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The tool looks at size, material type and other attributes to determine whether a given package is compatible with the current U.S. residential recycling system. | Yuriy Golub/Shutterstock
A recently launched design feedback resource from the Recycled Materials Association has three key objectives: to decrease contamination at MRFs, increase quality of bales sent to paper mills and provide immediate feedback to producers about the recyclability of their packaging. Continue Reading
The U.S. EPA is working on a Battery Collection Best Practices and Battery Labeling Guidelines project, which will provide a toolkit for local governments to use when implementing battery collection programs, among other deliverables. | Chepko-Danil-Vitalevich/Shutterstock
The U.S. EPA has held a series of expert working groups, aiming to find the most effective strategies to keep batteries out of the garbage and recycling streams. For a growing number of municipalities, including one major U.S. city, that is coming to mean offering the convenience of curbside collection.
Paper mill operators are raising prices for finished goods in part to cover rising feedstock costs. | 1933bkk/Shutterstock
Major recycled paper mill operators have seen a significant financial impact from rising recovered fiber prices this year. But in recent earnings calls, publicly traded firms say the roller coaster market is entering a flat stretch. 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
Glass Half Full broke ground on their new facility, which will give the grassroots glass recycling company the capacity to create cullet as well as sand. | Courtesy of Glass Half Full
Glass Half Full leaders knew the company needed a bigger facility as soon as they opened the first one. Now, as the concrete slab for a new space is poured on the coast of Louisiana, cofounder and CEO Franziska Trautmann is already imagining the three acres filled with glass.
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Revising its past years of OCC recycling rates, Bloomberg Intelligence is now estimating rates of 63% in 2022 and 66% in 2023. | Kenishirotie/Shutterstock
Bloomberg Intelligence has once again estimated a significantly lower OCC recycling rate than the paper manufacturing sector, and it revised past years’ rates with an updated methodology. Continue Reading
Fiber exports continued their multiyear downward trajectory overall, though Canada and Malaysia marked double-digit increases on the year. | F-Armstrong-Photography/Shutterstock
Recovered paper exports angled downwards during the first half of 2024, as major overseas buyers decreased their purchases by as much as 30% year over year. On the plastics side, more than half the material that left the U.S. stayed in North America.
The Composting Consortium’s new blueprint, as well as two new free platforms, can help communities develop and scale up composting programs. | maerzkind/Shutterstock
A new blueprint from the Composting Consortium aims to guide municipalities in establishing and scaling composting infrastructure and organics management programs.