Industry Announcements

July 2018

The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) and Plastics Recyclers Europe (PRE) have aligned their definitions of what they consider a “recyclable” plastic packaging.

Environmental Paper Network-North America has launched an improved web-based Paper Calculator, which is intended to drive innovation in paper use and purchasing.

A number of major industry groups have been meeting to discuss ways to advance the recycling industry, including the American Forest & Paper Association, AMERIPEN, Association of Plastic Recyclers, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries, Keep America Beautiful,  Northeast Recycling Council, National Recycling Coalition, National Waste & Recycling Association, Plastics Industry Association, The Recycling Partnership, Southeast Recycling Development Council, Sustainable Packaging Coalition and the Solid Waste Association of North America.

McDonald’s has joined the NextGen Cup Consortium and Challenge, an initiative convened by Closed Loop Partners to develop a recyclable or compostable cup for foodservice use. The initiative also counts Starbucks as a founding member.

The National Recycling Coalition (NRC) is accepting applications from St. Louis-area college students for scholarship funded by the Murray J. Fox Scholarship Fund. Submissions are due Aug. 30. Fox, a longtime NRC member, passed away in January at the age of 93.

The Recycling Partnership has released details on how to apply for its new Coastal Community Recycling Grant program.

TOMRA Sorting Recycling appointed Rick Fenton sales manager for the East Coast of North America.

Unifi, makers of Repreve brand of recycled polyester fiber, will provide grants to Pac-12 universities to support recycling, as part of Unifi’s new partnership with the Pac-12 conference.

Associated Recyclers of Wisconsin (AROW) announced the launch of Recycle Right Wisconsin, a program to provide recycling information to residents.

The California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) awarded $25 million in grants to organics composting and food recovery efforts, including a $3 million grant to Waste Management’s Oakland-area facility to separate food scraps from the garbage stream for composting.  

Closed Loop Partners released its 2017 progress report.

Covanta Environmental Solutions has opened a materials processing facility near its existing waste-to-energy plant in Indianapolis.

Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) released a statement hailing the closure of a waste-to-energy plant in Commerce, Calif.

Major grocery store chain ALDI has joined the How2Recycle program.

Kimberly-Clark issued an update on its sustainability efforts, noting it used 730,000 metric tons of recycled fiber last year, the same as the year before.

The National Recycling Coalition (NRC) has scheduled its second in a series of markets-focused events for July 31 near Atlanta.  

A group called Protect CRV has formed to advocate on behalf of California’s container redemption centers.

ZenRobotics has sold sorting robots that will be installed in a recycling facility in Sweden.

June 2018

Allen Langdon left his position as managing director of Recycle BC, British Columbia’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) group for printed paper and packaging, effective June 19. On July 9, he becomes president and CEO of Encorp Pacific, which manages the deposit-return system in the province.

Seattle University Albers School of Business and Economics researchers compiled a report on paper recycling in King County, Wash. and throughout the Pacific Northwest.

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) released the list of winners of the 2018 Safety Awards, and the overall winner was Lakeshore Recycling Systems. SWANA also unveiled a hauler safety toolkit.  

The Recycling Partnership has uploaded new content and resources to its website.

Researchers at the University of Georgia’s (UGA) New Materials Institute released a report examining the market impacts of China’s limits on scrap plastic imports, estimating 111 million metric tons will be displaced by 2030.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation released a case study on its “Beyond 34” project, which aims to provide a scalable model improving recycling and recovery rates.

The U.S. EPA has launched an excess food opportunities map.

The Carpet and Rug Institute will extend its voluntary stewardship program into 2019, providing subsidies for post-consumer carpet recycling in states without extended producer responsibility programs for carpet.

The Fibre Box Association released recommendations meant to ensure OCC recycling rates remain high with the growth of e-commerce.

IKEA has announced new 2030 sustainability commitments, including a pledge to use only renewable and recycled materials.

Beauty products producer Kao USA will adopt the How2Recycle label for its packaging.

Keep America Beautiful named Noah Ullman as its new chief marketing officer and digital transformation lead.

Machinex provided for York County, S.C. a new single-stream MRF designed to sort 10,000 to 15,000 tons per year of primarily residential recyclables.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) recently updated its guidelines for paper stock in its Scrap Specifications Circular to add language related to contamination.

The National Recycling Coalition (NRC) is accepting nominations for the group’s 2018 awards, which will be presented at the Resource Recycling Conference in St. Louis in October.

The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) has established a political action committee (PAC) that will lobby on behalf of the waste and recycling industry.

Nespresso and Canada Post have launched a mail-back recycling program in Canada for Nespresso’s aluminum coffee capsules.

PetStar has received a National Quality Award, which was presented to the company by the president of Mexico.

Purple Carrot, a meal kit company, has begun using packaging that includes recyclable corrugated boxes made from 95 percent post-consumer material.

Recycle Track Systems (RTS) will partner with Nationals Park, home of the Washington Nationals MLB team, to provide recycling, composting, educational materials and more.

Sierra International Machinery has hired Randy Gibson as the company’s director of sales for Macpresse in the U.S. and Canada.

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) announced the winners of its 2018 Excellence Awards. Among the winners from the recycling sector is Penn Waste, which received the SWANA Silver Excellence Award in the Recycling Systems category.

The University of Portland in Oregon, Chico State University in California and Knox College in Illinois are among the first universities to ban plastic straws on campus.

The China Scrap Plastics Association (CSPA) has announced that its China Recycling Plastics Conference/Exhibition will be held Sept. 13-14 in Dongguan, China.

