Associate Editor Jared Paben has worked for Resource Recycling since December 2014. Most of his earlier career was spent as a reporter for the daily newspaper in Bellingham, Wash., but he also has experience working for the Oregon volunteerism commission and for Oregon nonprofits serving low-income populations. He can be contacted at [email protected].
NERC’s Next Generation Scholarship Fund is just one of multiple conversations the group is having on the topic of diversity, equity and inclusion. | Lightspring/Shutterstock
Leaders at the Northeast Recycling Council recently explained how they’ll use a new scholarship fund to help boost racial diversity in the next generation of recycling industry professionals.
North Carolina will invest nearly half a million dollars in grants to 16 recyclables processors. | Nordroden/Shutterstock
North Carolina will help pay for projects to improve PP sorting, recover mixed-color bottle flakes, shred old curbside carts, collect laboratory plastics and more.
The U.S. EPA is considering changing the calculation methodology for determining the nation’s recycling rate. | Rokas Tenys/Shutterstock
If a process breaks down scrap plastics into chemicals that are later used to make new plastic, should the federal government consider that “recycling?” What if the end product is a fuel that is combusted?
One million dollars in grants will go to pay for PP sorting equipment and efforts to communicate to households that PP is accepted in their curbside programs. | Courtesy of KW Plastics.
Materials recovery facilities in Minnesota, North Carolina and Texas will receive financial support to enable PP recovery.
The Lethbridge MRF sorts and bales recyclables from 30,000 single-family houses and over 2,500 multi-family units.
A municipal materials recovery facility in Canada’s Alberta province was built with future growth in mind. And plastics recovery is a clear part of the equation.
California regulators had fined the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), accusing the stewardship group of failing to improve carpet recycling performance over several years. | optimarc/Shutterstock
A stewardship group will pay over $1 million in penalties for failing to meet California’s carpet recycling requirements, according to state officials.
Money laundering and securities fraud have landed two former plastics recycling executives in federal prison. | Zolnierek/Shutterstock
Two former executives at Lucent Polymers have been sentenced to years in federal prison, after they pleaded guilty to securities fraud and money laundering charges.
Crews remove plastic litter from Hunting Bayou in the Houston area. | Courtesy of Texans for Clean Water
Legislation being considered in Texas would create a program injecting tens of millions of dollars into the recycling system each year while also paying consumers to return plastic bottles, cups and film.
Unilever uses about 118,000 metric tons of plastic packaging in North America each year, half of which is post-consumer resin. | Peter Bueno/Shutterstock
Unilever North America will invest $15 million in the Closed Loop Partners Leadership Fund, a private equity platform that helps grow companies in the recycling value chain.
Petoskey Plastics’ McKinney, Texas facility will help the company meet increased demand for its blown film products. | Courtesy of Petoskey Plastics.
Recycled-content film company Petoskey Plastics will expand with a plant in the Dallas area, its fourth U.S. facility.