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].
Small plastic items such as travel shampoo bottles often cannot be processed at MRFs. | Kris Black/Shutterstock
Five brands have partnered with a nonprofit and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to find a way to keep small plastic items in the recycling stream.
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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.
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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
Solid waste collectors had 34 reported workplace fatalities in 2021, down from 38 in 2020. | Sundry Photography/Shutterstock
Refuse and recyclable material collectors had the seventh-deadliest job in the U.S. in 2021, an improvement over the previous year’s sixth place.
Machinex brought a single-stream processing system and various other processing, baling and shredding equipment on-line at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. | Courtesy of Machinex
New MRF equipment is coming to both Guantanamo Bay and Iowa. Meanwhile, commodity pricing for Ontario in November showed a mixed bag.
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Entities can submit an optional intent to apply for the grants by Dec. 15, and the application deadline is Jan. 16. The EPA anticipates dispersing funds in summer or fall of 2023. | Olivier Le Moal/Shutterstock
This story has been updated.
With deadlines for two large EPA recycling grants fast approaching, one expert suggests double-checking project goals and making sure all the pre-application work is done.
