Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].
The returned containers held a total of 3.2 million pounds of material. | porjai kittawornrat/Shutterstock
More Southeast Asian nations are sending contaminated recyclables back to their originating country, as governments in the region continue to grapple with higher scrap plastic and paper import volumes.
Indonesia has become the fourth largest importer of U.S. recovered paper. | Naruedom Yaempongsa/Shutterstock
A top importer of U.S. recovered paper continues to develop new quality criteria for inbound shipments, despite previous signs the country had settled on specific contamination thresholds.
2017 brought the lowest volume of film recovered and sold since 2010. | taniascamera/Shutterstock
Non-bottle mixed plastics and film recycling have experienced their first major drops in a decade, two studies indicate. But amid the challenges, domestic use of both streams increased.
Regulatory changes could prevent the U.S. from exporting mixed plastics to a number of countries. | rawf8/Shutterstock
Federal regulators are asking countries that are major buyers of U.S. recyclables to refrain from implementing new trade restrictions laid out in the Basel Convention, a treaty covering global scrap material shipments.
A newly formed business called Willamette Falls Paper Company will reopen the former West Linn Paper Company mill. | hxdyl/Shutterstock
A shuttered paper mill near Portland, Ore. will reopen this year, and the new operator has hinted the site will incorporate recovered paper feedstock as it scales up in the future.
The average blended value for recyclables at U.S. MRFs was recently calculated at around $35 per ton. | hiv360/Shutterstock
Between overseas import restrictions, tariff impacts and domestic market volatility, an erratic environment has become the norm for recycling operators around North America.
Olympia, Wash. | Christoper Boswell/Shutterstock
The Pacific Northwest has been hit hard by market downturns, driving lawmakers in Washington state to order an examination of how the state can fortify regional end markets and processing capacity. That research is now public.
Waste Management is purchasing Advanced Disposal for nearly $5 billion. | rblfmr/Shutterstock
Waste Management’s largest acquisition to date has been approved by shareholders, paving the way for the company to purchase Advanced Disposal Services for $4.9 billion.
Pace Glass will build a facility to recycle MRF-sourced glass into a variety of products. | pjhpix/Shutterstock
New Jersey-based Pace Glass is set to build a facility cleaning up MRF-sourced glass for use in containers, fiberglass insulation and other products.
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Various approaches to increasing end market material utilization are detailed in a report featuring interviews with stakeholders across the recycling chain.