E-scrap processors are developing strategies for an increasing number of PV modules entering the market. | Hill120 / Shutterstock
In some ways, solar panels present some of the same recycling challenges as old TVs. They carry a high cost to recycle properly, have limited commodity value and contain hazardous metals. At the same time, relatively few downstream processors recycle them, and markets are working against reuse.
Financial documents show TerraCycle US saw double-digit growth in the company’s Zero Waste Boxes program. | Postmodern Studio / Shutterstock
Coronavirus-related closures hurt financial performance for TerraCycle US last year, but increased profitability in the company’s Zero Waste Boxes business helped buffer the impacts.
Aqua Metals, a lead-acid battery recycling technology company, is moving into the lithium-ion battery recycling business. | showcake/Shutterstock
A battery recycling company goes public, North American collection numbers are released, and a lead-acid battery recycling technology company moves into the lithium-ion realm. Those announcements were made around National Battery Day last Thursday.
Nexus Fuels uses pyrolysis technology to convert a mix of post-consumer plastics collected at the curb into chemical and wax products. | Nexus Fuels
For the past two years, difficult-to-recycle plastics have been collected in Cobb County, Ga. through the Hefty EnergyBag program. A downstream processor recently described what happens to that material.
The Rochester, N.Y. plant will be able to process up to 5,000 metric tons of spent lithium-ion batteries per year. | Parilov/Shutterstock
A lithium-ion battery recycling plant has come on-line in upstate New York.
Li-Cycle Incorporated recently announced plans for a Rochester, N.Y. facility capable of processing at least 10 million pounds of lithium-ion batteries per year. | Vietnam stock photos/Shutterstock
Canadian firm Li-Cycle Incorporated, which handles lithium-ion batteries from e-scrap and other sources, is developing a $175 million processing hub in the U.S.
Disposable coffee cups like these have a plastic coating that has historically left them out of the recovery and recycling process. | NatalyaBond/Shutterstock
Georgia-Pacific this week said two of its mills are bringing in mixed-paper bales that include single-use cups with a polyethylene barrier layer.
PreZero’s Riverside, Calif. facility has begun running test loads of LDPE and LLDPE recovered film and producing pellets.
A company planning multiple U.S. processing plants taking in hard-to-recycle plastics has begun operating its first location in Southern California.
The TotalRecycle MRF saw a 70% contamination reduction in its mixed paper and old newsprint bales from installing the flexible packaging sortation equipment. | Jared Paben/Resource Recycling, Inc.
A multi-stakeholder project was able to hit some goals separating flexible plastic packaging from other recyclables at a MRF. But backers also reported significant hurdles moving material downstream cost-effectively.
