“As we clean the material streams, we add value not only to that material, but to the material management and manufacturing industries as a whole.”
Meagan Huth / Presidio Environmental
The current model for recycling in the U.S., which has been in place for decades, is broken. Pettis County Development Co. is presenting solutions for a cleaner, more holistic and greener future. The articles and studies below paint a dim picture of the current methods of the recycling industry.
Currently, over 100 million tons* of recyclable materials end up in U.S. repositories per year.
It doesn’t have to be that way.
The simple solution is to separate materials at the collection point to minimize contamination in each material stream. Dual-stream recycling and drop location collection yield the least contamination and provide the most efficient process for handling recyclable materials.
*published by USA EPA 2018
“The days of stand-alone repositories are limited.”
Derrick Standley / Presidio Environmental
2024
August – Louisiana Glass Processor Expands Footprint, Services
August – Remote Mountain Village Recycles 100% of Food Waste
June – Archaea Energy and Republic Services Celebrate First RNG Plant in Landmark Partnership
April – Closed Loop Partners Back Olyns for Recycling Infrastructure Growth, Expanding AI-Powered Vending Systems
March – Tackling Food Waste: a Key Climate Solution for 2024 and Beyond
February – CICLO Biodegrades Polyester and Nylon in a Few Years
January – Patricia Urquiola and Kvadrat Create the World’s First Recycled Upholstery Textile
2023
December – Comprehensive Restructuring to Reduce Total Debt by Over $300 Million and Position Company for Long-Term Growth
November – The Art of Upcycling Everyday Items
October – 23 Everyday Products Made of Recycled Materials
September – Reuse at an Inflexion Point: Achieving a Future Free of Plastic Waste
August – 10 Concerning Fast Fashion Waste Statistics
July – The Future of Plastic Could One Day Mean Dissolving It with Electricity
June – The Art of Reusing Plastic
May – A Reality Check on the 5 R’s
April – U.S. EPA Releases Draft of Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution
March – Workplace Sustainability: How to Stop Waste
February – Recycling … More Than Just a Good Idea!
January – 6 Waste and Recycling Trends to Watch in 2023
2022
December – Recycling and Reuse? Ways to Win the War on Waste
November – How Can Recycling Materials Lead to Environmental Sustainability?
October – Jobs & Economic Benefits of Zero Waste
September – Recycling: What’s Ahead in Recycling Technology
August – How a Plastic Bottle Became a Shoe
July – 3 Reasons to Believe in the Future of Plastic Recycling
June – With Global Plastic Waste Expected to Triple, a New Report Looks at Policy
May – U.S. Is Recycling Just 5% of It’s Waste, Studies Show
April – Is Recycling a Fraud?
March – Episode 144: The Outlook for Recycling
February – As Recycling Costs Rise, the City Explores New Options
January – 2021 & 2022: Looking Backward and Forward
2021
December – Dual-Stream Recycling Proponents Feel Vindicated After Converted Communities See Financial Benefits
November – EPA Releases Bold National Strategy to Transform Recycling in America
July – The Garbage Industry Has Outperformed the Market Since 2015. Here’s Why.
July – How Trash Makes Money in the U.S.
July – City Council Votes to Rename Los Reales Landfill
July – What Municipal Leaders Discussed at WasteExpo: Northeast Bag Bans Take Force
June – Roundup: ‘Recycling Is Infrastructure Too,’ Twin Cities Poised for Landfill Expansion
June- Delayed Opening of New Botetourt Landfill to Impact Commercial Customers, but Not Residents
May – Is EPR the End of Single-Stream Recycling?
May – The Pandemic Has Created a Trash Epidemic: “It’s Like, ‘Life Sucks: I’ll Just Throw This Out the Window'”
May – City of Angels Becomes City of Trash. L.A. Breaks Promise to Crack Down Hard on Illegal Dumping
April – Washington Governor Signs Minimum Recycled Content Bill
March – Is Glass Recycling in the U.S. Broken?
March – 50 States of Recycling – Ball
January – Recycling in America Is a Mess. A New Bill Could Clean It Up
January – Waste and Recycling Industry Projections for 2021
2020
November – Another Asian Country Bans Imports of Mixed Paper
October – Coronavirus Continues to Disrupt Waste and Recycling Service Around the U.S.
