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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A look into glass recycling in Fairfax County, Va. captured interest in December. | Courtesy of Fairfax County.
A mix of stories about exports, collection strategies, recycling rates, paper investments and recyclables pricing drew readers’ attention last month.
A report from plastics industry group NAPCOR indicated the U.S. PET bottle recycling rate was 28.9% in 2018, down from 29.2% in 2017. | pook jun/Shutterstock
The U.S. recycling rates for both PET bottles and all plastic bottles have fallen slightly, according to two reports released by industry groups.
California legislators are expected to take up recycling-related legislation again in 2020. | michael warwick/Shutterstock
A grant initiative announced this week is making $1.5 million available for qualifying municipalities across Michigan. | KyleHohler/Shutterstock
Detroit and other Michigan municipalities will bolster their recycling efforts this year thanks to grant funds from public and private sources.
China published a permit list approving imports of 2.8 million metric tons of recovered fiber, its first permit list for 2020. That’s down from 5 million metric tons during the first permit round a year earlier. | hanohiki/Shutterstock
The latest permit figures from the Chinese government illustrate the country’s goals to continue reducing its recycled fiber intake.
News about fiber markets captured our readers’ clicks throughout 2019. | John McLenaghan/Shutterstock
Over the past 12 months, plummeting fiber prices have hamstrung programs and recycling operators across North America. Little surprise then that analysis of that trend grabbed significant attention from our readers.
Recovered material outside the new glass processing facility in Fairfax County, Va. | Courtesy of Fairfax County.
A local program in a populous area of northern Virginia is seeing positive results after shifting glass from curbside collection to drop-off. The effort has also set the stage for a hub-and-spoke system to serve the wider region.
This year, through October, just 9.8 million short tons of recovered fiber have been imported into China. | richard pross/Shutterstock
Recent actions by the Chinese government indicate the country will likely ban imports of OCC and almost all other fiber grades in 2021. Such a move would come in the wake of industry-shaking mixed paper and plastic prohibitions already in place.
The recycling rate for containers and packaging was 50.1% in 2017. | Arturs Budkevics/Shutterstock
The overall U.S. recycling rate was 35.2% in 2017, but underneath that number is a more complicated picture of material-specific recovery.
An expansion at JW Aluminum’s Goose Creek, S.C. site will result in a significant uptick in the company’s scrap consumption. | Courtesy of JW Aluminum Company.
JW Aluminum Company says it will be increasing its annual intake of UBCs and other forms of recycled material by at least 100 million pounds when it finishes an expansion project in the Southeast U.S. next year.