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.
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.
On June 1, a statewide survey will launch to collect information about recycling and manufacturers’ use of recovered materials in Texas. | Trong Nguyen/Shutterstock
Recycling stakeholders in the Lone Star State are preparing a plan that will point lawmakers toward strategies for boosting recycling.
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.
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.
Mixed paper, OCC and other fiber grades increased in price this month, with OCC rising to higher than $100 per ton. Plastic price trends are more of a mixed bag.
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.
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.
Connecticut will begin a phased-in deposit program resumption on May 20. | monticello/Shutterstock
Connecticut retailers will begin accepting deposit containers on a limited basis this week and will ramp up to full service early next month. COVID-19 disruptions to deposit programs continue in other states.
Recycled material shipments out of the U.S. have been on the decline for multiple years due to overseas regulatory changes. | MAGNIFIER/Shutterstock
U.S. exports of recycled paper and plastic were down during the first quarter of 2020 compared with previous years, according to new export data.