The EU's European Parliament has introduced a widespread directive requiring member countries to find ways to cut down on plastic bag usage. According to an agreement reached by the European Parliament (EP) on April 28, member countries can either limit each citizen to 90 plastic bags per year by 2019, and 40 by 2025, or start charging for them by...

Arrow Electronics has announced the opening of its first IT asset disposition facility in Singapore. In announcing the move, the publicly traded company said the Singapore outpost "aligns with our commitment to pursuing emerging and high-growth markets." "Our capabilities and reach are growing with the global demand for IT asset disposition and reverse logistics services, and we believe we have...

New York City's commercial sector generates more waste and has a lower diversion rate than previously thought, according to an advocacy group that used Freedom of Information Act requests to obtain previously undisclosed government documents. At 24 percent, the Big Apple's commercial recycling rate is considerably less than the 40 percent previously touted, according to ALIGN: The Alliance for a...

Minnesota is the latest state to consider updating its e-scrap recycling law. On March 4, a bill was introduced to state lawmakers, proposing to amend the structure used to determine e-scrap collection requirements for equipment manufacturers. Manufacturers are currently mandated to finance the state's electronics recycling program, and each company's requirement is determined by the volume of equipment they sell...

The National Recycling Coalition (NRC) announced this week U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Assistant Administrator Mathy Stanislaus will provide the keynote address for the upcoming National Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) Summit, to be held May 12 and 13, at the University of Maryland, College Park. Stanislaus heads EPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, leading the agency’s land cleanup, solid...

Representing a dozen battery manufacturers, battery stewardship organization Call2Recycle will submit to Vermont regulators a plan for the collection and recycling of single-use batteries. The nonprofit group announced it had been selected by battery producers to represent them in complying with the nation’s first mandatory take-back law for single-use batteries. Call2Recycle has a network of 34,000 collection sites in the...

A Spanish company has launched a pilot project to use leaded CRT glass in ceramic tiles, and the U.K. wants the electronics industry to collect more material for recycling in 2015. E-scrap recycling is ramping up in Israel, following the implementation of an extended producer responsibility law in the country. The law, which went into effect in March 2014, will...

New York City's recent decision to ban foam food service products due to curbside recycling obstacles has raised another question: What are other municipalities doing with the material? According to an online database compiled by foam manufacturer Dart Container, more than 60 communities in California, including Los Angeles and Sacramento, include post-consumer expanded polystyrene (EPS) in their curbside programs. San...

The National Recycling Coalition has announced the inaugural Sustainable Materials Management Summit. Slated to take place May 12-13 at University of Maryland, College Park, the Summit will aim to foster a broader national dialogue on the topic, said NRC's board president, Mark Lichtenstein. "Ultimately we want to accelerate sustainable materials management (SMM) as a method of choice for avoiding the...

A newly formed group of recycling organizations and stakeholders is weighing in on the effects of mixed waste processing on recycling. "Coalition members know that a facility processing waste and recyclables mixed together, known as a dirty MRF, will not improve and may harm recycling," the policy statement from the newly formed Recycling Industries Coalition (RIC) reads. RIC is made...