Amid lower PET bale prices, CalRecycle aims to offset costs for plastics recyclers. | Nixx Photography/Shutterstock
California regulators will double the subsidy paid to PET recycling companies, citing the lower prices that bottle bales are fetching on the market.
SB 353 aims to protect recycling companies from severe market fluctuations, which have been a factor in many closures. | Susanne Pommer/Shutterstock
A newly introduced bill in the California Senate would adjust how state regulators calculate the amount of money paid to bottle and can recycling businesses, helping those companies avoid steep financial losses when scrap values plummet.
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The latest drop-off center from the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative uses AI to rapidly count and identify bottles and other containers. | Marissa Heffernan/Resource Recycling, Inc.
The busiest container redemption center in Oregon recently got an upgrade, delivering the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative’s neural network technology to a consumer-facing location for the first time.
Thermoforms like those shown here often contain post-consumer material from bottles, but a California bill would require post-consumer thermoforms to be used in production of new thermoforms. | Anakumka/Shutterstock
Current debate over a California bill requiring PET thermoforms to contain RPET derived from thermoforms boils down to one question: What will materials recovery facilities do?
Amended bill text would require beverage retailers to accept containers or join a dealer cooperative. | Glenn Highcove/Shuttestock
Last-minute amendments to California bottle bill expansion legislation would remove the daily fee opt-out for retailers and instead require them to either accept containers or join a dealer cooperative to coordinate collection, along with several other changes.
Legislators from around the U.S. grappled with bottle bills this year. | Namitha Hebbar/Shutterstock
Bottle bills were popular this legislative session, with updates and expansions passed or considered in several states.
Changes to Iowa’s bottle redemption program are awaiting the Governor’s signature. | Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock
Iowa lawmakers have approved container deposit legislation that triples the bottle handling fee but allows grocery stores and other retail entities to opt out of the collection system, a fact that could significantly reduce redemption access.
The New York State Capitol in Albany. | Real Window Creative/Shutterstock
In recent days, a proposal for extended producer responsibility was sidelined in New York, and Iowa lawmakers sat deadlocked over legislation to update the bottle bill.
A study found that modernizing bottle bills in five Northeast states could create up to $160 million in savings to local governments and add up to $1.4 billion to the region’s economy annually. | Pazargic Liviu/Shutterstock
By updating older deposit return systems, states can create jobs, increase municipal savings and boost recycling rates, according to research from nonprofit Reloop North America.
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David Biderman, far right, addresses the audience at the 2022 Plastics Recycling Conference | Brian Adams Photo
Interest in minimum-recycled-content mandates and extended producer responsibility bills is at an all-time high, but the reality of passing legislation is more complicated, according to industry experts.