Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, several municipal recycling programs were suspended as a result earlier this spring and summer. In addition, bottle bill programs were halted in some areas. Back in June, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order that allowed grocers and retailers to choose whether they would redeem bottles and cans or continue to suspend those collections for a 60-day period.

Recycling Today connected with Will Sagar, executive director of the Southeast Recycling Development Council (SERDC), to learn about trends SERDC is noticing this year in municipal recycling programs.

Will Sagar (WS): The first obvious thing everybody saw was residential picked up and commercial collection dropped. That affected the supply chain. We saw increases in OCC (old corrugated container) prices. That price has since dropped back down, but it’s still stronger than we were at before, which is encouraging. So, that’s been good.

Plastic containers suffered, and price has gone down, but that’s not just because the supply picked up. The price of oil went down because of the lack of demand for gasoline. When petroleum went down, plastic prices went down. So, that was pandemic driven, but a bit more indirectly.

Then the other side of that, we lost some bottle deposit programs for a while. Eight out of 10 states removed the requirement that retailers needed to operate buyback programs. People with beverage containers could forego it or put it in regular recycling programs.

But probably the bigger thing we’re looking at is the financial strains that counties and cities have been facing and are going to face from their lost revenue—sales tax revenues are down, occupancy taxes … they will see lower collection rates by the end of the year. City budges will be under an awful lot of stress throughout this fiscal year. Our hope is they don’t look at recycling collection as some luxury add-on program; we work hard for recycling to be essential in a pandemic because we need this material for supply chain manufacturing. Recycling is a significant part of economic recoveries, but if we start by not operating collection, we run into significant obstacles on recovery. So, that concern is out there.

WS: It’s hard to track programs being suspended. You try to keep the list up, but it’s a moving target, and there’s no central hub. I would have discussions with some state agencies, and they weren’t necessarily aware if there were suspensions within their own states. It comes down to if local government suspends their program, they won’t do an annual report on what they did until this time next year. They don’t necessarily have to tell the state if they stopped collecting in a given month. So, there’s a lag in that reporting time for state agencies to know about it. Some state agencies have closer relationships with localities than others, and some programs we were picking up in the media that the state agencies weren’t aware of.

WS: We’re conducting a MRF (material recovery facility) study right now, and we asked that question. So far, most of them have said there’s been no difference—it’s about the same. [The only difference is there is more residential material than commercial material.] I would speculate that there is less of public space recycling going on, and that tends to be a higher contamination-level source.

WS: It does look like whatever ‘normal’ used to be is probably not where we’re going to be a year from now. Even if we had a vaccine and infection rates were down, I think there will be a lot more working remotely, and I think along the way we’re probably picking up a strengthening of family values. We’ve stayed in our bubble more, making it more important to spend time with children and grandchildren. I think that will keep residential collection reasonably strong.

The Recycling Partnership has updated their FREE online Campaign Builder. This tool lets you take the reins - simply answer five questions to customize your campaign materials to help tackle the top contamination issues in your community.

The result? Promotional materials that highlight what’s accepted in your program, with your community’s name and contact information in tow. It’s like magic, but more practical. And now, the graphics align with the free DIYSigns for Recycling.

The Recycling Partnership has launched the Polypropylene Recycling Coalition, an industry collaboration to improve polypropylene recovery and recycling in the United States and further develop the end market of high quality recycled polypropylene.

The Coalition took its first action by opening a Request For Proposals (RFP) for Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) to apply for financial grants to enable improved sortation of polypropylene and widen acceptance through consumer education programs in communities.

According to The Recycling Partnership’s 2020 State of Curbside Recycling report, there may be as much as 1.6 billion pounds of polypropylene available per year from single-family homes that could be recycled into new products ranging from automotive parts to personal care and food packaging. The Polypropylene Recycling Coalition’s RFP will improve polypropylene recycling by awarding grant dollars to be applied to purchasing polypropylene sorting equipment and supporting consumer education programs in communities.

For MRFs interested in applying for a grant, read more here.

The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) today released new

industry guidance that aims to clear up consumer confusion regarding the recyclability of pizza boxes. The guidance resulted from a study conducted by WestRock – an AF&PA member company – that found the presence of grease and cheese at levels typically found on pizza boxes does not impact manufacturing in a negative way.

“Corrugated pizza boxes are successfully recycled every day at paper mills throughout the country, yet consumers remain confused by mixed messages suggesting that some boxes should not be put in the recycle bin,” said AF&PA President and CEO Heidi Brock. “So, let’s be clear: pizza boxes are recyclable. Consumers should not be concerned about grease or cheese – simply remove any leftover pizza and place the box in the recycle bin. We encourage communities to update their residential recycling programs guidelines to explicitly accept pizza boxes that are free of food.”

In a recent membership-wide survey, AF&PA members representing 93.6 percent of the total amount of Old Corrugated Containers consumed by member companies, said they accept corrugated pizza boxes for recycling.

For more information about the recyclability of pizza boxes, including AF&PA’s Pizza Box Recycling Statement, visit PaperRecycles.org.

For more information about WestRock’s study on the impact of grease on recycling

post-consumer pizza boxes, visit: https://www.westrock.com/greasecheesestudy

The exhibitor application form for this year’s America Recycles: Innovation Fair is now live on the EPA's website. The deadline for applications is September 10. This year, the America Recycles: Innovation Fair plans to showcase exhibitors both online (via a virtual exhibit hall) as well as in person on November 16.

 All organizations with innovations that advance recycling are encouraged to apply. EPA’s goal is to connect the public and potential investors with recycling innovators, ideally spurring market development and adoption of new technologies that increase recycling rates, as well as create new products comprised of post-recycled content.

Learn more about the EPA America Recycles: Innovation Fair and apply today!

During the last twelve months, Machinex had a record year on balers sales including 8 single ram and 12 II ram high capacity balers throughout Canada and the United States.

In North America, both II ram and single ram balers were installed, with some ending up in long-time customers' facilities such as Rumpke Recycling in Louisville, KY and Medina, OH, Republic Services in Greensboro, NC for the US part. In Canada, balers were installed at GFL facilities in Richmond and Winnipeg but not only.

Machinex started manufacturing high capacity single ram balers in 2003 to offer a superior baler in terms of quality and efficiency. This offer added value to turnkey systems and allowed the company to improve its self-sufficiency as a supplier, all while having a machine that aligns with the company's high standards. In 2012, due to growing customer demand for high capacity II ram balers, Machinex installed its first II ram baler in a customer's facility. The long-time expertise of Machinex as a turnkey solution provider gives unparalleled benefits to customers.

“One of our clients in St Louis considered four other major II ram baler manufacturers as a part of their buying process. They selected the Machinex baler because we had the lowest “cost of ownership” over a 10-year period when considering baling capacity and annual maintenance” said Rusty Angel, Eastern Region Sales Manager in the United States.

The Northeast Recycling Council (NERC) has published the fifth in its series of quarterly reports on the blended value of a ton of materials marketed at MRFs in the Northeast.

This report covers the period April – June 2020, and is somewhat different from previous reports. Eleven states are represented in this report, including Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.

The latest report reveals some interesting trends:

The average processing cost per ton: $93/ton. This quarter represents a decrease of 3% as compared to the previous period.

The survey will be repeated for the quarter July – September 2020 and a report published of the results.

The study was made possible with a grant from EPA Region 3.