Category Archives: Uncategorized
Not much light at end of mixed-paper tunnel
North America’s residential mixed-paper prices are deep in the negative numbers in some areas. That pain will likely persist for some time, one analyst predicts. “It’s going to be many years before we get back to a decent market, a robust market,” said Bill Moore of fiber recycling consulting and research firm Moore and Associates. […]
India’s trash mountains are a fetid symbol of the country’s plastic problem
New Delhi (CNN)Ravidas in New Delhi is a slum like no other. Its alleys are spotless, its drains regularly washed down with water and its houses painted in bright crayon colors and decorated with plants. There are no fetid open sewers brimming with human waste. Piles of trash do not line every alley. The residents […]
Something to think about
Historic UN Plastic Waste Deal Agreed By 187 Nations
An agreement was reached on Friday at the UN meeting in Geneva, 1,400 delegates from 187 nations agreed on a deal that will restrict shipments of hard-to-recycle plastic waste to developing countries. Consent will now have to be obtained from the countries receiving contaminated, mixed or unrecyclable plastic waste. The 1989 Basel Convention on the […]
Paper giants talk mixed paper and OCC outlook
Recovered fiber end users continue to experience impacts from fluctuating recycling markets, which they discussed in their recent earnings calls. Stakeholders also speculated on the future of fiber exports to Asia. Almost all the major publicly traded paper industry players mentioned recovered fiber in their quarterly investor calls, even if just noting lower OCC prices […]
Why Americans Aren’t Recycling
Americans don’t know how to recycle – and that lack of knowledge is the biggest barrier to being green, according to new research. A new survey of 2,000 Americans revealed that 62 percent worry that a lack of knowledge is causing them to recycle incorrectly. And results found that fear to be substantiated – a […]
The Problem with Plastics
In this month’s edition of Business Insights, we discuss a few of the thorny issues surrounding plastics recycling and plastics pollution. This is likely to be the first of a number of newsletters on this topic. The Anti-plastic Backlash in Response to Very Visible Pollution Problems Over the past several months, in particular, there has been […]
Earth Day 2019: SWANA Challenges Communities to Improve Recycling
Recycling is an essential public service that shouldn’t be at risk because of short-term market challenges. That message is the most important thing to remember this Earth Day, April 22, and every other day, according to the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA). “Local governments should not turn off recycling in 2019 because it’s not profitable,” […]
APR: ‘There is no sustainability without recycling’
The head of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) recently voiced concerns that plastics recovery progress could get dampened by stakeholders’ transition to more holistic approaches to materials management. During a recent webinar, Steve Alexander of APR and an official from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency discussed the evolution of sustainable materials management and what it […]
China trade roundup: More materials barred at year’s end
Even as exporters move off of China as a destination for certain recyclables, the country remains a crucial market. And several recent Chinese developments carry industry-wide implications. Ban expansion: The Chinese government has confirmed it will ban additional recovered materials at the end of the year. The list is notable both for what it includes and […]