a recent trip to Hong Kong and Beijing.
China’s recent crackdown on scrap imports has exposed smuggling operations, led to dozens of arrests and resulted in the confiscation of more than 22,000 tons of material.
CarbonLite, a reclaimer producing food-grade recycled PET, will double its processing capacity this year with the construction of a $62 million facility in Dallas.
The City of Calgary’s curbside recycling program has accepted plastic bags since it was rolled out in 2009, but it has faced a recurring issue: residents tossing them in the cart loose, instead of in bundles. This year, an outreach campaign aimed to address the problem head-on.
Recycling organizations will try to sell Congress on the economic and environmental benefits of the U.S. EPA’s Waste Minimization and Recycling program, which is cut in President Trump’s proposed budget.
A manufacturer has been recognized for its process that uses 100 percent post-consumer plastics from e-scrap, as well as packaging and textiles, sourced from recycling companies across the U.S.
Pharmacies generate an abundant supply of clean, white HDPE that more often than not goes straight into the waste stream. The Association of Plastic Recyclers is looking to change that.