The cost of insurance is on the rise for those in the business of materials recovery. | Billion Photos/Shutterstock
Recycling professionals are well aware that prices for many commodities are low and contamination rates are high. But due to the rising number of fires in recent years, materials recovery facility (MRF) operators are now encountering struggles around another area of their businesses: insurance.
Notable changes have taken place in markets for curbside recyclables over the past month, including an increase in OCC prices and a steep dive in natural HDPE prices.
Recycling facilities are encountering both good and bad news on the fiber-market front: OCC prices have increased substantially, but mixed paper slipped further into the negatives.
This story originally appeared in the March 2017 issue of Resource Recycling.
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Food waste has become an increasingly hot topic in recent months and for good reason. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), about one-third of all food produced in the world for human consumption – approximately 1.3 billion metric tons – ends up as waste each year.
