Harry Hayes has been director of Houston’s Solid Waste Management Department since 2007. | Photo courtesy of city of Houston
Harry Hayes’ journey to the top of Houston’s solid waste department in many ways began over 40 years ago, when he confronted fears about being the only Black kid in French class.
Major companies have launched an initiative to explore single-use plastic bag design. | daizuoxin/Shutterstock
Target, Walmart and others are working with Closed Loop Partners on a $15 million project to explore alternatives to traditional plastic bags in the retail sector.
Recent research determined that in 2019, UBCs made up 12.5% of potential revenues in MRFs in bottle bill states and 33% of potential revenues in MRFs in non-bottle-bill states. | Graham Corney/Shutterstock
Robotics and additional eddy current separators are key to maximizing sortation of used beverage cans, according to MRF operators, researchers and other experts.
Starting in 2023, “packaging-like” and “single-use” products will be added to British Columbia’s producer-managed recycling program. | Tudoran Andrei/Shutterstock
Canada’s third-largest province has approved a number of changes to its extended producer responsibility and container deposit programs. Continue Reading
From January through May 2020, China imported 1.9 million short tons of recovered fiber from the U.S.. | Avigator Fortuner/Shutterstock
The Chinese government continues to indicate it will eliminate “solid waste” imports, restating the plan during a recent press conference. At the same time, the country has approved additional shipments of recovered paper.
The price of recovered corrugated fiber has taken another significant dive this month, but mixed paper is holding relatively steady.
A proposed California ballot measure would direct CalRecycle to charge producers up to a 1-cent fee for each single-use plastic package sold into the state. | RaksyBH/Shutterstock
A California court has given proponents of a California plastic waste initiative more time to gather signatures, all but assuring it will make the ballot, according to supporters.
Researchers in Florida have noticed a gradual increase in contamination rates in recent years. | Blueee77/Shutterstock
MRFs in Florida have historically landfilled about one-quarter of the weight that comes in the door, according to a study commissioned by the Florida Recycling Partnership Foundation.
Once operational, the Empire Recycled Fiber mill will produce 440,000 tons per year of recycled paper pulp. | Luis M. Seco/Shutterstock
A $125 million recycled paper pulp mill in Pennsylvania will source more than 500,000 tons per year of mixed paper and OCC. The facility will ship its product to China.
In a recently announced deal GFL agreed to pay $835 million for operations now owned by WM and Advanced. | Philip Lange/Shutterstock
Waste Management will acquire Advanced Disposal Services for about $300 million less than originally anticipated. Meanwhile, GFL Environmental agreed to buy a number of U.S. solid waste operations as part of the acquisition deal.