The Delta Institute, a non-profit environmental organization, has released a guidebook on best practices for building deconstruction and material reuse.

The European Commission has proposed rules that would ban a handful of single-use plastic product types that most commonly end up as marine debris.

The Foam Recycling Coalition has launched a new website, offering resources to increase the collection and processing of foam polystyrene packaging.

The Food Packaging Forum has published a study looking at chemical safety issues involved in recycling plastics, fibers, metals, glass and multilayer materials into new food packaging.

The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) has criticized the American Chemistry Council’s pledge to recover 100 percent of plastic packaging by 2040.

Spaleck USA has appointed Keith Corvin as its sales manager for North America.

May 2018

Videos of two new robotic sorting systems have been released. Bollegraaf Recycling Solutions uploaded a video announcing its new robot, and ZenRobotics published a video of its recently released Fast Picker.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation announced the companies that have joined the Make Fashion Circular initiative.

The National Waste and Recycling Association sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence urging the federal government to take action against China’s restrictions on recyclables.

Northeast Resource Recovery Association (NRRA), New Hampshire the Beautiful and NRRA’s School Recycling Club presented 11 school recycling program awards at the group’s 9th annual School Recycling Conference.

Aluminum rolling and recycling company Novelis will double its automotive aluminum body sheet capacity in China.

RiverRoad Waste Solutions has made a financial investment in CleanRobotics, maker of the TrashBot, a technology that uses robotics and artificial intelligence to sort waste and recyclables.

Sonoco, a packaging producer heavily involved in recycling, will acquire the remaining 70 percent interest in its joint venture Conitex Sonoco, which recycles fiber into tubes and cones used in the textiles industry.

Raleigh, N.C.-headquartered Waste Industries has finalized its merger with Alpine Waste & Recycling, which is based in Denver.

The Association of California Recycling Industries will host a luncheon this week to discuss China’s restrictions on imports of recyclables.

BigBelly, which manufactures high-tech waste and recycling receptacles, has announced a partnership that will further BigBelly’s development across Europe and the Middle East.

Call2Recycle has launched its Avoid The Spark battery safety campaign in California, citing the rising number of recycling facility fires caused by improperly discarded lithium-ion batteries.

Designing Waste: Strategies for a Zero Waste City, an exhibit exploring how architectural design can reduce waste, will open June 14 in New York City.

Gore Fabrics has joined the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s “Make Fashion Circular” initiative, which includes 20 brands focused on implementing circular economy principles in the textile industry.

Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative (OBRC), the industry-owned container stewardship group, held a collection event during which redeemed deposits were donated to a local food bank.

Recycle Track Systems CEO Gregory Lettieri has been named one of the “top entrepreneurs in America” by Quantumshift, a program put on by the University of Michigan and KPMG, a professional services company.

Coast Waste Management Association has elected two new directors to sit on its eight-member board.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has elected a new slate of national officers.

The National Waste and Recycling Association has praised Maryland’s passage of “slow down to get around” legislation, which requires motorists to reduce speed and change lanes when passing collection trucks.

Re-Trac Connect will host a webinar to solicit feedback on its Municipal Measurement Program, a software tool for municipal recycling agencies.

Packaging producer TemperPack has released a fiber-based, recyclable shipping insulation material called ClimaCell.

TerraCycle and beauty products company L’Occitane have launched a recycling program accepting a variety of beauty and skincare products at L’Occitane store locations.

AMCS, a waste and recycling software company, has completed a significant investment from Insight Venture Partners and Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF).

Brand owner Henkel will include the How2Recycle label on a selection of its laundry and home care products, including Soft Scrub and Purex Crystals. Also, protective packaging company Pregis will adopt the How2Recycle label, starting with its LDPE air pillows, which are used to protect products during shipment.

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) announced that the Recycling Research Foundation raised a record $40,000 through its annual silent auction, which was held at ISRI’s annual convention and exposition in April in Las Vegas.

The PAC Packaging Consortium released its “Sustainability Checklist for Structural Package Designers.”

The Recycling Partnership (TRP) announced that Love Beauty and Planet, a new Unilever brand, has joined as a member and will contribute $40 to TRP for each ton of greenhouse gases emitted during production of its products. TRP also recently announced that Niagara Bottling, a major end user of recycled PET, has joined its ranks.

TerraCycle and Barilla have launched a mail-in recycling program for Barilla’s instant pasta pouches.

Van Dyk Recycling Solutions donated $5,000 to the Environmental Research & Education Foundation (EREF) Scholarship Program. The donation was made at the EREF annual auction, held at WasteExpo in Las Vegas in April.

The American Chemistry Council has released a study showing that gasification, a waste-to-energy process, produces higher-quality fuels when plastics are added in with other feedstock.

The Confederation of Paper Industries and HM Revenue & Customs have released data showing mixed paper exports from the U.K. fell by more than 13 percent in early 2018, in part due to China’s import restrictions.

Vehicle producer McNeilus Truck and Manufacturing has created a new refuse collection vehicles business unit and appointed Jeff Koga to lead the department.

The Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania announced the creation of the Daniel D. Weisenbach Environmental Stewardship Award, named after an industry innovator who helped found Weisenbach Recycled Products in 1981 at the age of 19. The application process for the inaugural award is open until May 18.

The Washington State Recycling Association (WSRA) has announced the organizations, businesses and individuals that will be inducted into WSRA’s hall of fame this year.