The Front Range Transload project brings together rail company BNSF, trucking companies, brokers and the City of Pueblo. | Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock
One of the biggest barriers to recycling in remote and rural areas is transportation. The Circular Economy Development Center is tackling the issue in Colorado with the Front Range Transload project. Continue Reading
The newly formed conglomerate operates 63 paper mills and 500 converting facilities worldwide. | Trainman111/Shutterstock
With a long-in-the-works merger finally official, recycling collector and major fiber end user Westrock is now one with the European packaging firm Smurfit Kappa. The conglomerate will use an estimated 15 million tons per year of recycled fiber globally. Continue Reading
In 2021, Connecticut lawmakers approved a series of changes to the state’s bottle bill, including expanding the list of containers covered under the deposit program, increasing the number of redemption spaces and increasing the handling fee and doubling the deposit. | Veja/Shutterstock
Consumers redeemed 194.5 million containers in Connecticut during the first quarter of this year, up 12.6% from a year before, as the state increased the container deposit from a nickel to a dime. Continue Reading
PepsiCo now is involved in two lawsuits surrounding plastic waste. | PJiiiJane/Shutterstock
The City of Baltimore, Maryland, has filed a lawsuit against PepsiCo, Coca-Cola and other major companies to recoup costs associated with cleaning up plastic pollution. Continue Reading
Michigan is on track to achieve its goal of 30% recycling rate by 2029. | OnePhoto/Shutterstock
The recycling rate in Michigan reached a record high of 23% in 2023, keeping the state on track to achieve its goal of a 30% recycling rate by 2029, according to a press release from the state’s Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy. Continue Reading
Winners of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Re-X Before Recycling Prize will get $50,000. | JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
Twenty teams have received $50,000 each from a U.S. Department of Energy competition aimed at extending the life cycle for such materials as electric vehicle batteries, packaging, textiles and construction materials. Continue Reading
Balcones Recycling opened a $68 million MRF this month in San Antonio, Texas, capable of processing 50 tons per hour of municipal recyclables. | Courtesy of Balcones Recycling
Balcones Recycling has completed a new sorting facility in San Antonio, featuring AI-equipped optical sorters and an innovative experiment to deal with a common MRF contaminant.
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The June 14 webinar “EPR in British Columbia: A Timeline of Success and Challenge Past, Present, Future” brought together nine speakers with long experience in extended producer responsibility in the province. | Vipada Kanajod/Shutterstock
How did a law intended to stop can-tabs litter in British Columbia lead to today’s expansive extended producer responsibility laws? Those involved in its evolution traced the path in a webinar hosted by the Coast Waste Management Association. Continue Reading
The U.S. Plastics Pact reported that by the end of 2022, pact signatories had increased PCR use from 7% to 9.4%. | XXL Photo/Shutterstock
The U.S. Plastics Pact recently unveiled the goals its signatories will strive for during the next five years. Most of the goals build on the efforts over the past five years, and the group’s target date to hit 30% average recycled content has been extended from 2025 to 2030. Continue Reading
Of the nine other bottle-bill states, only Massachusetts and Connecticut reported lower container rates in 2022, at 38% and 45% respectively. | Kwangmoozaa/Shutterstock
Iowa had the third-lowest container recovery rate among the ten states with deposit return systems, the 2022 Recovery Rate report found, although part of that figure is based on estimation. Continue Reading