The American Chemistry Council (ACC) and More Recycling (MORE) announce a new website to accelerate end market development for plastics. The Recycling Market Development Platform will help connect stakeholders, accelerate the continued growth of plastics recycling and provide guidance on how to better support plastics’ circularity. This free, open-source digital platform was developed by MORE with ACC as a founding partner.

May 31 is Latest Extension to the Halt of Enforcement of Redemption Requirements

April 23, 2020

The History Channel explores how recycling got it start in America. It wasn't intentional, but born out of necessity and instinct. 

Read more on the History Channel

Europe’s ambition to be less wasteful just ran into a coronavirus crisis reality check.

One month after the European Commission launched an ambitious package to move from a throwaway culture to a more circular economy, the pandemic is creating mountains of plastic litter and tons of rotting food.

Stay-at-home orders are hitting container deposit systems hard, leading to significant declines in the volumes of high-quality recyclables moving to material processors.

Eight out of the 10 states with container redemption systems have enacted temporary measures limiting deposit returns in some way. The fallout for recycled material processors has been expansive.

With less material coming in, companies are shouldering higher costs as they scramble to supply their customers and adapt to the fast-changing landscape. In other cases, they’re curtailing operations temporarily.

The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) urges the public to take necessary steps to protect sanitation workers from coming into contact with potentially contaminated items. Solid waste collection is a critical and essential job as part of the response to the Coronavirus pandemic. The men and women working in the waste and recycling industry are on the frontlines protecting human health and the environment.

Resource Recycling is keeping track of how the novel coronavirus is affecting the business of materials recovery and processing.

HERE you’ll find all of their in-depth reporting and analysis on the topic, plus a growing list of resources for programs and businesses impacted by the pandemic. 

Brewers Collective, the craft business unit of Anheuser-Busch, announced a national partnership with innovative recycling company TerraCycle to promote the proper recycling of personal protective equipment (PPE). Brewers Collective has installed TerraCycle Zero Waste Boxes, specially intended for single-use masks and gloves, at 18 craft breweries across the U.S. Once the boxes are filled, they will be returned to TerraCycle for recycling.

As the Sustainability Coordinator at Portland Community College’s Rock Creek Campus over the last seven years I have had numerous neighborhood First Lego League teams come to campus to tour our sustainability practices for ideas.  First Lego League is a global robotics competition that teaches young children

The Recycling Steering Committee is meeting on Friday, January 17 to review preliminary results of collection infrastructure research and guide the next steps for analysis; follow up on equity discussions from the 12/17 meeting; and do final preparations for the 1/31 Information Session. The meeting agenda includes: