Secondary sortation will continue to play a role in the recycling value chain, panelists said. | Dan Holtmeyer/Resource Recycling
With MRFs becoming ever more sophisticated and AI and robotics providing customizable levels of materials sortation, chemical recycling feedstock provides the most promising end market for secondary sorting, according to panelists at the recent Resource Recycling Conference. Continue Reading
While overall workplace fatalities decreased in the U.S. in 2023, the waste and recycling industry was a troubling outlier. | Wave Break Media/Shutterstock
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
In the third quarter of 2024, the Northeast Recycling Council reported the blended value of a ton, not counting the negative impact of residuals, was $121.21, up 3% from the second quarter of the year. | Nickpeps/Shutterstock
Average commodity prices rose slightly in the third quarter of the year due to national and regional trends, though the growth appears to be cooling off, according to the latest report from the Northeast Recycling Council. Continue Reading
AMP, which started off offering sortation robots that could be added into existing recycling facilities, recently shifted its focus to include full facilities. | Courtesy of AMP Robotics
AMP recently raised $91 million in a financing round and plans to use the funds to accelerate the deployment of its AMP ONE sortation system. Continue Reading
Amy Uong, second from right, speaks during ‘Saying Yes in the Land of No,’ a session held during the Resource Recycling Conference in Kentucky last month. | Dan Holtmeyer/Resource Recycling, Inc.
Faced with challenges moving recycled materials in recent years, MRFs and curbside recycling programs have occasionally opted to stop accepting certain materials, particularly experimental or harder-to-market packaging types.
Battery-bearing devices are detected in the municipal recycling stream using X-ray imaging. | Courtesy of Battery Detection Solutions
An emerging equipment supplier uses an advanced type of X-ray imaging to locate batteries in MRFs and other recycling facilities while also aiming to capture data on the overall composition of commodities in the stream.
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Although third quarter revenues reached record levels for some of the nation’s top five haulers, plummeting OCC pricing in October was an indicator for commodity values heading into 2025. | 2p2play/Shutterstock
Third-quarter commodity prices contributed to record quarterly revenues and margins for several of North America’s largest publicly traded garbage and recycling companies, according to recent financial disclosures. But that has changed moving into the final stretch of the year.
The new MRF is expected to open in early 2026 near Denver and will be the first such facility for AMP. | Jantsarik/Shutterstock
AI-driven sortation systems provider AMP and hauler Waste Connections are partnering to build a new MRF in Colorado, slated to open in early 2026. Continue Reading
Automation using AI, optical sorters and robotics can also help reduce compliance costs and improve revenue, AMP representatives said in a recent webinar. | Jantsarik/Shutterstock
MRFs looking to improve their profit and loss should consider automation, AMP representatives said in the third installment of the AMP Live Talks webinar series. Continue Reading
The Denver East facility will have a yearly capacity of 168,000 tons. | Ken Wolter/Shutterstock
WM’s $100 million Denver, Colorado, MRF campus will come online just in time to capture an anticipated increase in recyclable materials, buoyed by the state’s new extended producer responsibility law for packaging. Continue Reading