Top Waste and Recycling Stories for the Month of June

#7 - Are National Standards Around Recyclability Claims on The Way?

Research shows how much, how often, and how well consumers recycle depends on their trust in the recycling system. Most of them – 78 percent –turn to labels to try and determine if a material will actually be recycled. Yet nearly two-thirds of them say they are confused by the label, found a survey of 1,300-plus participants conducted by The Recycling Partnership.

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#6 - Colorado Hires PRO for its EPR Program and Gears Up Beyond

A year after passing its Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) law, Colorado has made a few monumental moves to be able to put the plan into play.

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#5 - Memphis Residents Take Claims of Poor Residential Waste Collection Service to Courts

Martin Luther King, Jr., arrived in Memphis, Tenn., in March 1968, to lead a march in support of striking sanitation workers. Fifty-five years later, the solid waste controversy there was not about fair pay or safe working conditions.  For some residents, the city had not made good on a promise.  As they saw it, poor trash collection service in their community breached a “contract” between them and the city.

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#4 - Macquarie Asset Management Acquires Majority Stake in Coastal Waste & Recycling

Macquarie Asset Management (MAM) has acquired majority ownership of Florida-based Coastal Waste & Recycling. The acquisition is aimed at accelerating Coastal's growth. Operations and existing services are expected to remain the same, with CEO Brendon Pantano continuing in his role.

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#3 - NWRA: Waste Truck Load Sizes Must Be Reduced to Offset EV Battery Weight

As the race away from fossil fuels accelerates in fleets across the United States, capacity load size remains an obstacle in the waste and recycling industry. The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) recently published a white paper that examined collection weight loads and subsequent legislation that could shape how quickly companies upgrade their fleets.

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#2 - Where Do Our Recyclables Go?

I asked myself this question as I was preparing to speak at my home county’s Recycling Awards ceremony. I wanted to let our award winners know their efforts are not in vain. While they may have seen or read stories claiming recycling is a hoax, I knew our county’s recyclables are being turned into new products.

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#1 - Accelerating Demand for Scrap Metals Drives Need to Prove Supply Chain Integrity

Demand for recycled metals is steadily climbing; Wood Mackenzie projects demand for steel scrap will grow another 200 million tons a year and aluminum by 75 million tons a year by 2040. With that trend, as with other commodities, the pressure is on to ensure supply chain integrity. In answer, commodities trading facilitator Orbex developed a trading platform for certified recycled metals.

Read the full article here.