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].
A Fresno, Calif. MRF leveraged grant funding to install robotic sortation equipment to recover more PP. | Courtesy of AMP Robotics
With a little help from The Recycling Partnership’s Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, a Fresno-based MRF has entered the world of robotics.
The Chittenden Solid Waste District wants to build a 62,000 to 64,000-square-foot facility, almost double the size of the existing one. | Lenscap Photography/Shutterstock
A solid waste district in Vermont is planning a $22 million recycling facility to replace the current nearly 30-year-old MRF, where everything is still sorted by hand.
California legislators, environmentalists and industry groups are working on a plastics pollution and recycling bill that they hope will persuade ballot measure backers to withdraw their initiative before the deadline at the end of this month. | rarrarorro/Shutterstock
A lawsuit takes aim at product marketing claims made by Reynolds Consumer Products around recycling and recyclability. | rawf8/Shutterstock
Connecticut’s attorney general sued Reynolds Consumer Products over the marketing of its Hefty trash bags as recyclable, bringing truth-in-labeling lawsuits to another U.S. state.
A European analysis shows 9 million metric tons of discarded plastic was collected for sorting, out of 30 million produced in 2021. | Muhammad Azman/Shutterstock
European plastic recyclers are struggling to get enough material, even as exports of plastics decline and values rise.
A task force in Oregon has set recommendations for recyclability labeling for consumer packaged goods. | Olivier Le Moal/Shutterstock
After nine meetings over five months, the Oregon Truth-in-Labeling Task Force has submitted its final report and recommendations to the state legislature.
An OECD report anticipates marine debris will increase significantly in volume over the next several decades. | Rich Carey/Shutterstock
Globally, discarded plastic levels could nearly triple by 2060, with about half of the plastic ending up in landfill and less than a fifth recycled, an OECD report projected.
Residents in the Constitution State will be able to recycle fuel cylinders thanks to a new EPR law. | Saide Mantell/Shutterstock
Connecticut has become the first state in the U.S. to address the hazard of fuel cylinders in the solid waste stream with an extended producer responsibility law.
A report said the world’s stock of raw elements is at risk of running out and called for industries to shift away from mining the Earth to mining old devices for needed material. | Cam Laird/Shutterstock
A study on global metals recycling identified feedstock reliability, technology limitations and product design choices as barriers to increasing recycled metal usage.
