Here’s the Waste Robotics Market News including the 10 key news of this week in waste and recycling industries. Waste manasorting becomes more and more important. However, new options are found to fix this issue.
As Tesco Ditches ‘Best Before’ Dates, Will Other Supermarkets Follow Suit?
May 22nd, 2018 – Tesco has removed “confusing” best before labels from a range of its own label fruit and vegetables. The supermarket, which is the largest in the UK, says it will remove all labels from 70 packs of fresh food including apples, onions, tomatoes and potatoes. Tesco Head of Food Waste, Mark Little, said it was removing them as some customers are “confused” about what the labels mean. This is because they often have a best before and a use-by date. Best before denotes only to the quality of the food, whereas use-by indicates when it should be eaten by.
Read more on Huffington Post UK
Morrisons now wants shoppers to bring TUPPERWARE to carry food so it can cut down on plastic bags
May 22nd, 2018 – The supermarket giant has promised to make its packing more recyclable, including phasing out the black plastic trays it uses for fresh foods. Morrisons announced a number of additional measures to reduce plastic waste as well as committing that by no later than 2025 all of its own-brand plastic packaging will be ”reusable, recyclable or compostable”. The stores will also be trialling the effect of removing plastic packaging from fruit and vegetables in a number of stores. Morrisons say its overall aim is to look at how plastic packaging, which keeps food fresh, can be reduced without increasing food waste.
Co-op to stop ‘last-minute’ fresh produce sales to tackle food waste
May 17th, 2018 – The supermarket chain will remove fresh foods with a use-by or best-before date for that day two hours ahead of closing time, before redistributing them. Co-op estimates that it can help charities and small community groups to create almost eight million meals each year. The scheme will be rolled out across its 2,500 retail outlets by the end of the year, following a successful trial in 50 of its stores. “At the Co-op, we want to strengthen and support communities and we are committed to tacking food waste and ensuring food gets into the hands of those who need it most,” Co-op chief executive Steve Murrells said. “We work hard to reduce waste but believe any food that we don’t sell should end up feeding people, wherever possible.”
Baltimore Constituents Debate Over Solid Waste Plan
May 21st, 2018 – Some Baltimore city officials and environmentalists are at odds with city solid waste management planners. Zero waste, incineration and visions for the city’s landfill are at the heart of the debate. The latest point of contention is around a request for proposal (RFP), issued by Baltimore’s Department of Public Works (DPW), to assist with long-term recycling and solid waste management planning. Some of the RFP content goes against the city’s originally expressed intentions to move toward zero waste, according to Baltimore Councilmember Mary Pat Clarke. Clark introduced a resolution to amend the RFP, which was unanimously passed by the City Council in mid-May, but the story is ongoing.
NRC Calls for U.S. Recycling Improvements Amid China Crackdown
May 18th, 2018 – In response to China’s recently enacted waste import ban, contamination standard and one-month suspension on all U.S. scrap imports, the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) is calling for the U.S. to improve its poor recycling efforts. In a press release, NRC explained that the recent moves from China have shined a light on the United States’ poor recycling efforts and that citizens can no longer pretend that waste diversion is recycling. Materials recovery facilities (MRFs) are capable of producing high-quality materials from both single stream and dual stream systems; however, contamination and non-recyclables entering those waste streams make it challenging to produce those high-quality materials.
Morrisons publishes food waste figures for the first time
May 21, 2018 – The chain worked with third party data analytics firm Valpak to measure levels of waste at its stores using a scanner-based system which removes the weight of packaging from food planned to be thrown out. Following recommendations from WRAP, Morrisons said it will review on-pack guidance on its products and move from ‘Display Until’ to ‘Best Before’ dates. It will also increase the visibility of its ‘Enjoy for longer when kept in the fridge’ message and consider the WRAP recommendation of using a fridge logo and other additional messages to encourage less waste.
Read more on Recycle Waste World
Producers are already charging customers for recycle services
May 20th, 2018 – This news was provided to Ponoka News after questions of the town’s contractor, Green For Life (GFL) announced it is unable to collect plastics with the recycle symbol #3 to #7. Lindsay Seidel-Wassenaar, representing RCA, said one issue is that there isn’t a strong market for certain types of plastics, plus the #3 to #7 streams contaminate the #1 and #2 streams. “Your one and twos are the ones that get you the most money if you’re marketing them,” explained Seidel-Wassenaar. “Nobody wants mixed plastic. Lindsay Seidel-Wassenaar, representing RCA, said one issue is that there isn’t a strong market for certain types of plastics, plus the #3 to #7 streams contaminate the #1 and #2 streams. “Your one and twos are the ones that get you the most money if you’re marketing them,” explained Seidel-Wassenaar. “Nobody wants mixed plastic.”
Life-size game teaches Torres Elementary Students recycling
May 21st, 2018 – Torres Elementary School kindergartners heaved and lugged game board tokens that were larger than life Thursday. The non-traditional tokens were bags of recyclable materials. Art teacher Kecia Garcia, who is also head of the school’s recycling program, created a game similar to Monopoly called Recycle Rally to celebrate its completion of the PepsiCo Recycle Rally.
Read more on Victoria Advocate
Iceland trials reverse vending machine which pays you to recycle
May 21st, 2018 – The machine accepts any plastic drinks bottle bought from Iceland (it can tell if it’s from Iceland from the barcode, so don’t even think about it, you snakes), and gives customers a 10p voucher to spend in store for each item deposited. This comes after the government announced plans for a bottle deposit scheme, where consumers would pay an upfront deposit every time they purchase a drink in a container. The machine is being trialled in Iceland’s Fulham store for six months and if successful, will be rolled out nationwide.
Recycling is suffering from system failure; it’s time for a system redesign
May 15, 2018 – We are sacrificing our oceans and filling our landfills in the name of convenience. It’s time to pay the bill. According to the Wall Street Journal, “The U.S. recycling industry is breaking down.” Bob Tita writes: Prices for scrap paper and plastic have collapsed, leading local officials across the country to charge residents more to collect recyclables and send some to landfills. Used newspapers, cardboard boxes and plastic bottles are piling up at plants that can’t make a profit processing them for export or domestic markets. It all worked for a while as much of the recycling was shipped to China, where cheap labor made it possible to separate the pizza-covered boxes from the clean cardboard, but the government won’t let them do that anymore. So mixed paper that used to sell for $150 a ton now sells for $5. So instead, much of it is going to landfill.
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