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.
Panelists discuss how collaboration can benefit all parties during the session “The New Era of Collaboration” at the 2024 Plastics Recycling Conference in Grapevine, Texas. | Big Wave Productions/Resource Recycling
Collaboration between all parts of the plastic value chain is necessary to advance sustainability goals, and four companies at the 2024 Plastics Recycling Conference showed how they’re embodying that idea. Continue Reading
Plastic bale wrap used to store livestock feed, such as silage, is collected for recycling through a Cleanfarms pilot program. | Photo courtesy of Cleanfarms
2023 was a record-breaking collection year for Canadian ag recycling nonprofit Cleanfarms.
Minnesota became the fifth U.S. state to pass extended producer responsibility for packaging. | IMG_191/Shutterstock
After months of collaboration and negotiation, stakeholders in Minnesota walked away with an extended producer responsibility bill for packaging that had elements both familiar and unique, and an overarching question: Is this the first state in a new wave of EPR or a continuation of early adopters?
A May 28 webinar, “Coalition Building for Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging and Paper Products,” shared tips and tricks for passing EPR legislation with a strong group of supporters. | Marina-Onokhina/Shutterstock
Getting extended producer responsibility legislation passed takes a strong coalition, targeted education and a lot of meetings, those involved with the process in several states said during a recent webinar.
Oregon residents generated about 6.1 million tons of material in 2022, with 3.7 million tons going to landfills and incinerators and 2.4 million tons recovered. | Maksim Safaniuk/Shutterstock
The amount of material Oregonians disposed of in 2022 dropped significantly from the year before, largely due to fewer building-destroying wildfires, and about 2% of overall material was plastic. Continue Reading
Emily Friedman, a recycled plastics senior editor at ICIS, expects steady growth in U.S. mechanical recycling capacity despite a slowdown on the announcement of greenfield facilities. | Zombiemaster/Shutterstock
After attending NPE 2024, ICIS’s Emily Friedman walked away thinking that producers of durables are showing interest in recycled resins, the plastics industry needs to add its voice to policy discussions, and there’s growth on the horizon for both mechanical and chemical recycling capacity. Continue Reading
Minnesota sent an EPR bill to its governor in a budget bill. | Rawf8/Shutterstock
Minnesota is officially the fifth U.S. state to pass extended producer responsibility for packaging after adding the program language into the 2024 Environment and Natural Resources Budget, which the governor signed. Continue Reading
Shannon Gordon, the chief operating officer of Circular.Co., speaks about the growing trend of digital commodity trading at the 2024 Plastics Recycling Conference. | Big Wave Productions/Plastics Recycling Update
Online buying, selling and trading is the future of recycled commodity sales – but we’re not in the future quite yet, digital platform providers said at the 2024 Plastics Recycling Conference in March. Continue Reading
The equipment upgrades will allow the MRF to recycle more types of plastics, including polypropylene plastic bottles, jars, jugs and tubs. | Ken Wolter/Shutterstock
WM has finished $23 million in automation updates at its Pittsburgh MRF, increasing the facility’s capacity by 10 tons of material per hour. Continue Reading
RRS compiled initial data on the collection and recycling system in the state, and of the 121 categories of data the report sought, 43 were available, 27 were partially available and 51 were currently unknown or not currently available. | BestStockFoto/Shutterstock
While New York has several efforts underway to gather more recycling data, significant gaps still remain and could complicate passage of an extended producer responsibility bill for paper and packaging, a recent analysis found. Continue Reading