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Author Archives: Colin Staub

About Colin Staub

Colin-StaubColin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Behind Strategic’s bankruptcy, interest rates and market shifts

Published: December 8, 2023
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Glass bottles collected for recycling.

Strategic Materials cited rising feedstock prices and lower volumes, shifts in packaging away from glass, and other factors in its Chapter 11 filing. | Courtesy of the Glass Packaging Institute

A major U.S. downstream outlet for recovered glass from MRFs and bottle deposit programs filed for bankruptcy this month, citing $432 million in debts and interest. Strategic Materials says it plans to reorganize and continue operating normally without interruption. Continue Reading

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Demand shifts continue to roil U.S. mills

Published: December 12, 2023
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Baled OCC for recycling.

Rising OCC prices led to a more expensive quarter for major fiber end users in the U.S. | Vitaliy Kyrychuk/Shutterstock

The third quarter of 2023 brought continued economic challenges that led another paper company to shut down a recycled fiber mill, joining a handful that did so early this year. But there were signs of positive fiber market changes coming. Continue Reading

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Carton end market Kelly Green hits full capacity

Published: December 12, 2023
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Kelly Green Products’s Connecticut facility is running at full capacity as of November, but the company is already making expansion plans. | Courtesy of Kelly Green Products

Composite board manufacturer Kelly Green Products ramped up to full scale in November and is currently processing 400 tons of post-consumer cartons per month at its Waterbury, Conn. plant. Continue Reading

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Plastic bag drop-off resource is taken off-line

Published: December 4, 2023
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The Film Drop-Off Directory is ending services after 20 years of operation. | Pavel Kubarkov/Shutterstock

A long-running comprehensive guide to public drop-off sites accepting plastic film has been taken down, leaving a gap in consumer-facing recycling information for bags and other flexible packaging. Continue Reading

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Industry illness and injury rates on the rise in 2022

Published: November 13, 2023
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After reaching a low point in 2021, workplace injuries and illnesses have since climbed back up. | 3rdtimeluckystudio/Shutterstock

Workers across the waste and recycling industry saw a higher rate of injuries and illnesses last year, after record low incident rates in 2021. Continue Reading

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Plastics recovery project underway in Pacific Northwest

Published: August 20, 2019
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An industry-backed demonstration project is taking place at a former Far West Recycling facility in Portland, Ore. | Jared Paben / Resource Recycling, Inc.

Aug. 1 kicked off public demonstrations of an effort to sort a variety of resins from loads of material otherwise bound for disposal. The goal is to develop a pool of data that can help guide future industry investments.
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MRF operator: Lithium-ion batteries are ‘ticking time bombs’

Published: April 13, 2021
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Fire truck in motion with lights on.

A fire at Tulsa’s MRF is the latest example of the industry trend of fires caused by improperly disposed batteries and electronics. | BlurAZ/Shutterstock

The city of Tulsa, Okla. was forced to redirect its residential recycling stream to a waste-to-energy plant after an improperly discarded battery sparked a blaze at a local MRF.

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