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Category: Top stories

Industry coalition focuses on small-format material recovery

Published: July 1, 2025
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The group will promote MRF upgrades and product design changes to facilitate higher capture of small packaging items, like metal bottle caps. | xpixel/Shutterstock

Led by the Glass Packaging Institute, a new initiative seeks to improve MRF sortation of smaller packaging materials that often get missorted and end up in the glass stream. Continue Reading

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Washington glass challenges ease, driven by rail upgrade

Published: July 1, 2025
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Glass sourced from Seattle and the surrounding areas saw temporary disruptions due to the loss of a major end user. | Photo courtesy Seattle Public Utilities

Several months after the primary end user for Seattle-area curbside glass pulled out of the area and disrupted regional glass collection, logistics upgrades have enabled programs to resume moving material as usual. Continue Reading

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Malaysia fully halting US plastic scrap imports

Published: July 1, 2025
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Shipping containers at port in Hong Kong.

The Basel Convention regulated plastic scrap in 2021, but each party country must adopt domestic laws to enforce those rules. | hanohiki/Shutterstock

The Malaysian government recently published regulations indicating the country will stop all U.S.-sourced imports of scrap plastic on July 1, and reports from traders indicate the flow already has slowed. Continue Reading

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Oregon bill could expedite a MRF’s troubled permit process

Published: June 24, 2025
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A recently introduced bill could allow a proposed solid waste facility in Lane County, Oregon, to bypass its turbulent permitting process. | Courtesy of Bulk Handling Systems

Officials in Lane County, Oregon, are pushing state lawmakers to support a new bill that would allow the construction of a controversial recycling and composting facility.  Continue Reading

Proposed EPR changes in Canada could inform US plans

Published: June 24, 2025
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With Ontario two years into its 2023-2025 transition to a producer responsibility model for paper and packaging recycling, stakeholders have asked for more time and lower costs. | Maxim Studio/Shutterstock

Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, is looking to make adjustments to its signature law for extended producer responsibility in packaging, in response to producer feedback about costs and other program concerns.  Continue Reading

Q&A: Industry at the ‘ceiling’ of what voluntary action can do

Published: June 24, 2025
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Although extended producer responsibility is poised to capture substantially more material, The Recycling Partnership’s CEO says it’s important to ensure that material has an end market. | New Africa/Shutterstock

Backed by major brands, The Recycling Partnership has become well-known in the materials recovery sector over the past decade for boosting access to recycling, in particular by helping municipalities roll out recycling carts, improve outreach and reduce contamination. Continue Reading

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Fiber end users talk price increases, demand outlook

Published: June 17, 2025
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Major fiber end user Smurfit Westrock anticipates some, but not substantial, demand recovery for containerboard and consumer fiber packaging this year. | trainman111/Shutterstock

Price increases helped recover fiber end users’ bottom lines over the past quarter, even as questions about corrugated packaging demand swirled in the wake of multiple high-profile U.S. mill closures. Continue Reading

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MRFs share how they develop accepted material lists

Published: June 17, 2025
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Material acceptance at MRFs varies widely by locality, but several stakeholders explained the factors behind such wide-reaching decisions. | StoyanYotov/Shutterstock

Several MRF operators recently provided insight into how their facilities decide what materials to accept, during a discussion on bridging the disconnect between brand owners and MRFs. Continue Reading

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