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Winners of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Re-X Before Recycling Prize will get $50,000. | JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
Twenty teams have received $50,000 each from a U.S. Department of Energy competition aimed at extending the life cycle for such materials as electric vehicle batteries, packaging, textiles and construction materials. Continue Reading
Balcones Recycling opened a $68 million MRF this month in San Antonio, Texas, capable of processing 50 tons per hour of municipal recyclables. | Courtesy of Balcones Recycling
Balcones Recycling has completed a new sorting facility in San Antonio, featuring AI-equipped optical sorters and an innovative experiment to deal with a common MRF contaminant.
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The June 14 webinar “EPR in British Columbia: A Timeline of Success and Challenge Past, Present, Future” brought together nine speakers with long experience in extended producer responsibility in the province. | Vipada Kanajod/Shutterstock
How did a law intended to stop can-tabs litter in British Columbia lead to today’s expansive extended producer responsibility laws? Those involved in its evolution traced the path in a webinar hosted by the Coast Waste Management Association. Continue Reading
Amazon aims to replace 100% of plastic air pillows in delivery packaging with paper filler by the end of the year. | Sundry Photography/Shutterstock
Amazon will send 15 billion fewer plastic pillows into the waste stream after replacing 95% of its product protection system with paper in North America, the company recently announced. Continue Reading
The national organics recovery strategy has four goals: Preventing food loss, preventing food waste, increasing the organics recycling rate and supporting policies centered on those three goals. | Jesse David Falls/Shutterstock
Federal agencies this month unveiled a national organics recovery strategy with specific actions – and designated grant funding – that will move the country toward an existing goal of reducing food loss and waste by 50% by 2030. Continue Reading
The U.S. Plastics Pact reported that by the end of 2022, pact signatories had increased PCR use from 7% to 9.4%. | XXL Photo/Shutterstock
The U.S. Plastics Pact recently unveiled the goals its signatories will strive for during the next five years. Most of the goals build on the efforts over the past five years, and the group’s target date to hit 30% average recycled content has been extended from 2025 to 2030. Continue Reading
Of the nine other bottle-bill states, only Massachusetts and Connecticut reported lower container rates in 2022, at 38% and 45% respectively. | Kwangmoozaa/Shutterstock
Iowa had the third-lowest container recovery rate among the ten states with deposit return systems, the 2022 Recovery Rate report found, although part of that figure is based on estimation. Continue Reading
Greif, Graphic Packaging and Sonoco all recently announced they will raise uncoated recycled paperboard prices. | Mustafa Hamdiev/Shutterstock
Multiple paper packaging giants have announced price increases for their uncoated recycled paperboard in recent weeks due to rising recycled fiber prices and demand. Continue Reading