Recycling News

In a rare joint appearance, the chief executives of the world's largest beverage companies discuss their efforts to reduce plastic use. PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta and Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey are joined by the CEO of plastic-maker Dow Chemical, Jim Fitterling, at the World Economic Forum panel about transforming the plastics economy.

In September, a 2,000-foot-long floating barrier, shaped like a U, was dispatched to the Great Pacific garbage patch between Hawaii and California, where roughly 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic have formed a floating field of debris roughly twice the size of Texas. Made of connected plastic pipes, the barrier was meant to catch and clean-up the plastic.

Industry has made more than 9.1 billion tons of plastic since 1950 and there's enough left over to bury Manhattan under more than two miles of trash, according to a new cradle-to-grave global study. Plastics don't break down like other man-made materials, so three-quarters of the stuff ends up as waste in landfills, littered on land and floating in oceans, lakes and rivers, according to the research reported in Wednesday's journal Science Advances.

Cars, Boats, Plants, Financial Products and now Recycling Bins! The new Hexcycle® Max hybrid bin from Recyclingbin.com is a super-efficient blend of Aluminum, Polypropylene, and Carbon Steel providing less weight with higher performance.

Recently, the EPA released its bi-annual Municipal Solid Waste Report with a new name, “Advancing Sustainable Materials Management”. The EPA’s intent is to promote the practice of sustainable product and waste program design. This report, “emphasizes the importance of reducing the amount of waste created, reusing whenever possible, and then recycling whatever is left.” .¹ According to the report, “source reduction is the most preferred materials management approach.”

With the news media covering world economics recently in Davos, I couldn’t help but ponder how technology, markets, and economics affect the development of recycling in the America.

As many cities brought in 2010 under bursts of confetti made from virgin paper, I wondered what this new decade may have in store for recycling. Are we finally getting waste disposal under control? Although the total number of landfills nationwide has decreased, todayÕs landfills are larger and continue to grow in size. Over the past ten years, Òthe amount of trash being sent to landfills has remained fairly consistentÓ.

I hope this America Recycles Day is laden with WILL DO spirit. Over the past several years, recycling initiatives have spanned the gamut from reducing disposable plastic bag use to implementing single stream collection. So, how is recycling progressing?