OCC and other recovered fiber shipments to China will continue to face a 25% duty. | cybrain/Shutterstock
The U.S. and China signed a deal last week seemingly calming their trade war. But Chinese tariffs on OCC, recycled pulp and other materials will remain for the time being.
Prices for recovered OCC and fiber bales are still in the dumps, but the value of natural HDPE bales has remained at record highs.
India has substantially increased its imports since China banned mixed paper from entering the country. | SNEHIT PHOTO/Shutterstock
India, the largest overseas market for U.S. mixed paper, has tightened quality standards and reduced its recycled fiber import volume.
Verso announced its Duluth, Minn. mill will be producing 90,000 tons of recycled products per year. | DenisNata/Shutterstock
A Minnesota recycled paper mill conversion project has expanded beyond its original planned capacity and may grow further, company officials recently announced. Production is slated to begin this month.
A report from plastics industry group NAPCOR indicated the U.S. PET bottle recycling rate was 28.9% in 2018, down from 29.2% in 2017. | pook jun/Shutterstock
The U.S. recycling rates for both PET bottles and all plastic bottles have fallen slightly, according to two reports released by industry groups.
California legislators are expected to take up recycling-related legislation again in 2020. | michael warwick/Shutterstock
China published a permit list approving imports of 2.8 million metric tons of recovered fiber, its first permit list for 2020. That’s down from 5 million metric tons during the first permit round a year earlier. | hanohiki/Shutterstock
The latest permit figures from the Chinese government illustrate the country’s goals to continue reducing its recycled fiber intake.
News about fiber markets captured our readers’ clicks throughout 2019. | John McLenaghan/Shutterstock
Over the past 12 months, plummeting fiber prices have hamstrung programs and recycling operators across North America. Little surprise then that analysis of that trend grabbed significant attention from our readers.
Recovered material outside the new glass processing facility in Fairfax County, Va. | Courtesy of Fairfax County.
A local program in a populous area of northern Virginia is seeing positive results after shifting glass from curbside collection to drop-off. The effort has also set the stage for a hub-and-spoke system to serve the wider region.
This year, through October, just 9.8 million short tons of recovered fiber have been imported into China. | richard pross/Shutterstock
Recent actions by the Chinese government indicate the country will likely ban imports of OCC and almost all other fiber grades in 2021. Such a move would come in the wake of industry-shaking mixed paper and plastic prohibitions already in place.