In communities around the country, recycling programs are limiting the materials they collect, altering service hours or shutting down altogether. | Oksana Shturo/Shutterstock
Recycling programs nationwide have curtailed service due to the coronavirus pandemic, potentially hampering the supply of recyclables moving to market in the weeks to come.
The EcoCart is made with 10% post-consumer HDPE derived from bulky rigids. | Courtesy of Cascade Cart Solutions
Cascade Cart Solutions has produced 22 million carts for Waste Management over three decades, but this month marked a milestone: the first time the company has deployed carts made with recycled curbside residential plastics.
Analysts say the partial closure of the U.S.-Canada border may spook some Canadian garbage and recycling programs into undertaking contingency planning. | Yulia Lyubimova/Shutterstock
The coronavirus has prompted the closure of a state recycling association, and it spurred the Federal Reserve to encourage investors to continue lending to local governments.
The North American garbage and recycling industry suffered 53 on-the-job worker fatalities in 2019. | Juice Flair/Shutterstock
The number of solid waste industry fatalities decreased last year, but the death tally for 2019 nonetheless has one industry organization concerned.
O-I Vice President of Global Sustainability Jim Nordmeyer welcomed a crowd of 50 participants to the Texas Glass Recycling Workshop.
Teton County, Wyo. handles about 4,500 tons of recyclables per year. | Carson Meyer Photography
Each year, as many as 3 million visitors come through Teton County, Wyo., drawn in large part by the area’s scenic destinations. With so many out-of-towners coming through, local recycling coordinators have to stay on their toes when it comes to outreach and education.
The cost of insurance is on the rise for those in the business of materials recovery. | Billion Photos/Shutterstock
Recycling professionals are well aware that prices for many commodities are low and contamination rates are high. But due to the rising number of fires in recent years, materials recovery facility (MRF) operators are now encountering struggles around another area of their businesses: insurance.
Even as the vast majority of municipalities have not made changes to recycling service, the coronavirus impact has been felt in programs around the country. | VO IMAGES/Shutterstock
The global escalation of COVID-19 is hampering some North American recycling programs, impacting Chinese users of U.S. recovered fiber, constraining global shipping, denting stock prices and threatening an economic recession.
