The upstream impacts of China’s import restrictions have been increasingly covered in national and local press, raising the level of public consciousness about where recyclables ultimately end up and how that could all change.
Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].The upstream impacts of China’s import restrictions have been increasingly covered in national and local press, raising the level of public consciousness about where recyclables ultimately end up and how that could all change.
The U.S. OCC market plummeted last week as China substantially slows its recovered material imports. Inside China, the lack of import capability has driven domestic OCC prices sky high.
Government officials have confirmed they are monitoring China’s import policy changes and are joining industry associations in seeking clarification from Chinese authorities.
China’s import policy changes are forcing U.S. recycling companies to seek adjustments to municipal contracts, stockpile materials and even landfill recyclables.
State recycling money is on the chopping block in Pennsylvania, the latest arena in which legislators look to draw from recycling support funds as a way to balance the state budget.
A Canadian recycling company has been fined for violating a fair wage policy in Toronto and must pay back wages to hundreds of employees.
The world’s largest retailer underreported the number of containers it distributed over a three-year period in California, leading to $7.2 million in unpaid deposits to the state. The balance was paid in full late last year after it was revealed during an audit.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that 40 percent of municipalities included in a research set have programs aimed at diversion of food material. And those cities are not all in regions considered hotbeds of environmentalism.
A common complaint about China’s restriction on scrap materials imports is the lack of solid information about what exactly the upcoming ban will target. A Canadian plastics group is taking data-gathering into its own hands.
Rob Kaplan
In less than half a decade, the Closed Loop Fund has become a household name in the recycling industry, putting sizable capital behind a range of materials recovery initiatives. A leader from the investment effort recently put the fund’s path into perspective.