Here’s the Waste Robotics Market News including the 10 key news of this week in waste and recycling industries. This week, municipalities, cities, population and companies get involved in recycling and reducing waste.
N.Y. Residents Sue Waste Management Over Landfill Odors, Noise
August 20th, 2018 – Perinton-Macedon, N.Y., residents are complaining that the High Acres Landfill is “ruining their quality of life.” More than 200 residents in Perinton-Macedon, N.Y., have complained about odors and noise coming from the High Acres Landfill. Now, those residents are suing the facility, which is owned by Waste Management Inc. According to a Democrat and Chronicle report, residents claim the odors and sounds coming from the landfill are “ruining their quality of life.” The publication first reported on the issue back in December. Officials from High Acres and Waste Management have attributed the odors to new technology, construction, water levels and a clogged pipe and publicly stated they were committed to mitigating the odors and getting back to “good neighbor” status.
Read more on Waste 360
Food waste set to rise one third by 2030
August 24th, 2018 – Food waste will rise a third by 2030 to 2.1bn tonnes per year, according to new analysis from the Boston Consulting Group. In a new report, the BCG said although food loss occurs at all steps in the value chain, it is most pronounced in developing countries at the production and transportation stage and in developed countries at the consumption stage. Volume of food loss and waste will rise annual from 2015 to 2030, the BCG argued. It described food loss as a critical global issue given food waste accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions.Some 870 million people around the world are undernourished, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
Read more on Recycling Waste World
Recycling crisis causes mountains of waste at Marin Recycling Center
August 20th 2018 – A recycling crisis is unfolding for the Bay Area and California as a whole. China, the country which once bought most of our recycled items, has put the brakes on such trade. Recycling trucks are unloading paper and plastics by the minute at Marin Recycling Center but finding space for all those recyclables has become a giant problem. They are running out of room. “There’s a lot of it. Its doubled since last week,” said Kimberly Scheibly, who works at the center. She isn’t joking. There is a mountain of recycled paper bales, 10-feet high, stretching as long as a football field. In the past, China has purchased 60 percent of all recyclables at the center, but the ongoing trade war between China and the U.S. plus new environmental restrictions on what China will buy, have set new clean standards that are almost impossible to meet.
Read more on ABC7 News
Will Lack of Innovation Kill Recycling?
August 24th, 2018 – Recycling is getting is getting lots of media attention of late. It’s been on this blogger’s mind based on personal experience with my own trash collector. A previous blog was dedicated to the poor change management practices of that provider in instituting a price increase due to higher recycling costs. I stand by my position that had this service provider practiced better change management, they could have saved themselves a lot of grief. Since the previous blog, this author has attempted to learn more about the recycling industry and it has been an education! The conclusion is, recycling is a manufacturing process in dire need of innovation.
Read more on ARC Advisory Group
NWRA Urges China to Reconsider Solid Waste Import Restrictions
August 21th, 2018 – NWRA submitted a letter to China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment last week. Last week, the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) filed comments with China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) regarding its draft law on the prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Solid Waste. Article 29 of the draft law would restrict the importation of solid waste. “NWRA supports high-quality standards for recyclable materials as well as policies necessary to achieve them,” said Darrell Smith, NWRA president and CEO, in a statement. “We believe that by using high-quality standards, China can ensure that its manufacturing sector has the raw materials needed to continue to produce goods while ensuring that its recycling industry remains viable into the future.”
Read more on Waste 360
Glass and plastics being removed from recycling pick up in Strathcona County
August 23th, 2018 – Glass and most plastics are being forced out of blue bag collection in Strathcona County as a result of tightening international recycling markets, even though it means increasing the amount of waste ending up in landfills. As of Sept. 10, the county will no longer be accepting any glass items, styrofoam, to-go coffee cups and plastic materials — excluding hard plastic containers — in its weekly recycling collection. This is a response to tougher restrictions on reusable materials accepted globally as spearheaded by China at the end of 2017, said Leah Seabrook, manager of waste management and community energy. “Convenience was driving some unwanted materials getting into the blue bags and it was being shipped overseas,” Seabrook said. “We are in a position where there are materials no longer accepted in the marketplace and can’t be recycled.”
Read more on Edmonton Examiner
Campaign aims to reduce food waste
August 24th, 2018 – GCanadians must find ways of reducing the amount of food they waste or simply throw out, says the Christian Farmers Federation of Ontario. The federal government has launched the Love Food Hate Waste campaign with the goal to inspire people to make their food go further and ultimately to reduce household food waste “Food waste is a serious problem. It plays a role in numerous issues, one being its impact on farmers,” Josh Kraemer, a CFFO communications intern, says in a commentary posted on the federation’s website. “Farmers pay the full costs of production and are only reimbursed for what they can sell. The food industry’s pursuit of volume over quality is a core contributor to overproduction, and it may be time to consider higher quality products for less waste and higher profits.”
Read more on Brantford Expositor
Massachusetts awards $2.6 million to increase recycling
August 21th, 2018 – With the goal of strengthen recycling programs across Massachusetts and increasing public awareness, the administration of Gov. Charlie Baker and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito awarded more than $2.6 million in recycling grants to 247 Massachusetts cities, towns and solid waste districts in August. The administration also unveiled a new “Recycle Smart” initiative and website to emphasize the importance of putting only those materials that material recovery facilities (MRFs) are equipped to handle in recycling bins. “Massachusetts cities and towns are important partners in our administration’s effort to promote and increase recycling opportunities across the commonwealth,” says Baker.
Read more on Waste Today Magazine
Bodies back EU plans to introduce minimum recycled content in drinks containers
August 22th, 2018 – Two major waste management bodies have backed European Parliament proposals to include a minimum 25% recycled plastics in drinks containers by 2025. EuRIC (the European Recycling Industries’ Confederation) and FEAD released a joint statement supporting the Envi Committee’s draft report on 9 July which aims to amend the proposal for a Directive […] on the reduction of the impact of certain plastic products on the environment (“Single Use Plastics” Directive). The proposal is aimed to “encourage the creation of a steady market for recyclates and ensure a more circular use of plastics”, a spokesperson said. They added: “Collecting up to 90% plastic bottles in 2025, as proposed in the Directive, is a welcomed first step but will not be enough to steer the plastic markets towards less single-use bottles.”
Read more on Recycling Waste World
Supporting an innovation-based approach to plastics recycling should be considered the best way to combat our plastic pollution problem
August 20th, 2018 – Most people want to do their part to help protect the environment. But despite good intentions on the part of individuals, we’ve created more than 9 billion tons of plastics since production began, at scale, in the 1950s. This has resulted in almost 7 billion tons of plastic waste generated. Less than 10 percent has been recycled, about 12 percent has been incinerated, and nearly 80 percent is clogging landfills or polluting the environment. If these trends continue, more than 13 billion tons of plastic waste will be contained in landfills by 2050. And then there is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This vast expanse of floating waste, in the Pacific Ocean, is about two times as large as Texas, comprised of discarded fishing nets and a wide range of other plastics, with the majority made up of microplastics, a material formed when the sun and waves break larger plastic items up into small pieces.
Read more on Recycling Product News