Lawmakers in Ghana have reportedly approved legislation that will result in a national fund to provide collection and recycling services for end-of-life electronics. Ghana, which is located on the west coast of Africa, has in recent years become a hot spot in the international debate over the export of used electronics.According to a report on Ghana Business News, the recycling...

Japan-based Mitsubishi Materials has formed a company to begin collecting and processing large amounts of e-scrap in Europe. It plans to ship the material to its smelters and refineries in Japan. The newly launched Mitsubishi Metals Corporation will work out of a $17 million processing site in Moerdijk, Netherlands. The operation, located in the southern part of the country, is...

Minnesota made significant changes to its e-scrap program. However, its neighbor Wisconsin failed to pass major updates. Those are just two notes in our look at six action-packed months in state-level policy. E-Scrap News followed e-scrap-related legislation from more than half a dozen states during the first half of 2016. No states without e-scrap programs have come close to starting...

Canada collected more plastic for recycling in 2014 than it did the year before, with big boosts in curbside-collected film driving the increase. In 2014, at least 353,511 tons of post-consumer plastic (including commercial material) were collected for recycling, according to a report from Moore Recycling Associates. That marked a 2.9 percent increase (10,161 tons) in weight when compared with...

Plastic cans with metal lids might provide consumers with a better look at what's inside, but that doesn't mean the plastic recycling industry is happy about the innovation. The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) announced this week that the clear plastic PET containers are a contaminant in the recycling stream. The containers are not yet in wide use, but some...

San Francisco has approved a wide-ranging ban on expanded polystyrene products. The ban, which was introduced in April to broaden an existing ban on EPS food-service products, was approved unanimously last week by the City's Board of Supervisors. Taking effect Jan. 1, 2017, the ban will cover EPS packaging, cups, plates and more, making it the nation's most aggressive municipal...

A New York City borough fights back against illegal dumpers of old electronics, and Best Buy joins a national effort to promote recycling. Best Buy wants to be recycled: Electronics giant Best Buy has joined the "I Want to be Recycled" campaign from national nonprofit group Keep America Beautiful. This holiday season, the retailer will feature packaging that encourages consumers...

The Basel Action Network and Hong Kong officials spar over illegal dumpsites, and a city in India opens e-scrap drop-off centers. Hong Kong: Hong Kong’s environmental protection department and a U.S. watchdog group are feuding over illegal e-scrap dumpsites. The South China Morning Post reports the department is getting blasted for not taking action on the sites, which were recently discovered...

Cara Russell, the newly appointed head of the Colorado Association for Recycling, was killed last week at the age of 52. A vigil was held in her memory June 30 and a memorial fund has been created in her name. Russell was shot and killed by her estranged husband at her office in downtown Denver, as has been reported by the...

A patented process for turning plastics to wax and a forward-looking update from Europe were among the topics that captured our readers' attention last month. 1 | Transforming low-value plastics into high-value waxes Through its use of a catalyst in a patented process, a Canadian company is recycling PE and PP into a variety of industrial waxes. 2 | Ontario...