Pacific Northwest recycling stakeholders met up last week to talk recycling markets, policy developments, outreach strategies and more.
Colin Staub was a reporter and associate editor at Resource Recycling until August 2025.Pacific Northwest recycling stakeholders met up last week to talk recycling markets, policy developments, outreach strategies and more.
A perfect storm of industry pressures, including declines in commodity prices and rises in freight costs, led a Canadian waste and recycling firm to shutter this week.
Coca-Cola will help develop a $19 million plastics recycling facility in the Philippines, marking the company’s first recycling operation in Southeast Asia.
Experts say a deposit system for non-alcoholic beverage containers would complement a Canadian province’s curbside recycling system, by cutting costs and increasing the volume of material recycled each year.
Containers at a port in Jakarta, indonesia.
Import guidelines for scrap paper shipments to Indonesia have been revised and are less stringent than initially proposed, the country’s government announced last week. Still, the rules will mean additional inspections for paper traders.
Governments, MRF operators, reclaimers and end users are calling for government regulation that requires recycled content in plastic bags.
Maine capitol building in Augusta.
The state of Maine has pledged to implement extended producer responsibility for packaging materials. Legislation will be proposed by the end of this year.
Recycling operators across the country two years ago were enjoying record high values for old corrugated containers. Now, they are either storing the material, unloading it at little profit or sending loads to disposal.
U.S. recovered plastic exports during the first quarter were down by nearly half from a year ago. Paper shipments remained stronger due to ongoing Chinese demand and growing alternative markets.
U.S. recovered paper and plastic exports each grew slightly in April, hitting their largest monthly volumes so far in 2019.