Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].
By material type, the percentage of plastic containers redeemed through the Oregon deposit program increased more than other materials in 2019. | Picsfive/Shutterstock
Consumers in Oregon last year returned 86% of all beverage containers covered under the state’s container deposit program, according to newly released figures.
The U.S. exported 7.35 million short tons of recovered fiber during the first half of 2020, down 25% year over year. | Halawi/Shutterstock
New trade figures show lower U.S. exports of both recovered paper and plastic from January to June, compared with the same period last year. The decline was largely driven by less material going to China and India.
A company spokesperson told Resource Recycling that upon conversion the mill will use about 660,000 tons per year of OCC and mixed paper as feedstock. | SocoXbreed/Shutterstock
Paper giant Domtar will convert a printing and writing paper mill to produce recycled packaging using OCC and mixed paper.
Users of the ZeLoop app will receive cryptocurrency for bringing materials to recycling collection sites. | Courtesy of ZeLoop.
A mobile app in beta testing seeks to reward users for properly recycling materials at drop-off locations. The company says an exchange of currency is vital to the process.
Numerous domestic recycled paper mill investments have been announced in the past two years, suggesting a much stronger domestic market for recycled paper in the years to come. | noomcpk/Shutterstock
Recycled paper mill leaders recently weighed in on the factors behind market shifts, how the coronavirus pandemic is impacting generation and demand, and where markets are headed in the future.
A new 350,000-square-foot corrugated manufacturing facility in Ohio will consume recycled paper. | Huguette Roe/Shutterstock
A European corrugated packaging producer will build its first U.S. plant in Ohio, where the company plans to consume more than 66,000 short tons of recovered paper per year.
Brightmark is seeking over 1,000,000 tons of difficult-to-recycle plastics for chemical recycling. | hiv360/Shutterstock
A chemical recycling firm is on the hunt for a massive quantity of plastics Nos. 1-7, material the company plans to process at plastics-to-fuel facilities across the country.
Shipping giant Maersk announced as of Sept. 1, 2020 it will no longer take scrap material shipments to China. | Mariusz Bugno/Shutterstock
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.
Major companies have launched an initiative to explore single-use plastic bag design. | daizuoxin/Shutterstock
Target, Walmart and others are working with Closed Loop Partners on a $15 million project to explore alternatives to traditional plastic bags in the retail sector.
Recent research determined that in 2019, UBCs made up 12.5% of potential revenues in MRFs in bottle bill states and 33% of potential revenues in MRFs in non-bottle-bill states. | Graham Corney/Shutterstock
Robotics and additional eddy current separators are key to maximizing sortation of used beverage cans, according to MRF operators, researchers and other experts.