As brand owners increasingly require larger volumes of higher-quality recycled plastic, the procurement landscape is gradually shifting to a more formalized structure, while less traditional sourcing also continues to emerge. | Meaw Stocker/Shutterstock
Editor’s note: Learn more about procurement trends and many other topics at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference on March 24-26 in National Harbor, Maryland. Continue Reading
Research from RRS found that in 2021, only 9% of U.S. recycling programs used a search app or tool for outreach, but apps appear to be gaining in popularity. | zhu-difeng/Shutterstock
Smartphones are a ubiquitous tool for many Americans, and several states have recently started using apps, including Recycle Coach, to disseminate recycling information.
The U.S. EPA surveyed agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 11 U.S. territories in its latest report, the Recycling Needs Survey and Assessment. | Marina Onokhina/Shutterstock
A pair of reports from the U.S. EPA shines a light on just how fragmented data collection in the recycling industry is and the investment that would be needed to shore it up.
Lee Zeldin is President Trump’s nominee to lead the federal agency that is closest to the recycling industry. | Photo courtesy C-SPAN
During a three-hour confirmation hearing, President Donald Trump’s pick for U.S. EPA administrator said he is still learning about chemical recycling, praised the marine debris-focused Save Our Seas Act as a model of bipartisan plastic pollution legislation and said PFAS regulation will be a “big issue” for him.
Two university teams developed processes using electromagnetic waves and engineered wastewater bacteria to address plastic pollution. | Poring Studio/Shutterstock
University researchers have come up with two new methods to break down plastic waste – one for reuse and the other to rid wastewater of microplastics. Continue Reading
The guide directs users to various retail and other collection sites around the U.S. that accept film for drop-off recycling. | Mabeline72/Shutterstock
Editor’s note: Learn more about film recycling trends and many other topics at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference on March 24-26 in National Harbor, Maryland. Continue Reading
Curbside plastic grades either jumped up significantly in price or remained steady at the beginning of 2025.
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While overall workplace fatalities decreased in the U.S. in 2023, the waste and recycling industry was a troubling outlier. | Wave Break Media/Shutterstock
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.
Nine workers died in U.S. materials recovery facilities in 2023 and the death rate for refuse and recyclable material collectors jumped more than 80%, according to the latest annual numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continue Reading
As 2024 wound to close, major plastic resin producers were hit with two similar recycling-related class-action lawsuits – the latest in a growing trend of pursuing legal means of recouping costs for plastic pollution. | Zolnierek/Shutterstock
ExxonMobil on Monday filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alleging that he and several environmental groups defamed the global oil and chemical company “for politics, publicity and private gain.” Continue Reading
With the addition of EPS bans in California and Oregon, the entire West Coast now has some level of restriction on the material. | Kittiwat Chaitoep/Shutterstock
As of the first of the year, restrictions on EPS foodware items in California and Oregon are officially in effect. Continue Reading