October – China’s 2020 Ban ‘Will Not Have Massive Impact’ on Fiber Market
July – China’s Plastics Ban Threw Global Recycling Into Disarray
July – China Vows to Further Slash Imports While Approving Permits
June – The Declining Case for Municipal Recycling
April – No ‘Away’: Why Is the U.S. Still Offshoring Plastic Waste Around the World?
February – Paper and Plastic Export Numbers Take Historic Dive
February – Emmet County Recycling Commended in Congressional Committee Hearing
February – Michiganders Send Most Trash to Landfills Since Before Recession
January – Single-Use Plastic: China to Ban Bags and Other Items
January – 2020 Could Be the Year of Legislative Boom – Or Bust – For National Recycling Policy
January – Disposal Capacity Crunch Paves Way for More Industry Consolidation and Price Increases, Per Report
January – China Unveils Five-Year Plan to Ban Single-Use Plastic
January – Recycling Hasn’t Changed in Years, but America Is on the Cusp of a Reckoning
2019
November – How Recycling Has Changed in All 50 States
September – California Governor Signs Law Encouraging Dual-Stream Recycling
September – Energy Thrives, So Does It’s Waste Problem
August – U.S. Recycling Industry Is Struggling to Figure Out a Future Without China
August – Dual-Stream v. Single-Stream Recycling
July – Curbside Fiber Recycling Begins This Week in Wentzville
June – Recyclers Cringe as Southeast Asia Says It’s Sick of the West’s Trash
June – Chart of the Day: These Countries Create Most of the World’s CO2 Emissions
June – Why Some Countries are Shipping Back Plastic Waste
MAY – Taking Sides on Single- or Dual-Stream Recycling
May – Inside the Long War to Protect Plastic
May – Single-Stream v. Dual-Stream Recycling
April – Philippines Threatens ‘War’ Against Canada If It Doesn’t Remove Trash
March – Where Will Your Plastic Trash Go Now That China Doesn’t Want It?
March – Recycling Contamination: Why Glass Is Now Deemed Unrecyclable
March – Is This the End of Recycling?
March – How China’s Ban on Importing Waste Has Stalled Global Recycling
February – Why Glass Recycling in the U.S. is Broken
January – Trashed: How California Recycling Failed and How to Fix It
January – China: Plastic Imports Down 99 Percent, Paper Down a Third
January – The Era of Easy Recycling May Be Coming to an End
2018
December – Kiwi’s Recycling is Piling Up in Malaysia and Being Burnt in Secret, Environmentalists Say
December – Single-Stream Recycling (and China) Throwing Recycling Markets into Chaos
December – China’s Import Ban on Plastic Waste Pushes Japan and Other Rich Nations to Rethink Trash Options
November – Budget Busters: Recycling Expenses Growing
November – Swamped with Plastic Waste, Malaysia Struggles as Global Scrap Piles Up
November – Ecowaste Hails Korean Gov’t Action on Trash Shipments
November – New York Switching Back to Dual-Stream Program
November – Malaysia – The New Dumping Ground for the World’s Plastic Waste
October– Market Forces Put America’s Recycling Industry in the Dumps
October – What Chinese Import Policies Mean for All 50 States
October – New York City Transitions to Dual-Stream Recycling
October – President Begaye Signs MOA to Reduce Waste and Create Recycled Paper Products
September – Recycling Success: St. Peters Dual-Stream System Remains the Best Option
August – Why Some Programs are Considering Dual-Stream
July – The Dirty Truth is Your Recycling May Actually Go to Landfills
July – So Where Should We Put Our Recycling?
June – Important Restrictions Ripple Across Southeast Asia
June – How to Solve the Plastic Crisis
June – China Just Handed the World a 111-Million Ton Trash Problem
June – The Recycling Game Is Rigged Against You
June – China: Waste Restriction Will Spur U.S. Job Growth
May – Recycling is Big Business, But Is It Profitable?
April – Amid Trade Feud, Recycling is in Danger of Landing on Trash Pile
April – China Trash Ban is a Global Recycling Wake-Up Call
April – Update: China Seizes 111,000 Metric Tons of ‘Smuggled Waste,’ Arrests 52 So Far in 2018
April – Washington State Recycling Market Issues Finally Come into Focus
April – China’s Block on Trash Imports Forces Australia to Bury Recycling
April – Waste Management: The Effects of China’s Recycling Import Ban
