Colin Staub was a reporter and associate editor at Resource Recycling until August 2025.
CalRecycle, headquartered in the green-topped building, gets its authority to regulate battery labels from California’s Dry Cell Battery Management Act of 1993. | Courtesy of CalRecycle.
California officials are considering new labeling requirements concerning lithium-ion battery recycling, as the batteries continue to cause fires at MRFs around the country.
PreZero Polymers’ Jurupa Valley, Calif. campus, which is set to open early next year, will process post-consumer film. | Image courtesy of PreZero US.
A joint venture is set to launch two U.S. processing plants in 2020, bringing new outlets for lower-grade materials. Investments in the projects will total at least $90 million. Continue Reading
With its wide open spaces and physical distance from the rest of the country, things work a little differently in Alaska.
U.S. exporters shipped 4.5 million short tons of recovered fiber from July through September. That’s the lowest third-quarter volume since 2006. | MAGNIFIER / Shutterstock
Overseas appetite for scrap plastic dwindled in the third quarter. On the domestic side, operators report stable movement for common curbside materials, although fiber pricing remains a challenge.
Denmark-headquartered Baltic Control was approved as an inspector of U.S. exports to China earlier this year | Bullstar/Shutterstock
China has approved the first non-Chinese-government-affiliated entity to inspect U.S. recovered fiber shipments to the Asia country. The move raises questions about the country’s long-term plans for recovered fiber imports.
Waste watchdog Basel Action Network tracked containers of mixed paper that were shipped from the U.S. to Indonesia and were rejected. | Naruedom Yaempongsa/Shutterstock
Contaminated bales of recycled paper stonewalled at Indonesian ports were not returned to the U.S. as promised, according to environmental organizations.
ABA President and CEO Katherine Lugar presented a major recycling funding initiative alongside leaders from beverage companies. | Photo credit: YouTube
Coca-Cola, Keurig Dr Pepper and PepsiCo today pledged to put their money behind boosting processing technology and increasing curbside collection access. They’ll also introduce a uniform recycling message on their bottles next year.
Packaging Corporation of America will add 350,000 tons per year of OCC pulping capacity at its Wallula, Wash. mill. | Google Earth
Packaging Corporation of America will begin consuming OCC at a mill in the Pacific Northwest, citing customer demand, feedstock availability and cost savings.
OCC has traded for consistently lower prices each month this year. | create jobs 51/Shutterstock
Executives from paper manufacturers that consume major tonnages of OCC and mixed paper recently offered their thoughts on where the recycled-material market is headed.
Jenna Jambeck was the keynote at this year’s Resource Recycling Conference and Trade Show, held in late summer. | Resource Recycling Conference/Brian Adams Photography
The statistic has taken on almost household familiarity: 91% of plastic ever created has not been recycled, and a massive amount has become litter. Jenna Jambeck, a researcher who helped formulate that number, recently spoke about solutions to the pollution problem.