5 arrested, charged in $80.3M recycling fraud conspiracy in California

Charges allege five defendants conspired to create fraudulent weight tickets and take out-of-state containers at Recycling Services Alliance Corporation.

By Cody Boteler • April 20, 2018

China announces formal ban on 32 scrap categories

According to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, this ban will take effect in two phases — half at the end of 2018 and half at the end of 2019.

By Cole Rosengren • Updated April 19, 2018

Costa Coffee pledges to recycle 500M cups annually in the UK by 2020

Additionally, the company will pay about $99.50 for every metric ton of coffee cups collected for recycling.

By Cody Boteler • April 19, 2018

Greenville, SC sees some glass recycling return

RAM Recycling started to collect glass from some commercial customers, and hopes to soon move into the residential space.

By Cody Boteler • April 17, 2018

UPDATE: RePower to break ground on new South Carolina project

The mixed waste processing facility has experienced some permitting delays, but is still on track for its planned opening.

By Cole Rosengren , Cody Boteler • April 17, 2018

UK makes multimillion-dollar global marine plastic pledge

The newly formed Commonwealth Clean Oceans Alliance is intended to drive infrastructure and research investment on a mass scale.

By Cole Rosengren • April 16, 2018

UPDATE: Greenbuild reports 'zero waste' diversion for annual conference

Working with Boston-based Save That Stuff and other partners, the organizers hit a new record.

By Cole Rosengren • April 16, 2018

The Recycling Partnership expects to hit $33M investment target in 2018

The national nonprofit's annual report shows continual progress and an expanding reach, as new high-profile corporate backers sign on.

By Cole Rosengren • April 13, 2018

How Sacramento County, CA plans to fix recycling without raising rates

The county is rolling out a pilot this week after months of contract transitions, due in part to persistently high contamination rates.

By Cole Rosengren • April 12, 2018

SWANA, ISRI to host 'MRF Summit' in August

"This is expected to host the most spirited debates that have ever occurred in this industry," ISRI President Robin Wiener said.

By Cody Boteler • April 11, 2018

Rhode Island may repeal ban on using glass as landfill cover

The Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation is seeking relief after the closure of a key Massachusetts bottling plant.

By Cole Rosengren • April 9, 2018

Fiberight CEO suggests delayed facility in Maine will open by December

"It will work," CEO Craig Stuart-Paul said at a town hall meeting this week. "We will prove it to you."

By Cole Rosengren • Updated May 10, 2018

As US-China trade tensions flare, plastics, aluminum caught in the crossfire

Recent trade spats aren't making it any more likely that the U.S. and China will come to a new agreement on contamination standards.

By Cody Boteler • April 6, 2018

Pratt Recycling president talks future of markets at NERC workshop

Myles Cohen said the contamination problems behind China's new policies are a self-inflected wound. "We as an industry need to fix this," he said. "We did this to ourselves."

By Cody Boteler • April 4, 2018

NYC characterization study shows waste reduction, long road to 'zero'

The Department of Sanitation's 2017 waste characterization study — its first since 2013 — offers a wealth of data on organics, e-waste and cardboard.

By Cole Rosengren • April 4, 2018

With China's 'nearly impossible' contamination standard, where are MRFs looking now?

As the 0.5% enforcement date approached in March, we took a look at how MRFs were adapting in multiple states.

By Katie Pyzyk • April 4, 2018

UPDATE: China seizes 110,000 metric tons of 'smuggled waste,' arrests 52 so far in 2018

In an ongoing crackdown on smuggled material, China says it has seized hundreds of thousands of tons of illegal waste and "smashed" smuggling rings.

By Cole Rosengren , Cody Boteler • April 3, 2018

Washington state recycling market issues finally come into focus

A highly-attended Department of Ecology meeting and news from the Seattle area show effects are worse than originally thought. 

By Cole Rosengren • April 3, 2018

RePower opening Montgomery mixed waste MRF in December

The South Carolina company now plans to install equipment next month, with plans for full operations to kick in by Jan. 2019.

By Cole Rosengren • Updated Nov. 2, 2018

UPDATE: China says US complaints are 'unjustifiable, illegitimate'

"We hope that the U.S. side could focus on reducing, disposing and treating the hazardous wastes and other wastes it generated ... fulfill its due responsibilities and obligations for the world," a Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

By Cody Boteler • March 28, 2018

Closed Loop Fund unveils $5M partnership with Connecticut

The arrangement, which is the first of its kind, is intended to help spread the reach of no-interest loans for recycling infrastructure in a key Northeast state.

By Cole Rosengren • March 27, 2018

Infrastructure, trade and taxes: ISRI lays out policy agenda for the year

The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries lists more than two dozen agenda items divided between six categories, including supporting the right to repair, developing free trade agreements and opposing EPR.

By Cody Boteler • March 27, 2018

MassRecycle 2018: Municipalities should brace for more expensive recycling

Speakers offered a range of insight on adapting to market conditions, from municipal contracting to World Trade Organization politics, at the state's biggest industry event.

By Cole Rosengren • March 27, 2018

UPDATE: Gainesville, FL passes 'zero waste' policy

The Florida city has a broad plan to hit a 75% recycling rate by 2020. This latest move includes taking steps to consider bans on single-use plastic bags and polystyrene foam containers.

By Cole Rosengren • March 26, 2018

University of California professor develops lithium-ion battery recycling method

The recycling method apparently works without losing any capacity and at various stages of degradation.

By Cody Boteler • March 26, 2018