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].
Paper recycling has moved to the center of the EPR debate in Colorado. | olephoto/Shutterstock
Municipal recycling advocates and the fiber manufacturing industry are at odds over a producer responsibility proposal in Colorado, underscoring a major rift in the push for stronger recycling policy.
Broken down by scrap type, a study found that bottles, non-bottle rigid plastics and other plastics all saw declines individually in 2020. | TeuNg StyLe/Shutterstock
The U.S. is processing more of its scrap plastic domestically, but the overall weight of plastic recycled in 2020 dropped just under 6% from 2019, according to an annual industry report.
Colorado’s Capitol building in Denver. | Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock
Colorado and Hawaii are both working to pass extended producer responsibility bills this legislative session that are tailored to fit each state’s needs. Continue Reading
The New York State Capitol in Albany. | Real Window Creative/Shutterstock
In recent days, a proposal for extended producer responsibility was sidelined in New York, and Iowa lawmakers sat deadlocked over legislation to update the bottle bill.
The city of Phoenix has selected Machinex to build a 30-ton-per-hour, single-stream system in 2023. | Courtesy of Machinex
Several MRFs around the country have recently upgraded their equipment or started the construction process.
Using EPA data, researchers estimated how much more plastic was landfilled due to China’s National Sword policy. | Maksim Safaniuk/Shutterstock
China’s National Sword policy caused the quantity of plastic landfilled in the U.S. to jump by 23%, researchers at the University at Buffalo found.
Material on the line at the Balcones Resources MRF in Austin, Texas. The company will begin processing in San Antonio in 2024. | Resource Recycling, Inc.
The seventh-largest city in the U.S. is switching recycling sortation contractors, with a unanimous vote April 7 to approve a contract with Balcones Resources. The city previously had a processing deal with Republic Services.
Snarls in global supply chains are impacting recycling equipment providers and MRF operators in a number of ways. | BaanTaksinStudio/Shutterstock
Equipment manufacturers and their customers are feeling the pressure of extended lead times and supply chain backups, forcing them to adapt as demand soars and supply dwindles.
The Closed Loop Local Recycling Fund will help finance facilities that are modular and much smaller than a traditional facility, with a cost between $1 million and $2 million. | Courtesy of Revolution Recycling at Twin, Steamboat Springs, CO
A $35 million investment from PepsiCo Beverages North America will help Closed Loop Partners reach more people living in recycling deserts.
Research compared a variety of deposit systems and recycling rates increased in all scenarios, with the highest rates for an all-beverage deposit of 10 cents. | Rokas Tenys/Shutterstock
This story has been corrected.
Though container deposit systems typically help lift recovery rates for covered materials, the programs also usually reduce tonnages of high-quality PET and aluminum going to sorting facilities. A new study helps to quantify those potential impacts.