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Category: Top stories

Asking what should count as recycling, EPA gets an earful

Published: April 20, 2021
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Sorted materials at the recycling facility.

The U.S. EPA received 108 public comments as the agency seeks to revise its recycling rate calculation methodology. | janstarik/Shutterstock

If food scraps from households are composted, should that count in the nation’s recycling rate? What if they’re fed to livestock or processed in anaerobic digesters?

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Vermont bottle bill update moves through legislature

Published: April 20, 2021
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The State Capitol Building in Montpelier, Vt.

Vermont’s current deposit system may soon expand to cover almost all beverages. | Victoria Lipov/Shutterstock

This story has been corrected.

Legislation that expands a Northeast state’s container deposit law passed one chamber and has moved to the state Senate for consideration. The bill adds additional beverage types into the deposit program.

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Exports continue despite dramatic overseas changes

Published: April 20, 2021
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Cargo ship at port.

The U.S. exported 1.32 million short tons of recovered fiber in February, with India as the top destination. | MAGNIFIER/Shutterstock

U.S. exports of recovered plastic and paper remained consistent in February, despite global trade policy changes for both materials that went into effect at the beginning of the year.

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Details on NERC’s diversity-building scholarship program

Published: April 13, 2021
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Diversity concept with various color head icons.

NERC’s Next Generation Scholarship Fund is just one of multiple conversations the group is having on the topic of diversity, equity and inclusion. | Lightspring/Shutterstock

Leaders at the Northeast Recycling Council recently explained how they’ll use a new scholarship fund to help boost racial diversity in the next generation of recycling industry professionals.

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Heavy lifting

Published: November 28, 2017
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The moderator’s question was simple: If local programs want to move beyond weight-based recycling rates, what single metric should be used instead?

“I have prepared my answer for this,” said city of Seattle economist Jenny Bagby before emphatically holding up a sheet of paper and taking a pause. “I don’t know.”

The exchange drew laughs from the room full of Pacific Northwest recycling leaders who were gathered earlier this month in Seattle for a recycling metrics event called the SPU Measurement Symposium. Continue Reading

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Can this deposit-like system fly in Texas?

Published: March 30, 2021
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Crews remove plastic litter from Hunting Bayou in the Houston area.

Crews remove plastic litter from Hunting Bayou in the Houston area. | Courtesy of Texans for Clean Water

Legislation being considered in Texas would create a program injecting tens of millions of dollars into the recycling system each year while also paying consumers to return plastic bottles, cups and film.

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