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.
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
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
At the 2024 Resource Recycling Conference, attendees discussed a range of hard-to-recycle materials, including textiles. | RecycleMan/Shutterstock
Policy, partnerships and planning are all crucial components of scaling up textile recycling, stakeholders said during a panel discussion at the 2024 Resource Recycling Conference. Continue Reading
Under Maine’s EPR program, signed into law in 2021, producers directly reimburse municipalities for collection and recycling of materials. | Yurii Prohonnyi/Shutterstock
Maine approved rules for its extended producer responsibility law for packaging, three years after becoming the first state to pass packaging EPR. Continue Reading
The third iteration of Oregon’s program plan had more accurate cost estimates, after Circular Action Alliance carried out a costing survey over the summer. | Nadia Yong/Shutterstock
Oregon moved its rulemaking process ahead for its extended producer responsibility for packaging law set to roll out next summer, and Circular Action Alliance also released its third program plan draft. Continue Reading
Amy Uong, second from right, speaks during ‘Saying Yes in the Land of No,’ a session held during the Resource Recycling Conference in Kentucky last month. | Dan Holtmeyer/Resource Recycling, Inc.
Faced with challenges moving recycled materials in recent years, MRFs and curbside recycling programs have occasionally opted to stop accepting certain materials, particularly experimental or harder-to-market packaging types.
Panelists at the 2024 E-Scrap Conference provided insight into issues facing e-plastics, and their views on what lies ahead. | Big Wave Productions/Resource Recycling
With domestic demand building slowly, U.S. processors must look to industries outside electronics manufacturing to absorb their e-plastics volumes, according to panelists at the recent E-Scrap Conference in Orlando. Continue Reading
About 30,000 tons of biopharma single-use plastic is disposed of every year globally, representing a unique opportunity for closed-loop recycling, some in the industry say. | Elpisterra/Shutterstock
The medical and research fields hold great potential for closed-loop plastic recycling as long as logistics can be solved, some in the industry recently said – and several companies are working to do just that. Continue Reading
The new How2Recycle Plus label will include a QR code to provide more detailed recycling acceptance information. | Dan Leif/Resource Recycling, Inc.
How2Recycle has announced new looks and capabilities for its labels, including the ability to scan a QR code and access The Recycling Partnership’s Recycle Check data.