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].
The new law prohibits stores from giving out single-use bags and places an 8-cent fee on paper or reusable plastic bags. | Natalie Board/Shutterstock
Washington state will ban thin plastic bags and require thicker film bags to be made with post-consumer plastic.
Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) will boost subsidies to help keep California carpet recycling companies afloat. | ND700/Shutterstock
A stewardship group is boosting subsidies for California’s carpet recycling companies, which have been hit with a double whammy of coronavirus impacts and low virgin plastic prices.
The $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act includes $377 billion for small businesses. | ItzaVU/Shutterstock
The bipartisan stimulus bill signed into law by President Trump last week includes hundreds of billions of dollars in assistance to companies with fewer than 500 employees.
Tangent Technologies announced that it acquired Bedford Technology in late February. | YP photographer/Shutterstock
A company that recycles HDPE into composite lumber has acquired another manufacturer in the same space.
An ongoing battle between OPEC and Russia is flooding the market with cheap barrels of oil, threatening downward pressure on virgin plastics prices. | Rebekah Zemansky/Shutterstock
Construction has been delayed on two large U.S. prime plastics plants – one because of high costs and the other due to coronavirus. At the same time, an oil price war put downward pressure on virgin plastic prices.
The EcoCart is made with 10% post-consumer HDPE derived from bulky rigids. | Courtesy of Cascade Cart Solutions
Cascade Cart Solutions has produced 22 million carts for Waste Management over three decades, but last week marked a milestone: the first time the company has deployed carts made with recycled curbside residential plastics.
Trex uses about 500 million pounds of recovered polyethylene film and sawdust to make composite lumber each year. | Photo courtesy of Trex online product gallery.
Trex, which uses recovered polyethylene film to make composite wood products, boosted its sales and profits in 2019.
Fires are an ever-present concern for plastics recycling facilities. | zeyaman/Shutterstock
A recently published guidance document helps recycling facilities draft plans to avert and mitigate fires.
The Washington legislature passed a bill prohibiting retailers from providing single-use plastic bags and requiring reusable bags have post-consumer content. | anystock/Shutterstock
Washington state lawmakers will send the governor a bill mandating use of recycled plastic in beverage bottles. They also passed a bill banning thin plastic bags and mandating recycled content in thicker reusable bags.
The resealable stand-up pouch pictured here can be recycled alongside 100% polyethylene films at stores. | Courtesy of The Kellogg Company.
A Kellogg’s brand has begun using a pouch with an additive that compatibalizes its EVOH barrier layer and PE film during recycling.