Readers last month were drawn to stories covering the various market and program impacts of China’s import restrictions.
Two beverage companies accept grants for recycling and sustainability efforts, and Oregon helps make expanded polystyrene recycling viable in a rural county.
More cities begin curbside collection of food-service packaging, and a municipal program offers refunds to customers after recycling loads are sent to the local landfill.
China’s ban on imports continued to draw readers’ interest last month, along with stories about Walmart and shifts in measuring recycling success.
Major municipalities plan substantial changes to their recycling programs, and the loss of glass recycling has financial ripple effects for a small municipal program in Pennsylvania.
When it made landfall on Aug. 25, Hurricane Harvey became the wettest tropical cyclone to ever hit the U.S., dumping more than five feet of water on Houston. The resulting floods have impacted the recycling industry in multiple ways, driving up prices for virgin plastics, hampering freight systems and halting curbside collections.
A local program practicing source separation describes its low-contamination advantage in light of Chinese import restrictions, and Orlando, Fla. is chosen as the site of a diversion-driving pilot project.
One report indicates that buyers in China are desperately seeking domestic sources of recovered paper. Meanwhile, low-value plastics are flooding the European market, but processors there have limited ability to handle those loads.
Pennsylvania’s recycling stakeholders lobby to protect tens of millions of dollars in recycling money from being diverted, and a New Jersey company is fined after the death of an employee.
Features from the August 2017 print edition:
Subscribe today for access to all print content.
