Recycling industry groups are lobbying for federal infrastructure spending in materials recovery. | Gary Blakeley / Shutterstock
As federal elected officials debate significant investments in the nation’s infrastructure, recycling and composting stakeholders are pushing them to steer some of that money into materials recovery.
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U.S. exports of scrap plastics increased in the first quarter of 2021, with Malaysia as the largest overseas destination. | WWK Photography / Shutterstock
Recovered material exports were up in the first three months of 2021 compared with the prior year. India dominated the paper export market, and Canada brought in nearly a third of all exported plastic.
Financial documents show TerraCycle US saw double-digit growth in the company’s Zero Waste Boxes program. | Postmodern Studio / Shutterstock
Coronavirus-related closures hurt financial performance for TerraCycle US last year, but increased profitability in the company’s Zero Waste Boxes business helped buffer the impacts.
The challenges of implementing extended producer responsibility programs were recently detailed by an international panel. | ESB Professional / Shutterstock
During one of the first sessions of SPC Impact 2021, held in April, an international panel sat down to discuss the challenges of implementing extended producer responsibility (EPR).
At full capacity, the Juno unit will process 300 tons per day, or about 100,000 tons per year. | Courtesy of Georgia-Pacific
Paper products manufacturer Georgia-Pacific has opened a processing unit to recover fiber from particularly contaminated streams that would otherwise be landfilled.
Lawmakers in Maine are considering two bills that each establish extended producer responsibility programs covering packaging of all material types, but with key differences in program management. | Wangkun Jia / Shutterstock
Two state proposals under consideration in the Northeast get at a central question of extended producer responsibility programs for packaging: Should the government or private industry have more control?
Waste Management’s recycling business revenues came in at $342 million during the first quarter, up 35% year over year. | 2p2play / Shutterstock
Higher commodity prices drove year-over-year recycling revenue increases for North America’s largest garbage and recycling companies.
Prices for curbside plastic bales shot up over the past month, with PET bottles jumping by nearly one-third and natural HDPE notching another record.
Researchers estimate over 74 billion PET bottles were landfilled, burned or littered in the U.S. in 2019. | Teerasak Ladnongkhun / Shutterstock
This story has been updated and corrected.
A new report estimates that a nationwide bottle deposit program would reduce the number of drink containers each American wastes to 67 per year, down from 426 under the status quo.
At the recent ISRI2021 online conference, an EPA official touched on environmental justice issues that affect waste and recycling facilities. | Surapol USanakul / Shutterstock
The U.S. EPA’s top environmental justice official has a message for recycling operators: Don’t wait for a conflict to arise to start engaging with the community that surrounds you.