Colin Staub is a reporter at Resource Recycling. He can be contacted at [email protected].
A leader with Waste Connections said that his company has seen increased collection volumes during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Resource Recycling file photo.
Two large publicly held waste and recycling companies are taking in higher residential volumes during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they say contamination has been flat. Recently, they’ve also started seeing critical upticks on the commercial side.
The Glass Recycling Coalition’s MRF glass certification program recognizes sorting facilities that invest to improve glass quality. | sirtravelalot/Shutterstock
MRFs that are early participants in a glass certification program recently described the benefits of the new initiative.
The Coastal Resources of Maine (CRM) facility in Hampden, Maine launched last year to handle mixed waste from numerous municipalities. | Screen shot from company video
Higher-than-expected costs, recycling market turbulence and other factors led to the recent shutdown of a Maine mixed-waste processing plant. Stakeholders are hoping a new operator can restart the plant, which had run for just one year.
In 2019, Republic Services opened a tech-heavy MRF in Plano, Texas that uses a positive-sorting approach to produce clean bales.
Republic Services spent $34 million on equipment upgrades at its recycling facilities last year, and it closed 12 MRFs in a consolidation effort.
Crossroads Paper CEO John Sasine speaks at an event July 10 announcing the paper mill. | Credit: Brenden Brunnette.
A containerboard mill using entirely OCC and mixed paper is in development in Utah. The project stands as a rare case of a recycling company expanding into the end market sector.
Scott Montgomery of RePower spoke recently at the Resource Recycling Conference and Trade Show. | Resource Recycling Conference/Brian Adams Photography
The leader of mixed-waste processor RePower South recently spoke on why recovering recyclables from the trash stream is a good option in certain cases.
If GFL’s initial public offering is approved by regulators, the company would become the fourth largest publicly traded waste and recycling business in North America. | Philip Lange/Shutterstock
Waste giant GFL Environmental has filed for an initial public offering, aiming to raise up to $2.4 billion. The company also released recycling-specific financial figures.
The Recycling Partnership tool provides a geographical picture of which regions are well-served with recycling infrastructure.
For the first time, a comprehensive map of municipal materials recovery facilities across the country has been compiled and released for public use.
A former MRF manager is accused of stealing over $500,000 in commodity sales revenues. | Billion Photos/Shutterstock
A former MRF employee in Florida was charged with theft and fraud after selling recyclables and allegedly pocketing the money. The situation is one of at least two recent MRF fraud investigations.
Injuries at MRFs increased by more than 60 percent in 2017, according to new data from the federal government.