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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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Outlook for OCC demand, recycling hinges on economics

Published: January 23, 2025
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Cardboard for recycling.

Experts from Bloomberg, TetraPak and more forecasted stable-to-higher box shipments and analyzed paper fiber recycling during a recent webinar. | Shu Ba/Shutterstock

Volumes of OCC and mixed paper are shifting with societal and economic trends, industry experts said during a paper industry update webinar presented by the Recycled Materials Association.

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EPA spotlights gaps in recycling data, spending

Published: January 23, 2025
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A bag of mixed household recycling including contamination.

The U.S. EPA surveyed agencies in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and 11 U.S. territories in its latest report, the Recycling Needs Survey and Assessment. | New Africa/Shutterstock

A pair of reports from the U.S. EPA shines a light on just how fragmented data collection in the recycling industry is and the investment that would be needed to shore it up.

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ExxonMobil files suit against California AG for defamation

Published: January 14, 2025
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Court gavel with blurred background.

As 2024 wound to close, major plastic resin producers were hit with two similar recycling-related class-action lawsuits – the latest in a growing trend of pursuing legal means of recouping costs for plastic pollution.  | Zolnierek/Shutterstock

ExxonMobil on Monday filed a lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alleging that he and several environmental groups defamed the global oil and chemical company “for politics, publicity and private gain.” Continue Reading

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Colorado communities prepare for recycling access project

Published: January 14, 2025
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Trucks on a highway.

Colorado’s Circular Economy Development Center’s Circular Transportation Network is using a “milk run” model to allow small communities access to recycling end markets. | Milos Muller/Shutterstock

A project to give rural Colorado communities access to recycling is ready to begin running truck routes later this month.   Continue Reading

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Wisconsin recycling aid shrinks over 10-year period

Published: January 14, 2025
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A new report indicates that local recycling budgets have tightened over the past 10 years amid changes in collection volumes, flat grant amounts and volatile commodity pricing. | Digital Reflections/Shutterstock

The portion of recycling costs covered by state aid has decreased, while costs have edged higher and OCC recycling has more than doubled, according to a new report from a state policy research group.
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MRF and collection worker deaths climbed in 2023

Published: January 7, 2025
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Safety vests and hard hats hanging on a wall.

While overall workplace fatalities decreased in the U.S. in 2023, the waste and recycling industry was a troubling outlier. | Wave Break Media/Shutterstock

Editor’s note: This story has been updated.

Nine workers died in U.S. materials recovery facilities in 2023 and the death rate for refuse and recyclable material collectors jumped more than 80%, according to the latest annual numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continue Reading

Panelists: EPR in Minnesota part of needed change

Published: August 20, 2024
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Minnesota lawmakers approved an EPR bill during the 2024 legislative session, and the governor signed it into law in May. | Sean Pavone/Shutterstock

Stakeholders behind Minnesota’s successful extended producer responsibility push said it was clear that radical change was needed in the state’s recycling system, during a recent webinar. Continue Reading