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.
Poor recycling habits could cost Illinois residents their blue bins
August 29th, 2018 – Illinoisans are having trouble figuring out what goes in the recycling bin and, so far, it has cost residents of one city their curbside recycling program. Waste Management estimates that 25 percent of America’s recycling isn’t recyclable. It some places, it means services will be canceled. In Illinois, Kankakee’s garbage provider announced that it is stopping curbside recycling service on Sept. 1 in the city. Officials with Republic Services told the Daily Journal that Kankakee residents had been putting far too much garbage in recycling bins. “When we hear about some of the communities or the service providers letting communities know ‘we can’t do this,’ we also hear the flip side in that residents are upset,” Illinois Recycling Association president Kris Kaar said.
Read more on Illinois News Network
Cities across the globe sign new pledge to reduce waste to landfill
August 29th, 2018 – Cities and regions have signed a new set of pledges to speed up their transition towards zero waste to landfill. By signing C40’s Advancing Towards Zero Waste Declaration, 23 cities have pledged by 2030 to cut waste generated by each citizen by 15%, reduce amount of waste sent to landfill and incineration by 50% and increase diversion rate to 70%. Signatory cities include London, New York City, Milan, Dubai and Copenhagen. Made ahead of the Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco, the commitments are seen by signatories as essential steps in delivering goals of the Paris Agreement which aims to keep global temperature rise below 1.5℃. Transforming sold waste and material management systems globally could reduce global emissions by 20%, according to research by ISWA.
Read more on Recycling Waste World
The Urgent Need to Fix California’s ‘Bottle Bill’
August 28th, 2018 – Recycling rates are falling in California. For the first time in a decade, the percentage of beverage containers being recycled has dropped below 80 percent. The decline means that about 1.7 million containers that five years ago were being recycled are today being buried in landfills or, worse, tossed aside as litter. Part of the problem is that California’s landmark Bottle Bill is broken. There is an urgent need to fix it, starting with steps that elected representatives here in Sacramento can be take right away. Enacted 30 years ago, the Bottle Bill placed California in the vanguard of the modern recycling movement. The idea was elegantly simple: levy a small charge (a “redemption value”) on each beverage container sold, and then refund it when the container is turned over to be recycled.
Read more on Waste Advantage Magazine
Electrolux partners with food waste startup Karma
August 30th, 2018 – Electrolux announced recently that it is investing in Sweden-based Karma, a leading startup that helps restaurants and supermarkets reduce food waste by selling unsold food to consumers. The investment is part of a wider USD 12 million round with other investors. Electrolux and Karma are also initiating a strategic partnership to explore common solutions in reducing food waste. According to Electrolux, the new partnership with Karma will explore innovative solutions within the future of food and help to scale up the fight against food waste. The partnership will combine Electrolux’ expertise with appliances and food preservation with Karma’s digital platform and expertise within sharing economy.
Read more on Recycling Product News
Chinese tariffs on U.S. recyclables go into effect
August 28th, 2018 – The U.S. and China have fired their latest salvo in their ongoing trade war, and this time tariffs have been applied to a number of additional U.S. recyclables. On Aug. 23, each country began imposing new rounds of penalties on $16 billion worth of each other’s goods. Among the hundreds of categories of products, this latest round included China’s 25 percent tariff on OCC, recovered paper, scrap plastics and various recovered metals. Chinese authorities released the list earlier this month. According to the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI), U.S. aluminum sent to China now has a 50 percent tariff on it. China on Aug. 23 bumped it up from 25 percent to 50 percent. China first imposed a tariff on recovered aluminum in early April.
Read more on Resource Recycling
New app helps sort waste, recycling
August 28th, 2018 – Have you ever hesitated before putting an item in your garbage can and wondered, ‘Can I recycle this?’The City of Courtenay has launched a new tool that will help you find the answer, along with schedule information for household garbage, yard waste, and recycling collection.
“Courtenay Collects” is a mobile and web app customized for waste and recycling services for residents. The public can look up material in the “What Goes Where?” waste wizard feature to determine if it is recyclable, reusable or waste, and where it is accepted; i.e., at curbside, local depots, reuse facilities or landfills. Can’t find an item in the list? The app includes a suggestions feature so residents can recommend items to include in the waste wizard.
Read more on Comox Valley Record
City proposes new organic waste pilot project
August 31th, 2018 – The City of Regina talked trash today, as well as snow routes and finances, as some of the highlights from the committee agenda. The city is re-visiting waste collection, with the focus this time on organic waste. Currently, only 20 per cent of residential waste is diverted from the landfill, but the city has a target of diverting 65 per cent of household waste from the landfill. The city says organic waste like food and yard clippings, make up about 50 per cent of residential waste, and it can be used to make nutrient-rich compost and energy. If approved, the pilot project would cost about $3.5 million. Administration aims to have it implemented in 2020, with organic waste pick up happening once a week.
Read more on CTV News
Mayor Heron chasing down waste solutions
August 31th, 2018 – When St. Albert city councillors took their six-week summer break, Mayor Cathy Heron decided not to let it go to waste. Over the course of the recess, Heron visited waste-processing facilities elsewhere in the province to get a feel for what St. Albert could be doing better. Changes are coming to the world of waste, egged on by China’s recent decision to stop taking much of the plastic it used to accept. St. Albert will start to see its own changes in September, when councillors are expected to look at measures to address our own flawed system and limit the types of plastic that end up in the recycling bin. One of the biggest issues we face – and one of the reasons China chose to limit what it would accept – is contaminated recycling, Heron said.
How Walmart Plans To Reach Zero-Waste by 2025
August 31th, 2018 – Walmart’s current goal is to achieve zero waste in their Canada, Japan, UK, and US operations by 2025. The retailer’s 2018 sustainability report says that by the end of last year, Walmart had diverted 81% of its US waste from landfills, and 78% globally. Here’s a closer look at the company’s approach. What does “zero waste” actually mean? Walmart defines it as meeting or exceeding Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA) business recognition program requirements. “In 2005, Walmart began to look at the interplay of waste and usable materials and to seriously examine our own operations, looking for ways to reduce waste of all kinds,” the company’s latest sustainability report says. “Today we have a deeper understanding of the challenges and are engaging suppliers and customers in pursuit of the circular economy.”
Read more on Environmental Leader
Canadians get creative in solving food waste problem
August 29th, 2018 – CBC News spoke to several businesses to see how they’re developing creative solutions and technology to reduce the tons of food that end up in landfills. 5:39
Read more on CBC News
