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.
Recently, a Senate committee spent two hours hearing about the challenges facing U.S. recycling. | Alexandru Smut Calin/Shutterstock
Across the U.S., recycling conversations among elected officials are gaining momentum, suggesting 2020 could still be marked by laws related to materials recovery.
A research project in Ontario compared single-family and multi-family streams in medium-sized urban cities with single-family streams in rural programs. | Diana Parkhouse/Shutterstock
Officials in one area of Ontario dove deep into recycling stream composition data, producing results that informed a municipality’s new recycling contract. Continue Reading
The TotalRecycle MRF saw a 70% contamination reduction in its mixed paper and old newsprint bales from installing the flexible packaging sortation equipment. | Jared Paben/Resource Recycling, Inc.
A multi-stakeholder project was able to hit some goals separating flexible plastic packaging from other recyclables at a MRF. But backers also reported significant hurdles moving material downstream cost-effectively.
The Des Moines, Iowa Metro Waste Authority recently approved a loan agreement to finance construction of a new MRF, which officials say could cost about $24 million. | cnetten/Shutterstock
Plans to build a new publicly funded MRF in the Des Moines, Iowa area have drawn criticism from the region’s current recycling contractor.