As online preferences and trends change, we will see shifts in popularity from old platforms to new ones. Understand what your customers want and communicate with them in ways that build your brand and meet your company’s goals.

Read more in this article by Jessica Shrout, the owner of Circle Three Branding—a marketing agency devoted to the waste industry.

Oregon’s bottle deposit system is recycling more containers than ever before despite major disruptions in global recycling markets.

Last year, Oregon recycled 90 percent of the beverage containers covered by its bottle deposit system. The rate has jumped from 64 percent just two years ago and the total number of bottles recycled reached an all-time high of 2 billion in 2018.

Continue Reading at OPB.

At face value, the business model for a materials recovery facility is simple.

MRFs take in commingled recyclables, separate them, and then sell the sorted materials to buyers who process and transform them into new products. The new products are sold to consumers, and the process begins again.

From the CARTM Newsletter

As many of you know, CARTM lost its contract to operate the transfer station, effective December 31, with only 16 days notice. We spent those 16 days selling, then giving away all the donated merchandise before the facility closed.

The goal of the MMP is to harmonize the measurement of material management programs and to provide municipalities with decision-making tools that can improve recycling program performance. 

The MMP is designed and delivered by The Recycling Partnership and Re-TRAC Connect to provide municipalities with a robust and accessible materials management program analysis and planning tool.

It was also designed, with industry assistance, to standardize terminology and harmonize methodologies in support of consistent measurement across the U.S. and Canada.

Five years after Sonoma County and the city of Santa Rosa banned single-use plastic bags at local supermarkets and stores, the much-maligned plastic bag is making a comeback — and reviving some familiar problems. The new breed of plastic bag, introduced a little more than two years ago, is marketed as a thicker, sturdier sack that can be reused dozens of times, and also is recyclable.

The 2019 Oregon Legislative session begins January 22 and will likely include discussion of many issues of interest to AOR’s members. The legislative committee began review of legislative concepts in November. This update includes a summary of recent committee meetings and information about open positions on the committee and how to apply for those positions.

The People’s Republic of China has announced that eight types of scrap metal will move from its “Catalogue of Solid Waste Not Restricted to Import as Raw Materials” list to its “Catalogue of Solid Waste Restricted to Import as Raw Materials” list. According to a news release from the Brussels-based Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), the items will be moved to the restricted list beginning July 1, 2019.