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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.

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Firms team up against reusable plastic bag ban

Published: July 9, 2024
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The Responsible Recycling Alliance is urging lawmakers to include reusable bags made from 40% post-consumer resin in the emerging extended producer responsibility for packaging program, SB 54. | Huguette Roe/Shutterstock

Seeking to quash a regulatory change that would remove over 100 million pounds of North American post-consumer resin demand per year, EFS-Plastics, Merlin Plastics and PreZero US have joined together to advocate for retaining recycled-content reusable plastic bags in California’s bag regulations. Continue Reading

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City-scale reusable cup project launching in California

Published: July 9, 2024
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The Petaluma Reusable Cup Project is supported by the NextGen Consortium, Zero Waste Sonoma, Recology and more than 30 brands and restaurants. | Photo courtesy Closed Loop Partners

The NextGen Consortium is bringing together brands big and small to trial a city-wide reusable cup system in Petaluma, California.  Continue Reading

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Tackling rural recycling transportation in Colorado

Published: July 9, 2024
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trucking and logistics

The Front Range Transload project brings together rail company BNSF, trucking companies, brokers and the City of Pueblo. | Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock

One of the biggest barriers to recycling in remote and rural areas is transportation. The Circular Economy Development Center is tackling the issue in Colorado with the Front Range Transload project. Continue Reading

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Smurfit Westrock merger creates latest packaging giant

Published: July 9, 2024
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The newly formed conglomerate operates 63 paper mills and 500 converting facilities worldwide. | Trainman111/Shutterstock

With a long-in-the-works merger finally official, recycling collector and major fiber end user Westrock is now one with the European packaging firm Smurfit Kappa. The conglomerate will use an estimated 15 million tons per year of recycled fiber globally. Continue Reading

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Stewardship advocacy group reports on ‘foundational’ work

Published: July 1, 2024
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Close up of a meeting with microphone and papers on the desk.

At the 2024 annual meeting, PSI CEO Scott Cassel said there were 57 EPR bills introduced this year across the U.S., showing the growing need for PSI’s services. | ESB Professional/Shutterstock

The Product Stewardship Institute is planning to spend $1.4 million in 2025, as growing interest in extended producer responsibility policy is creating more demand for PSI’s support.   Continue Reading

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Wide-ranging legislation moves in Massachusetts

Published: July 1, 2024
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S 2830 seeks to regulate many single-use plastic products, improve recycling access and commission studies on extended producer responsibility, organics and PS. | Natalia Bratslavsky/Shutterstock

A bill that combines a half-dozen environmental actions, touching on extended producer responsibility for several materials, plastic bans and access to both bulky plastic and organics recycling, has passed the Massachusetts Senate and gone onto the House for consideration. Continue Reading

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Connecticut redemptions rise after deposit doubles

Published: July 1, 2024
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Bottle return at a reverse vending machine.

In 2021, Connecticut lawmakers approved a series of changes to the state’s bottle bill, including expanding the list of containers covered under the deposit program, increasing the number of redemption spaces and increasing the handling fee and doubling the deposit. | Veja/Shutterstock

Consumers redeemed 194.5 million containers in Connecticut during the first quarter of this year, up 12.6% from a year before, as the state increased the container deposit from a nickel to a dime. Continue Reading

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Michigan hits record 23% recycling rate

Published: July 1, 2024
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Michigan is on track to achieve its goal of 30% recycling rate by 2029. | OnePhoto/Shutterstock

The recycling rate in Michigan reached a record high of 23% in 2023, keeping the state on track to achieve its goal of a 30% recycling rate by 2029, according to a press release from the state’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. Continue Reading

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