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Recycling stakeholders speak out against racial injustice

Published: June 9, 2020
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Jim Fish, Waste Management CEO

Jim Fish of Waste Management is one of several recycling industry players to have issued statements in the wake of national protests over racism and police brutality.

As protests continue across the country over police killings of black citizens, large U.S. recycling companies have issued statements condemning racism and reaffirming their commitments to diversity and inclusion.

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Industry council forms with eye on ‘meaningful change’

Published: June 2, 2020
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Keefe Harrison, who leads The Recycling Partnership

Keefe Harrison, who leads The Recycling Partnership. | Brian Adams Photography/Resource Recycling Conference

The Recycling Partnership is bringing together three dozen individuals from across the recycling value chain for some frank discussion about how to get more types of material consistently collected and moved to end markets.

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Contamination in one region’s commercial stream is 14%

Published: June 2, 2020
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Researchers collected and sorted through more than 38,000 pounds of mixed recyclables from 173 sample loads. | Rubens Alarcon/Shutterstock

Researchers have quantified contamination in the business recycling stream in the Portland, Ore. metropolitan area, providing data that can be used to make operational or outreach decisions.

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City finds alternative outlet for EnergyBag plastics

Published: June 2, 2020
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Boise will send materials to a Utah cement manufacturer on a temporary basis until September. | Charles Knowles/Shutterstock

Boise, Idaho will send hard-to-recycle plastics to be used as fuel for a cement manufacturing operation in Utah, after being without a solid downstream market for more than a year.

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Coronavirus infections impact recycling operations

Published: May 27, 2020
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Calgary, Alberta saw a large recycling facility temporarily close because 16 employees tested positive for COVID-19. | Darko-HD Photography/Shutterstock

A MRF serving Calgary is back at half-capacity after workers tested positive for the coronavirus, and a local program in Missouri is being put on hold as employees go into quarantine.

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Budget shortfalls threaten local recycling programs

Published: May 27, 2020
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In several communities of varying sizes around the country recycling programs are facing cuts due to budget constraints. | John-Fs-Pic/Shutterstock

It’s too early to say how big of a hole COVID-19 will punch in municipal budgets. But communities are already facing tough decisions about how to allocate limited resources, and in some cases, recycling isn’t making the cut.

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OCC supply shortfalls drive up prices

Published: May 19, 2020
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Cardboard in a recycling bin.

Once stay-at-home orders and business closures took hold across the U.S., OCC generation declined very sharply. | AdamBoor/Shutterstock

The coronavirus pandemic has sharply diminished OCC collection from established commercial channels and some residential programs. An analyst describes how the virus hit the paper sector, and mill operators offer perspective on how they’re reacting.

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US paper recycling rate drops slightly

Published: May 19, 2020
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Bales of paper for recycling.

Industry group American Forest & Paper Association announced that in the U.S. market 49 million short tons of fiber products were recycled in 2019.| franz12/Shutterstock

Export market turmoil caused a lower recycling rate for paper and paperboard in 2019, an industry group announced. The decline comes after a record year for paper recycling in 2018.

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