Marissa Heffernan worked at Resource Recycling from January 2022 through June 2025, first as staff reporter and then as associate editor. Marissa Heffernan started working for Resource Recycling in January 2022 after spending several years as a reporter at a daily newspaper in Southwest Washington. After developing a special focus on recycling policy, they were also the editor of the monthly newsletter Policy Now.
Marissa Heffernan moderates a panel at the 2024 Plastics Recycling Conference. | Big Wave Photography / Resource Recycling.
When I started working for Resource Recycling, I thought I knew quite a bit about recycling. After all, I grew up in a bottle bill state, turning in cans for candy money, and was the child checking neighbors’ recycling bins to make sure they were using it right. Continue Reading
Scientists from nine universities worked together on a paper, focused on the need to reduce plastic production. | Poring Studio/Shutterstock
Scientists from universities in several countries released a paper that concluded production cuts must be part of the legally binding treaty to manage global plastic pollution if it’s to achieve its goals. Continue Reading
Plastics wait to be washed, ground and used as a concrete additive at a local startup, Surpstone. Attendees toured several local businesses using recycled materials. | Marissa Heffernan / Resource Recycling
Extended producer responsibility, community engagement and chemical recycling were all hot topics for Colorado service providers, business owners and municipal representatives at a recent conference. Continue Reading
Extended producer responsibility for packaging bill S 1464 passed out of the Senate on May 28 with a vote of 33-25, but did not get a vote in the Assembly. | Real Window Creative/Shutterstock
The 2025 legislative session in New York ended, and legislators’ hopes to pass extended producer responsibility for packaging this year did as well. Continue Reading
The Alliance to End Plastic Waste announced a shift in focus from small projects to wide-scale efforts to improve recycling on a national scale. | spwidoff/Shutterstock
Five years after its billion-dollar founding, the Alliance to End Plastic Waste is taking what it learned from one-off projects and shifting its attention to country-scale change. Continue Reading
On opposite sides of the country, Maine and California are both adjusting their bottle bills. | Billion Photos/Shutterstock
California is finalizing the implementation of changes to its deposit return system for beverage containers, while Maine legislators sent a bill to the governor that would delay previous passed changes. Continue Reading
The majority of UN member countries used the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, to bring awareness to the approaching treaty negotiations. | Mario De Moya F/Shutterstock
More than 90 countries called for a renewed focus on a global plastics treaty during a recent United Nations Ocean Conference, as the clock runs down toward the next round of treaty negotiations. Continue Reading
The report touches on five main topics: recyclability of covered materials, compostability of covered materials, reuse and refill and other source reduction systems, cost coverage for local jurisdictions, and plastic leakage into the environment. | Ratchat/Shutterstock
Members of the California extended producer responsibility for packaging advisory board have identified dozens of barriers to implementation and offered up possible solutions in a recent report.
Producer responsibility organization Circular Action Alliance is making staffing changes in California as implementation ramps up. | zmotions/Shutterstock
Changes are coming at producer responsibility organization Circular Action Alliance in California, with Rachel Wagoner moving out of the California executive director role and into an “external advisory capacity.” Continue Reading
In March, California Gov. Gavin Newsom rejected SB 54 draft regulations, forcing the rulemaking process to restart. | Brandon Bourdages/Shutterstock
The first public opportunity to comment on California’s latest extended producer responsibility for packaging draft regulations stretched past the allotted time frame, with some speakers saying changes to a chemical recycling regulation section were unlawful. Continue Reading