The customized unit can identify all yarn fibers and blends in about half a second, helping to make sorting more efficient.

The group reported progress on five-year goals by signatories representing the entire plastics value chain, but pointed out systemic challenges to reducing reliance on virgin resin and increasing use of recycled plastics.

In a late afternoon email on Jan. 9, the state's resource and recycling agency abruptly withdrew proposed regulations for the state's landmark EPR bill for packaging, and will reopen public comment yet again, but provided few details.

The data showed that plastic packaging that will be covered under SB 54 is being recycled at very low rates, while glass and paper fiber were stronger.

Company co-founder Rish Mitra says data collected from a growing number of MRFs globally can help fine-tune emerging EPR policy and optimize revenue from recycled commodities, including discarded electronics.

The European Commission acknowledged the urgency for EU-wide measures to protect trade from cheap imports and to provide regulatory certainty to enable investment in chemical recycling.

The second round of funding under the Solid Waste Infrastructure for Recycling grant program awarded about $58 million to 17 applicants, toward waste reduction, recycling and composting programs.

Plastics recyclers are completing what often has been described as the worst year to date, amid cheap virgin and imported resin, and renewed criticism of the industry in well-publicized reports.

Liberty Tire Recycling is investing in $1.4 million of equipment upgrades at a facility in North Carolina, and credits the state's new law directing disposal fees back into its scrap tire program. In summer 2025, North Carolina passed SB 706, under which most of the new funding will go back to counties to reimburse costs associated with collecting and recycling...

The Packaging and Claims Knowledge (PACK) Act is meant to avoid misleading labels that may confuse consumers and "undermine real recycling efforts."