Resource Recycling keeps you on top of critical industry trends and brings unparalleled analysis of the evolving materials stream, market turbulence, policy trends and more.
Sign up for our free weekly e-newsletters to receive the latest news directly.
Industry group SWANA is working with the federal government to supply free face coverings for the waste and recycling industry. | beton studio/Shutterstock
Coronavirus infections among workers have caused a MRF to shutter and delayed collection of recyclables elsewhere. The federal government and one state are working to provide masks and funding to help programs cope.
The Glass Recycling Coalition’s MRF glass certification program recognizes sorting facilities that invest to improve glass quality. | sirtravelalot/Shutterstock
MRFs that are early participants in a glass certification program recently described the benefits of the new initiative.
A leader with Waste Connections said that his company has seen increased collection volumes during the COVID-19 pandemic. | Resource Recycling file photo.
Two large publicly held waste and recycling companies are taking in higher residential volumes during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they say contamination has been flat. Recently, they’ve also started seeing critical upticks on the commercial side.
In 2019, Republic Services opened a tech-heavy MRF in Plano, Texas that uses a positive-sorting approach to produce clean bales.
Republic Services spent $34 million on equipment upgrades at its recycling facilities last year, and it closed 12 MRFs in a consolidation effort.
The Coastal Resources of Maine (CRM) facility in Hampden, Maine launched last year to handle mixed waste from numerous municipalities. | Screen shot from company video
Higher-than-expected costs, recycling market turbulence and other factors led to the recent shutdown of a Maine mixed-waste processing plant. Stakeholders are hoping a new operator can restart the plant, which had run for just one year.
A handful of industry groups and plastics producers are teaming up on a 60-day effort to try to capture a wider variety of materials from the flow of curbside recyclables in Portland, Ore.
Crossroads Paper CEO John Sasine speaks at an event July 10 announcing the paper mill. | Credit: Brenden Brunnette.
A containerboard mill using entirely OCC and mixed paper is in development in Utah. The project stands as a rare case of a recycling company expanding into the end market sector.
The state of Michigan aims to achieve a 30% recycling rate by 2025. | Alexander Lukatskiy/Shutterstock
A state-of-the-art MRF, a recyclables sorting robot, resumed glass collections – these are a few projects that recently received grants from the state of Michigan.
An Ashland, Ore. man recently recycled a shoebox containing $23,000. | Africa Studio/Shutterstock
With tough commodities markets, residents around the country are being asked to drop more cash into their recycling service, but not like this guy.
Residents of Petoskey, Mich. in Emmet County will benefit from a $1.8 million MRF upgrade. | Kenneth Sponsler/Shutterstock
A tight labor market, aging equipment, an evolving ton and difficult recyclables markets have spurred a Michigan county to upgrade its MRF. Robots are among the technologies to be installed.