Thermoforms such as those shown here often contain post-consumer material from bottles, but a California bill would require post-consumer thermoforms to be used in production of new thermoforms. | Anakumka/Shutterstock
Current debate over a California bill requiring PET thermoforms to contain recycled PET derived from thermoforms boils down to one question: What will MRFs do?
California legislators sent a number of recycling-related bills to the governor at the end of this session. | Leonid Adnronov/Shutterstock
When California’s legislative session ended Aug. 31, a number of recycling-related bills passed just before the deadline. Here’s a roundup of bills currently waiting to be signed into law and that have already been signed.
U.S. companies exported 8.7 million short tons of recovered paper and OCC during the first half of 2022. | Richard H Grant/Shutterstock
U.S. exports of fiber bales came down slightly during the first half of this year, trade data shows. At the same time, overseas shipments of scrap plastics took a tumble.
An Oakland, Calif. resident dropped her lawsuit against Reynolds Consumer Product regarding the company’s recycling bags, but in Connecticut a similar case continues.
Reynolds Consumer Products has staved off one of the recent legal challenges to its Hefty Recycling bag marketing claims.
Fiber insiders Ryan Fox (left) and Myles Cohen on stage at the 2022 Resource Recycling Conference. | Big Wave Productions/Resource Recycling, Inc.
This story has been updated
Two corrugated industry experts have crunched the numbers and concluded that the OCC recycling rate is likely much lower than estimates published by the paper manufacturing sector.
For the second year in a row, Recycle BC observed “significant growth” in collected metric tons, with a 17% increase over the past two years. | Lightspring/Shutterstock
British Columbia’s paper and plastic packaging collection rates have rebounded after pandemic-related challenges, reaching a record-high recovery rate of just over 94%.
Some glass recycling advocates have withdrawn their support for proposed California bottle bill legislation in the wake of last-minute amendments. | Fotosr52/Shutterstock
Just days before the end of the legislative session, lengthy amendments were tacked on to California bottle bill expansion legislation, greatly increasing the cost of the program. In response, some previous backers rescinded their support.
A judge determined the key issue was the availability of recycling programs, not whether bottles are made into new items. | Jonathan Weiss/Shutterstock
If a bottled water label and cap are effectively unrecyclable, and if statistics show a majority of PET bottles are ultimately wasted, can the containers still be labeled as “100% recyclable”? A federal judge recently said yes.
The “Rethinking MRF Contracts” session at this year’s Resource Recycling Conference featured (l to r) moderator Keysha Burton of The Recycling Partnership and speakers Natalie Betts of Balcones Resources and Stephanie Sidler of GFL. | Big Wave Productions/Resource Recycling Inc.
Volatile markets, changing material compositions and aging infrastructure can all be addressed with the right municipal MRF contract. Industry experts discussed how to achieve such arrangements at the Resource Recycling Conference.
A new effort from industry group The Recycling Partnership aims to assess and change behavior. | Air Images/Shutterstock
Recycling doesn’t work unless people can put material into the stream, so The Recycling Partnership is expanding its efforts to both understand and change consumer behavior at the bin.
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