Data shows that the U.S. PET bottle recycling rate in 2019 was 27.9%, down from 29.0% in 2018. | TeuNg-StyLe / Shutterstock
Slightly less scrap plastic from the U.S. was recycled in 2019 than the year prior. The data comes as brand owners signal greater demand for recycled resins.
Researchers estimate over 74 billion PET bottles were landfilled, burned or littered in the U.S. in 2019. | Teerasak Ladnongkhun / Shutterstock
This story has been updated and corrected.
A new report estimates that a nationwide bottle deposit program would reduce the number of drink containers each American wastes to 67 per year, down from 426 under the status quo.
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?
The report from SWANA delves into how poor recycling behaviors develop and why they persist. | Scott Beck / Resource Recycling Inc.
Education campaigns may improve curbside recycling practices for residents who produce average or low amounts of contamination, but they may not impact the worst offenders, according to new research.
The REMADE Institute issued funding to projects exploring a variety of recycling technologies. | Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock
A federal initiative focused on energy efficiency in U.S. manufacturing recently selected two dozen recycling projects to support. A majority of the projects are related to plastics recycling, but others target fiber, metals and more.
Bales of plastic material for sortation at the Pacific Northwest demonstration facility. | Jared Paben/Resource Recycling, Inc.
Following a similar demonstration in the Pacific Northwest last year, industry stakeholders are launching an initiative to recover additional material from the municipal stream in New York and four other states.
Various factors influence the fees producers must pay in different EPR programs. | meandering images/Shutterstock
