U.S. exporters shipped out 773 million pounds of scrap plastic in the first half of 2019. | aapsky/Shutterstock
Federal trade statistics released last week show U.S. export volumes for the first six months of 2019. Recycled plastics have seen a major drop when compared with figures from a year ago.
Batteries made their way to Strategic Materials’ facility as contamination in the curbside recycling stream. | ANGHI/Shutterstock
A glass recycling facility will pay $1.2 million to settle allegations of improper disposal of batteries, which shouldn’t have arrived at its facility in the first place.
News about federal Zero Waste legislation captured readers’ attention. | Supachai Pakdeesrisakda/Shutterstock
A mix of stories covering legislation, recycling markets and paper mills drew readers’ interest last month.
For the first half of the year, Waste Connections’ recycling business generated $36.5 million in revenue. | Jordi Cor/Shutterstock
Waste Connections and Advanced Disposal Services have continued to suffer from lower commodity prices. Casella Waste Systems, however, charged enough in fees to overcome the market pain.
Argentina-based Arqlite’s first gravel products were sold to customers earlier this year. | Courtesy of Arqlite.
Consulting firm B-Green was helping consumer brand owners reduce waste to landfill, but the companies’ packaging lacked a diversion solution. So B-Green went to work developing a recycling technology and end product.
On Monday, RePlanet shut down completely and terminated its entire workforce throughout California. | Graham Corney/Shutterstock
RePlanet, once the largest operator of facilities redeeming containers covered by the California Redemption Value (CRV) program, has shuttered. The move will significantly reduce consumer recycling access.
Post-consumer recycled cartons have several end markets throughout North America.
Lately, consumers have been exposed to new – and often confusing – information about recycling, encountering many headlines about the effects of China’s ban on waste imports from the U.S.
The U.S. paper recovery rate has been at or above 63% each year for the past decade.
Every year, the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) releases the U.S. paper recovery for recycling rate. The annual figure informs us how much recovered paper is being used to create new products in a given year and is also an important indicator of how much paper and paper-based packaging is kept out of landfills after use.
Improperly disposed lithium-ion batteries can be a fire risk at MRFs. | Janaka Dharmasena/Shutterstock
Legislation making lithium-ion battery producers responsible for collecting and recycling the products they sell is advancing in California.
Legislation introduced last week establishes a framework to enable recycling-related investments. | LWPhotography/Shutterstock
Recycling issues have hit the national stage with unprecedented fervor in recent weeks. Citing recycling market challenges and growing plastic pollution, lawmakers are advancing legislation and pressuring government agencies to take action.