Marissa Heffernan started working for Resource Recycling in January 2022 after spending several years as a reporter at a daily newspaper in Southwest Washington. She can be contacted at [email protected]
So far, 21 states have passed laws classifying chemical recycling as manufacturing rather than waste disposal, changing the emissions laws the processes are subject to. | Rosemarie Mosteller/Shutterstock
Over 70 organizations and businesses signed a letter to New Mexico’s governor last week, asking her not to classify chemical recycling as recycling. Continue Reading
Gresham, Ore.’s educational materials explaining the new curbside battery recycling system to residents. | Courtesy of the city of Gresham, Ore.
Clackamas County, Ore. is the latest county in the state to adopt a different approach to battery collection and fire prevention.
Continue Reading
Seattle Public Utilities (SPU) is a member of the Northwest Product Stewardship Council, a coalition of local governments in Washington and Oregon that have worked together for years on product stewardship and producer responsibility policies. | Christoper Boswell/Shutterstock
As Washington state lawmakers try once more to usher an extended producer responsibility for paper and packaging bill through the legislature, Seattle Public Utilities will be there to help.
Jules Bailey, CEO of the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative (OBRC), spent his first day as head of the company processing Green Bags. | Courtesy of OBRC
As the new CEO of the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative, Jules Bailey is focused on growth, convenience and supporting the community.
Wampologoma residents receive clean water provided by Kubi for Hope. | Courtesy of Kubi for Hope
Denis Kweri was looking for a way to raise money to build wells and schools in his hometown, and aluminum cans were his solution.
Continue Reading
Digimarc Recycle works by using digital watermarks and a cloud-based dataset of product attributes such as brand, SKU, product variant, packaging composition and others, to improve optical sorting technologies. | Courtesy of Digimarc
Expanding on earlier trials, Digimarc plans to test its Digital Watermarks Initiative HolyGrail 2.0 in France on a larger scale. Continue Reading
The study looked at mechanical recycling and solvent-based dissolution of PE, PET and PP, as well as enzymatic hydrolysis, glycolysis and vapor methanolysis of PET. | tezzstock/Shutterstock
A study conducted by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory evaluated various PET recycling methods from technical, economic and environmental standpoints to provide a big-picture overview of today’s options. Continue Reading
According to research by The Recycling Partnership (TRP), in 2019, 14% of people surveyed said they were “not very confident” that things put in recycling bins were actually recycled. In 2020, that share had risen to 23%, and in 2022 it hit 30%. | Mary at T Comms/Shutterstock
This story has been corrected.
American consumers think recycling is of great importance, but their trust in the actual system has been slipping for years. A recent webinar brought experts together to brainstorm solutions.
The project, run by Return-It and the American Chemistry Council (ACC), resulted in about 94% usable plastic. | Huguette Roe/Shutterstock
In five months, Washington state residents in the greater Seattle area turned in over 25 tons of film to independent grocery stores as part of a pilot project. Continue Reading
WWF found that 34% of members’ plastic footprint was recycled, 9% incinerated, 43% landfilled and 15% mismanaged. | Kraft74/Shutterstock
In 2021, major brands increased their use of recycled material and cut back on “problematic plastics,” but the amount of plastic they put on the market grew by over 5%, according to the World Wildlife Fund.