Marissa Heffernan worked at Resource Recycling from January 2022 through June 2025, first as staff reporter and then as associate editor. 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 were also the editor of the monthly newsletter Policy Now.
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.
Changes to Iowa’s bottle redemption program are awaiting the Governor’s signature. | Jacob Boomsma/Shutterstock
Iowa lawmakers have approved container deposit legislation that triples the bottle handling fee but allows grocery stores and other retail entities to opt out of the collection system, a fact that could significantly reduce redemption access.
Ball Corporation will purchase an ownership stake in the aluminum can sheet rolling mill and recycling center planned by Manna Capital Partners. | Fotosr52/Shutterstock
Private investment firm Manna Capital Partners announced its plans to build and run an aluminum can sheet rolling mill and recycling center in Los Lunas, N.M.
AF&PA data notes that in 2021 about 80% of U.S. paper mills used some recycled paper and about one-third used only recycled paper. | noomcpk/Shutterstock
The U.S. paper and OCC recycling rates for 2021 were 68.0% and 91.4%, higher than the previous year, the American Forest & Paper Association announced in a press conference May 24.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last year provides about $350 million to the U.S. EPA over several years to fund recycling infrastructure and education grants. | RozenskiP/Shutterstock
The U.S. EPA is working to build several grant programs from the ground up thanks to an influx of money from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and it is reaching out to stakeholders to make sure the programs will meet industry needs.
Colorado is the third state in the U.S. to pass a packaging extended producer responsibility bill, and the first in the 2022 legislative session. | Arturs Budkevics/Shutterstock
While many industry leaders praised the recent passage of a Colorado bill establishing extended producer responsibility for printed paper and packaging, others are calling for Gov. Jared Polis to veto it.
NERC’s survey showed that the blended value for a ton of recyclables in the first quarter of 2022 was down 15% from the previous quarter but up 57% year over year. | Olexandr Panchenko/Shutterstock
The value of curbside recyclables dropped again in the first quarter of 2022, according to a newly released bale study. But pricing remained higher than what was seen during the same period last year.
The Colorado legislature has sent a packaging EPR bill to Governor Jared Polis. | rarrarorro/Shutterstock
Colorado’s governor has been sent a bill establishing extended producer responsibility (EPR) for printed paper and packaging, a major development in the wider industry conversation about reshaping the funding model for municipal recycling.
The introduction of the EPR bill came after lawmakers stripped a prior EPR proposal out of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s executive budget proposal. | Paul Brady Photography/Shutterstock
This story has been updated and corrected.
An extended producer responsibility bill that has the support of environmental activists was recently introduced in New York, while a Colorado EPR bill moved to the Senate floor.