Marissa Heffernan started working for Resource Recycling in January 2022 after spending several years as a reporter at a daily newspaper in Southwest Washington. After developing a special focus on recycling policy, they are also the editor of the monthly newsletter Policy Now. Heffernan can be contacted at [email protected].
Using 2014 data from the U.S. EPA, researchers examined GHG benefits of recycling. | Lawrence Glass/Shutterstock
A new life cycle assessment quantifies the impacts of different curbside collection scenarios, concluding that a typical single-stream recycling program reduces overall emissions by almost 40% when compared with simply landfilling the material.
A $2.2 billion investment will bring aluminum recycling facilities to the Southwestern and Southeastern United States and north-central Mexico. | Sheila Fitzgerald/Shutterstock
A metals manufacturer is planning to build a massive aluminum flat rolled mill in North America to supply the automotive and packaging industries with recycled-content material.
Great Lakes Tissue aims to eliminate material headed to landfill. | Courtesy of Great Lakes Tissue
Collaboration between an industry group and several Michigan organizations helped Great Lakes Tissue think outside the carton when it comes to its use of recycled material.
The Can Manufacturer’s Institute has offered data on the benefits of a national bottle deposit system. | anmbph/Shutterstock
Can manufacturers are focusing on container deposit programs, expanded access and better sortation to improve aluminum beverage can recycling rates.
Legislators from around the U.S. grappled with bottle bills this year. | Namitha Hebbar/Shutterstock
Bottle bills were popular this legislative session, with updates and expansions passed or considered in several states.
Connecticut students collected nearly 4 tons of bottle caps for recycling through a collaborative effort. | Courtesy of SoundWaters
Connecticut middle school students, with help from processor UltraPoly and other entities, recently collected 2.5 million plastic caps and recycled them into end products as part of a lesson on microplastics.
Legislators have approved EPR for printed paper and packaging in California. | Kit Leong/Shutterstock
This story has been updated.
California’s printed paper and packaging extended producer responsibility bill passed the state Senate unanimously June 30 and was signed into law, just before the deadline to pull a plastic-tax measure from November’s state ballot.
An extended producer responsibility bill is currently under consideration in California. | Luis M. Seco/Shutterstock
This story has been corrected.
Nearly a dozen legislators signed a letter asking to remove fiber from California’s proposed extended producer responsibility bill, as it undergoes more amendments in the final days before a June 29 deadline.
A recently signed MOU will place a plastics recycling operation at SWACO’s Green Economy Business Park near Columbus, Ohio. | Alexander Lukatskiy/Shutterstock
The U.S. subsidiary of Thailand-based plastic manufacturer PTT Global Chemical announced that it plans to build its new recycled plastic manufacturing plant in central Ohio.
MRFs are being offered creative financing options to boost used beverage can recovery. | pim pic/Shutterstock
Two can manufacturers have developed a lease-to-own approach for recycling facilities looking to target UBCs in a more effective way.