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The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality on June 17 announced penalties for alleged waste and pollution violations. | JPL Designs/Shutterstock
Oregon regulators levied environmental fines against 20 companies, including a $611,000 penalty against a C&D debris recycling company.
The newly introduced Plastic Waste Reduction and Recycling Act directs various federal agencies and offices to take steps to support plastics recycling. | Corlia vWyk/Shutterstock
Lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives have put forth legislation focused on reducing plastic waste and bolstering plastics recycling.
The Des Moines, Iowa Metro Waste Authority recently approved a loan agreement to finance construction of a new MRF, which officials say could cost about $24 million. | cnetten/Shutterstock
Plans to build a new publicly funded MRF in the Des Moines, Iowa area have drawn criticism from the region’s current recycling contractor.
After climbing for four straight months, the price of OCC has fallen sharply this month. But the average value of mixed paper remains in double-digit positive numbers. Continue Reading
For the latest report, 18 MRFs from 11 states provided the Northeast Recycling Council with their bale pricing and processing cost data. | Shu Ba/Shutterstock
The blended value of recyclables in the Northeast region increased during the first quarter of 2020, but MRF processing costs rose even faster, according to a survey.
A number of recycling industry groups have spoken out against racism in recent weeks. | Pix_Arena/Shutterstock
Recycling organizations, environmental advocacy groups and municipal programs are joining the call to oppose racism and work for systemic change.
Of the 190,00 metric tons of plastic Starbucks used from Oct. 1, 2017 through Sept. 30, 2018, 6% was recycled content. | ansoz/Shutterstock
Post-consumer resin makes up a small percentage of all plastic used by Coca-Cola, Starbucks and others, according to a new report that will be used to track company progress on increasing recycled plastic use.
The Indonesian government on May 27 announced the official contamination policy for imports of scrap paper, plastic and other materials. | dani daniar/Shutterstock
Paper and plastic shipments to Indonesia will be allowed a maximum of 2% contamination, the country recently announced. The move follows several changes to the country’s import policies last year.
Shipping company MSC stopped accepting scrap cargo headed to China as of June 1. | Fomin Roman/Shutterstock
A major shipping line will no longer accept recovered fiber and other scrap material exports bound for China, in anticipation of the country completely closing the door to those commodities.
Greif CEO Peter Watson noted that closure plans for the company’s Mobile, Ala. facility date back to before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. | hxdyl/Shutterstock
Three paper companies recently closed facilities that use recycled material. Two framed the shutdowns as part of longer-term “optimization” plans, and the third said it is a direct response to the COVID-19 impact on demand.