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David Biderman, far right, addresses the audience at the 2022 Plastics Recycling Conference. | Brian Adams Photo
Interest in minimum-recycled-content mandates and extended producer responsibility bills is at an all-time high, but the reality of passing legislation is more complicated, according to industry experts.
March has brought surges in prices for several curbside recyclables, with PET containers up 24%, aluminum cans up 25%, color HDPE up 32% and polypropylene up 30%.
Census Bureau data shows U.S. companies exported nearly 18 million short tons of recovered fiber in 2021, up 13% from the year prior. | DifferR/Shutterstock
Scrap fiber exports to China collapsed in 2021, but the rest of the world more than made up the difference. Scrap plastics, however, continued their years-long decline in shipments.
Composting operations such as Dirt Hugger of Dallesport, Wash. could benefit from an aggressive organics diversion bill that passed the Washington legislature this month. | Jared Paben/Resource Recycling, Inc.
Washington state lawmakers have sent the governor a sprawling bill focused on diverting organics from landfills.
The PET Recycling Coalition will launch in the next few months and will provide grants to MRFs and other facilities to increase the capture of PET beyond bottles. | Kwangmoozaa/Shutterstock
The Recycling Partnership will launch a PET recycling coalition, a representative of the nonprofit group announced at last week’s Plastics Recycling Conference.
The CEO of the American Forest & Paper Association argues that paper and paperboard recycling is already a success story, but poorly designed policies threaten industry achievements. | noomcpk/Shutterstock
Our analysis of hauler earnings reports were of interest to readers last month. | Photick/Shutterstock
Articles touching on bottle bills, Waste Management and more drew our readers’ clicks in February.
As part of the settlement Keurig cannot label, market, advertise or otherwise represent the cups as recyclable without a clear and prominent revised qualifying statement that the materials are not recycled in many communities. | zimmytws/Shutterstock
Keurig Green Mountain reached a class-action settlement with a consumer who sued over coffee pod recyclability claims, agreeing to pay $10 million and add language indicating the cups are “not recycled in many communities.”
The Recycling Inclusion Fund already has several projects underway, including foundational research and a multi-family recycling project in Orlando, Fla. | Thanatos Media/Shutterstock
The Recycling Partnership is working to close the equity gap in recycling access and address other racial issues with a Recycling Inclusion Fund.