Improperly disposed lithium-ion batteries can be a fire risk at MRFs. | Janaka Dharmasena/Shutterstock
Legislation making lithium-ion battery producers responsible for collecting and recycling the products they sell is advancing in California.
Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].Improperly disposed lithium-ion batteries can be a fire risk at MRFs. | Janaka Dharmasena/Shutterstock
Legislation making lithium-ion battery producers responsible for collecting and recycling the products they sell is advancing in California.
Legislation introduced last week establishes a framework to enable recycling-related investments. | LWPhotography/Shutterstock
Recycling issues have hit the national stage with unprecedented fervor in recent weeks. Citing recycling market challenges and growing plastic pollution, lawmakers are advancing legislation and pressuring government agencies to take action.
Every year municipal crews in Los Angeles collect 1.5 million tons of material.
The second-largest city in the country also has a very ambitious waste diversion goal: 90% by 2025. That means Los Angeles must stay creative to continue managing the massive volume of recyclables its residents generate.
A bill from Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar provides federal funding to help local municipalities invest in materials recovery initiatives. | Supachai Pakdeesrisakda/Shutterstock
A waste reduction and recycling support bill has been introduced in Congress, with lawmakers describing the legislation as a significant component of the Green New Deal.
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.