Oregon residents generated about 6.1 million tons of material in 2022, with 3.7 million tons going to landfills and incinerators and 2.4 million tons recovered. | JPL Designs/Shutterstock
The amount of material Oregonians disposed of in 2022 dropped significantly from the year before, but that was largely due to fewer building-destroying wildfires, according to the latest state Material Recovery and Waste Generation Rates report. Continue Reading
The project from Goodwill, the Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center and Reworld has a goal to collect 500,000 pounds of e-scrap during its first year. | BluIz60/Shutterstock
Goodwill, the Pennsylvania Recycling Markets Center and Reworld have added 42 free recycling sites throughout Pennsylvania, a state with a long history of electronics recycling access challenges. Continue Reading
A drop in overall plastics collection contributed to a decline in the annual bottle recycling rate, which decreased to 27.8% in 2022. | Mohamed Abdulraheem/Shutterstock
Just over 5 billion pounds of post-consumer plastic was recovered for recycling in 2022, an annual industry report found, marking a decrease from the prior year. One trade association pointed to macroeconomic factors like inflation as driving the lower recovery. Continue Reading
SB 1013 brought more container types into the California Redemption Value system but also removed an option for retailers to choose to pay a $100 daily fee instead of accepting returned containers. | Andrii Koval/Shutterstock
Formal rulemaking for changes to California’s deposit system is about to begin, and draft rules shed more light on new requirements for beverage dealers and retailers. Continue Reading
Topics at a recent discussion of EPR programs included collection, efficiency and harmony across jurisdictions. | mi_viri/Shutterstock
Producer responsibility organizations can help drive efficiency and harmonization in extended producer responsibility programs, stakeholders suggested at a recent conference. Continue Reading
Mayor Eric Adams attributes the cessation of services to growing costs from the migrant crisis, among other factors. | Monster Ztudio/Shutterstock
New York City residents on Staten Island lost the option to have their scrap electronics picked up curbside after the mayor made large-scale budget cuts. Continue Reading
A rendering of the Republic Polymer Center set for Indianapolis. | Courtesy of Republic Services
Republic Services announced that its second plastics processing and production hub, expected to come on-line in late 2024, will be located in Indianapolis. Continue Reading
Now that California has mandated organics collection by local governments, Zabble hopes to see growing demand for its contamination monitoring tools. | Courtesy of Zabble
When Zabble interviewed dozens of municipal recycling stakeholders in California, one of the issues the company heard about was the inability to use contamination monitoring mobile device software in the field when there’s no network signal. Continue Reading
Companies such as Prairie Robotics and AMCS Group are leveraging AI to craft more robust analytics, all the way down to the individual household level. | 9dream Studio/Shutterstock
Artificial intelligence is now well established in MRFs as a tool for sorting material and dramatically reducing contamination. Now, multiple companies are taking AI to an earlier stage of the recycling process by mounting cameras on collection trucks. Continue Reading
An image of Reynolds’ Hefty Recycling bag box from a lawsuit challenging the recycling-related claims. Reynolds Consumer Products says it has since made wording changes to the packaging. | Screen copy from court filings
Reynolds Consumer Products has agreed to change advertising language and pay up to $4 million to settle one of multiple lawsuits alleging its marketing of recycling collection bags is illegal. Continue Reading