By statute, the full permanent rulemaking package needed to be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law by March 7, but it wasn’t. | Jonathan Lenz/Shutterstock
California state regulators will head back to the drawing board after the governor declined to accept their draft extended producer responsibility program language, delaying the implementation of EPR for packaging and requiring another round of rulemaking. Continue Reading
HB 3433 would add glass wine bottles to Oregon’s container deposit program, but the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative does not want to take on the additional material stream. | Fotosr52/Shutterstock
The question of how glass wine containers should be managed in Oregon – under the state deposit return system or under extended producer responsibility – remains active, though wine bottles seem destined for EPR for now.
Single-use PP beverage pods, such as those used for coffee and tea, may no longer qualify for the “check locally” label, according to the latest data. | Primestock Photography / Shutterstock
The How2Recycle labeling initiative is considering downgrading four types of plastic packaging in response to recent acceptance data, it announced last month. The program also downgraded aerosol cans, upgraded composite containers and determined cartons are still “widely recyclable.” Continue Reading
Between January and November 2024, Mexico provided 18% of the 1.285 million metric tons of bottle-grade and film-grade PET resin, while Canadian volumes accounted for 7%, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. | November Studio/Shutterstock
U.S. President Donald Trump implemented 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico, effective Feb. 4, then delayed them, creating a rapidly changing trade landscape that furthered uncertainty in the recycling and plastics industries. Continue Reading
The new West Coast facility will be the first U.S. carton processing plant west of Iowa. | Andrei Kuzmik
A new end market for gable-top and aseptic cartons aims to start up in California later this year, providing much-needed carton capacity in the western part of the country.
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A government-wide pause on federal assistance could affect recycling projects across the country. | Rix Pix Photography/Shutterstock
This story has been updated.
After a day of confusion and legal challenges across the country, the Trump administration cancelled a memo freezing federal grants, loans and other assistance, according to reporting from various news outlets.
A federal judge on Tuesday had temporarily halted the change shortly before it was set to go into effect.
The pause had been intended to ensure that federal spending aligns with the Trump administration’s priorities and would include previously greenlit projects, according to a White House memo released Monday and related documents. Hundreds of millions of dollars for new recycling facilities and other industry initiatives were at risk of being put on hold.
The guide directs users to various retail and other collection sites around the U.S. that accept film for drop-off recycling. | Ivanova Tetyana/Shutterstock
Editor’s note: Learn more about film recycling trends and many other topics at the 2025 Plastics Recycling Conference on March 24-26 in National Harbor, Maryland. Continue Reading
Experts from Bloomberg, TetraPak and more forecasted stable-to-higher box shipments and analyzed paper fiber recycling during a recent webinar. | Shu Ba/Shutterstock
Volumes of OCC and mixed paper are shifting with societal and economic trends, industry experts said during a paper industry update webinar presented by the Recycled Materials Association.
While overall workplace fatalities decreased in the U.S. in 2023, the waste and recycling industry was a troubling outlier. | Wave Break Media/Shutterstock
Editor’s note: This story has been updated.
Nine workers died in U.S. materials recovery facilities in 2023 and the death rate for refuse and recyclable material collectors jumped more than 80%, according to the latest annual numbers released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Continue Reading
Minnesota lawmakers approved an EPR bill during the 2024 legislative session, and the governor signed it into law in May. | Sean Pavone/Shutterstock
Stakeholders behind Minnesota’s successful extended producer responsibility push said it was clear that radical change was needed in the state’s recycling system, during a recent webinar. Continue Reading