The Northwest Product Stewardship Council's May 2018 Newsletter has a wealth of great stories, including a feature from Resource Recycling on Sustainable Materials Management in Oregon, CalRecycle Packaging Reform, and more!
PaintCare proposed to Oregon DEQ, which oversees the paint stewardship program, an increase in fees collected on cans of paint sold in Oregon.Oregon DEQ's Peter Spendelow and ORRA's Kristan Mitchell sit down on OPB's "Think Out Loud" to discuss three things you should never put in your curbside bin. 
Story and Photo from Allison Frost/OPB.
Press Release Issued by the National Recycling Coaltion on May 15, 2018
The China Crisis – Whose Crisis is It?
It is ours. Recycled materials and trash should look very different from each other, but for years they have been converging in the U.S.
Although China announced they are suspending the inspection process for US material headed to China, from May 4 through June 4, 2018, it did not have a large impact on the commodities we ship. Mainly, because we export very little material into China anymore. The continued trade restrictions and bans on the commodities we produce have all but shut the door for us to send recovered materials to them.
By: Trevor Nace Apr 25, 2018 @ 11:36 AM
originally published on Forbes
Communities across Oregon - and around the country - are struggling with contaminated recyclables, which has contributed to a sharp drop in interest in U.S. recycled materials from China, the major market for them.
Contamination happens when we put things into recycling bins that can't be recycled and/or are dirty (i.e., trash, items with food residue).
China, which had been receiving more than half of the world's recycling, is no longer accepting most plastics and recycled paper with a contamination level above 0.5 percent as part of its "National Sword" policy.
Meeting this new quality specification has been almost impossible for U.S. processors. Oregon processors have been looking elsewhere, and it's costing more money.
Do you know where your dimes go when you don't redeem your beverage deposits? It goes to the Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative (OBRC), to fund bottle collection and BottleDrop Redemption Centers.
The Bureau of International Recycling (BIR) proclaimed Sunday, March 18 the first Global Recycling Day. Based on the worldwide response, the organization was successful in calling attention to the issues facing the recycling industry and highlighting the importance of what it calls "the seventh resource."
