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David Biderman, SWANA executive director
In a recent interview, SWANA leader David Biderman said communities don’t want to undo decades of outreach work and tell residents to stop putting certain items in the bin, even if China’s scrap policies are shaking up market realities.
More than three months after China announced it will restrict recyclables imports, key details on logistics and timing of the new regulations remain unknown. But industry associations are piecing together some more concrete facts.
Construction is underway on the rPlanet Earth facility in Vernon, Calif.
Construction is underway on a massive Los Angeles-area plastics recycling facility that will take in bales of PET bottles from curbside collection and other channels. The rPlanet Earth facility will produce recycled-content products used to make bottles and food packaging.
A confluence of factors has led logistics experts to predict that American firms, including those in the recycling industry, will experience higher over-the-road shipping costs in the next six months.
A handful of top global brand owners have made or restated pledges to use or attempt to use only reusable, recyclable or compostable packaging by 2025.
When it began facing constricted fiber exports to China, Waste Management adapted by selling into alternative markets. As a result, it has been able to avoid stockpiling or landfilling recyclables, company CEO Jim Fish said.
MRF operators are increasing their labor forces and installing additional sorting equipment in response to Chinese restrictions on scrap imports. At the same time, a standard ton of single-stream recyclables in the U.S. has dropped in value by roughly 50 percent in recent weeks.
Ashley Zanolli of Oregon DEQ speaks at REFOR 2017.
In recent years, efforts out of Oregon have helped set the national pace on topics such as sustainable materials management and recycling metrics. Now, the state is beginning to do the same when it comes to food waste – or, more precisely, wasted food.
The nation’s largest glass beneficiation company caught the attention of a private investment firm, which announced last week it will acquire the operation.
The Association of Plastic Recyclers has launched a program aimed at increasing demand for post-consumer polyethylene and polypropylene by having companies commit to using recycled content in pallets and other internal items.