Waste Connections recycling collection truck unloads material at the Balcones MRF in Austin, Texas.

Insight from a leader at Waste Connections drew attention last month. | Resource Recycling file photo.

MRF, hauler, market, technology and exports articles all landed on our read-most list last month.

The list below shows our top stories published in July in terms of unique page views.

1 | Mixed-waste facility’s future uncertain after closure
Higher-than-expected costs, recycling market turbulence and other factors led to the recent shutdown of a Maine mixed-waste processing plant. Stakeholders are hoping a new operator can restart the plant, which had run for just one year.

2 | How pandemic has affected WM and Waste Connections
Two large publicly held waste and recycling companies are taking in higher residential volumes during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they say contamination has been flat. Recently, they’ve also started seeing critical upticks on the commercial side.

3 | OCC price falls for second straight month
The price of recovered corrugated fiber took another significant dive last month, but mixed paper held relatively steady.

4 | Environmental group takes aim at chemical recycling of plastics
A report from activist organization GAIA claims processing strategies that have been heavily promoted by the polymer industry amount to a “greenwashing tactic” undermining efforts to ban single-use plastics.

5 | Largest shipping company won’t take recyclables to China
Citing China’s upcoming legislation that will ban all “solid waste” imports, APM-Maersk this month announced it will stop shipping virtually all recovered materials to China and Hong Kong in the coming weeks.

Van Dyk