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Author Archives: Colin Staub

About Colin Staub

Colin-StaubColin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Experts share safety tips after ‘disconcerting’ fatalities

Published: May 13, 2025
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Recycling collection worker taking bin to truck.

The safety-focused summit came after the latest federal data showed a backslide in waste and recycling industry safety. | M2020/Shutterstock

As recycling companies seek to improve workplace safety amid an industry-wide increase in on-the-job fatalities, experts at a recent industry summit advised managers to focus their attention on — and for top executives, even to attend — the regular pre-shift safety meetings.

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CalRecycle to fund mixed plastics facility, other projects

Published: May 6, 2025
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Stacked bales of mixed plastics.

A secondary sorting facility pulling deposit containers out of mixed plastic bales was awarded funding from the state of California. | Hiv360/Shutterstock

California’s state recycling agency will provide $10 million toward a facility sorting plastics with resin codes 2-7, additional multimillion dollar grants for several major MRF retrofits, and a handful of smaller awards for localities to install recycling collection containers. Continue Reading

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Packaging and recycling sectors connect in Seattle

Published: May 6, 2025
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Extended producer responsibility was a hot topic throughout the three-day event held in Seattle last week. | Photo Courtesy of GreenBlue Org

A common complaint among MRF operators is that they have little meaningful contact with the packaging industry, despite dealing with headaches from that industry’s products every single day.  Continue Reading

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Seattle MRF rolls out robotic sorting and AI analytics

Published: April 29, 2025
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A Glacier robot positioned on the sorting line at Seattle’s King County MRF. | Photo by Colin Staub

A Seattle-area sorting facility operated by Recology has installed imaging and sorting equipment supplied by Glacier, adding another major MRF to the company’s two-dozen customers. Glacier also announced it has raised additional capital that CEO Rebecca Hu-Thrams said will help the company grow further and faster. Continue Reading

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Maryland county offers e-scrap curb pickup

Published: April 29, 2025
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A county collection program servicing 223,000 single-family households is rolling out on-demand curbside electronics and battery collection accepting virtually all types of e-scrap. | Photo courtesy Montgomery County Department of Environment Protection

By creatively utilizing existing collection infrastructure, a county government in Maryland is rolling out curbside electronics and battery collection for all electronics at no additional cost. Continue Reading

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Bottlers say PCR usage rose, clearing minimum

Published: April 29, 2025
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California began requiring beverage manufacturers to report their annual virgin and recycled resin use beginning in 2018. | DonPablo Lorez/Shutterstock

Newly released data shows many major bottlers increased their post-consumer PET use in beverage containers sold into California last year, surpassing the state’s 15% minimum recycled content mandate for that year and putting them on track to hit the expanded mandate for 2025. Continue Reading

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Tariff whirlwind continues with delays, retaliation

Published: April 15, 2025
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Smartphones and laptops are exempt from U.S. tariffs targeting Chinese imports, but other goods are currently subject to 145% in duties. | Metamorworks/Shutterstock

Country-specific reciprocal tariffs have been pushed out until July, but a universal base rate tariff rolled out last week, which covers all countries, and earlier metals tariffs remain in effect. Meanwhile, an all-out trade war between the U.S. and China is intensifying. Continue Reading

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How AI imaging is helping MRFs and a reclaimer

Published: April 8, 2025
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The data gleaned from AI imaging systems can help improve MRF operations on a wider scale. | Photo courtesy EverestLabs

Equipment supplier EverestLabs recently highlighted a handful of examples of how artificial intelligence-equipped data analytics can help MRF operators modify equipment settings to improve commodity recovery. Continue Reading

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MRFs in motion: New facilities progress in Texas, Alabama

Published: April 1, 2025
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Circular Services’ MRF in North Texas will carry a $61 million investment and total 120,000 square feet. | Photo courtesy Circular Services

A southwest Alabama MRF that drew state and industry financial support has opened its doors, marking a significant step in localizing processing and lowering costs for area municipalities. Meanwhile, Circular Services broke ground on a single-stream MRF to serve a North Texas community. Continue Reading

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Recycling facility fires increase substantially in 2024

Published: March 18, 2025
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Across all waste and recycling facility categories, publicly reported fires in the U.S. and Canada jumped 15% from 373 in 2023 to 430 in 2024. | Mino Surkala/Shutterstock

Publicly reported fires at MRFs and transfer stations increased by 20% in 2024 over the prior year, according to an annual review by fire detection equipment supplier Fire Rover. It’s the highest yearly figure since the company began tracking fire statistics. Continue Reading

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