Bagged recyclables cause major headaches for MRFs, so the state of Washington wants to teach people to fill their bins with loose items. | Alexander Lukatskiy/Shutterstock
MRF operators and state officials are working to persuade residents in Washington state to keep plastic film out of the curbside stream.
Both WM and Republic are vertically integrating, with the former making acquisitions and the latter drawing up plans for a new facility. | Lipik Stok Media/Shutterstock
Seeing big business opportunities, the two largest garbage and recycling companies in North America will put tens of millions of dollars into expanding their downstream plastics processing capabilities in coming years.
Redwood’s McCarran, Nev. campus will eventually produce about 100,000 metric tons of cathode active materials each year. | Allyson Kitts/Shutterstock
Redwood Materials has secured a major loan from the federal government, with some strings attached, to help build out its Nevada lithium-ion battery recycling campus.
Recycling and waste-reduction advocates in Michigan were unable to stop passage of a bill that prohibits local ordinances limiting the use of plastic bags and plastic food-service items.
Balcones Resources’ MRF in Austin, Texas is one of a dozen recycling facilities now owned by newly launched company Circular Services. | Jared Paben / Resource Recycling, Inc.
Last year’s launch of Circular Services created a new family of varied recycling companies, yet they’re all focused on a circular economy and are fueled with hundreds of millions of dollars in fresh capital.
Two battery-recycling experts offer their tips for preventing battery fires at recycling facilities. | Mehaniq/Shutterstock
Closed Loop began leasing the Phoenix facilities in 2010, and when it failed in early 2016, it left a combined 106 million pounds of cathode-ray tube materials on both properties (59th Ave. property pictured). | Courtesy of Wood Environment & Infrastructure Solutions/ADEQ
Owners of Phoenix warehouses filed a federal lawsuit against electronic scrap companies that shipped cathode-ray tube materials to Closed Loop Refining and Recovery, and already two defendants have agreed to pay out roughly $1 million each.
Waste Management (WM) has committed to investing more than $800 million to enhance recycling infrastructure, including $56 million to upgrade three Pacific Northwest MRFs. | Pavel Kubarkov/Shutterstock
Dow and Waste Management are partnering on a pilot program that will give some Chicago residents the option of recycling plastic films curbside.
LyondellBasell will chemically recycle scrap plastic feedstock produced by the Cyclyx sorting facility in Houston. Pictured are LyondellBasell’s crackers at its Channelview, Texas complex, which is near Houston. | Courtesy of LyondellBasell
Global plastics producers will invest about $100 million in a plastic scrap sorting facility to generate feedstock for both mechanical and chemical recycling processes.
