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.
A report from the Container Recycling Institute explored deposit return systems at various levels, aluminum can design and markets and material loss over the recycling process. | Mikkel H. Petersen/Shutterstock
A national deposit return system would raise the U.S. UBC recycling rate to 85%, an analysis from the Container Recycling Institute found. Continue Reading
Looking across all product categories, right-to-repair legislation has been introduced in 49 out of 50 states in the past few years. | maxfrost/Shutterstock
The momentum behind consumer electronics right-to-repair bills that has been building since 2021 doesn’t seem to be ebbing, with 10 bills introduced so far this year and supporters anticipating far more to come.
As part of a recent report, the U.S. EPA provided new recycling rate estimates, which hadn’t been updated since the agency released 2018 data. | Billion Photos/Shutterstock
The U.S. EPA’s recent recycling infrastructure report was largely focused on the investments needed to improve the system but also included new recycling rate estimates for specific materials, some of the first data updates the agency has released since its last Facts and Figures report several years ago. Continue Reading
The U.S. EPA surveyed agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 11 U.S. territories in its latest report, the Recycling Needs Survey and Assessment. | New Africa/Shutterstock
A pair of reports from the U.S. EPA shines a light on just how fragmented data collection in the recycling industry is and the investment that would be needed to shore it up.
Nonprofits and companies across the country, including Goodwill, Trashie and Cocona Labs, are all tackling the textile recycling problem from multiple angles. | triocean/Shutterstock
This article appeared in the January 2025 issue of Resource Recycling. Subscribe today for access to all print content.
Colorado’s Circular Economy Development Center’s Circular Transportation Network is using a “milk run” model to allow small communities access to recycling end markets. | Milos Muller/Shutterstock
A project to give rural Colorado communities access to recycling is ready to begin running truck routes later this month. Continue Reading
Minnesota lawmakers approved an EPR bill during the 2024 legislative session, and the governor signed it into law in May. | Sean Pavone/Shutterstock
Stakeholders behind Minnesota’s successful extended producer responsibility push said it was clear that radical change was needed in the state’s recycling system, during a recent webinar. Continue Reading
Tennessee State Sen. Heidi Campbell is re-introducing a packaging EPR bill crafted to gain Republican and business support. | RebeccaDLev/Shutterstock
A Tennessee lawmaker is reintroducing an extended producer responsibility bill for packaging – with some twists, in an attempt to get it through the Republican-controlled Legislature. Continue Reading
A recent study in California found that in 2023, 2.9 million tons of plastic were used in single-use packaging and food-related items, made up of 171.4 billion plastic components. | Marina Onokhina/Shutterstock
The recyclability and compostability of materials covered under California’s extended producer responsibility law for packaging got an update recently, as did the baseline for single-use plastic reduction. Continue Reading
Despite progress, producers are largely still not ready for approaching EPR requirements, industry players predict. | Josep Curto/Shutterstock
With about six months to go until the first extended producer responsibility program for packaging in the U.S. goes live, producers are still largely unprepared but moving in the right direction, those monitoring the transition said.