The U.S. EPA received 108 public comments as the agency seeks to revise its recycling rate calculation methodology. | janstarik/Shutterstock
If food scraps from households are composted, should that count in the nation’s recycling rate? What if they’re fed to livestock or processed in anaerobic digesters?
“I have prepared my answer for this,” said city of Seattle economist Jenny Bagby before emphatically holding up a sheet of paper and taking a pause. “I don’t know.”
The exchange drew laughs from the room full of Pacific Northwest recycling leaders who were gathered earlier this month in Seattle for a recycling metrics event called the SPU Measurement Symposium. Continue Reading
For 2020, SWANA reported 36 collection/transportation worker deaths, the same number as 2019. | Eric Buermeyer/Shutterstock
The number North American MRF workers killed on the job last year decreased, but the total number of garbage and recycling sector deaths remained flat, according to industry data.
Despite last year’s drop in landfill tip fees, the five-year average is still trending upward. | Janossy Gergely/Shutterstock
Average landfill tip fees across the country dropped in 2020, although the eastern U.S. continued to see rising disposal costs.
Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows 43 workers suffered fatal injuries on the job in 2019. | Sepp photography/Shutterstock
Forty-three garbage and recycling collection workers were killed on the job in 2019, fewer than the prior year but still more than the average over the past several years.