Read the full story at EQ International.
Australia’s very first solar panel recycling facility is up and running in Thomastown, Melbourne. The plant was completed in September 2020 by Melbourne-based co-operative Lotus Energy.
Category: Recycling
Inside Burt’s Bees partnership with Arizona State University
Read the full story at Glossy.
A common theme from the beauty industry’s sustainability efforts is collaboration. For Burt’s Bees, its efforts extend to unlikely partners: Arizona State University students.
In April, Burt’s Bees released its 2020 Impact Report, which spelled out sustainability accomplishments completed from 2012-2020 and goals for 2025. Among many details in the report, one of its 2025 goals includes investing further in U.S. recycling infrastructure. As more brands pledge to adopt post-consumer recycled plastic materials, brands and their manufacturing partners will face a shortage and prices will increase. According to the Consumer Brand Association, in 2019, there was only enough recycled plastic in the U.S. to meet 6% of demand. This underscores the need for collaborative efforts to improve the likelihood that a product is recycled by both consumers and recycling facilities.
With the need to improve recycling efforts and reduce virgin plastic usage, Burt’s Bees looked to Arizona State University, which operates a group called The Sustainability Consortium. It was jointly formed with the University of Arkansas in 2009 as a global organization dedicated to improving the sustainability of consumer products.
Unilever making new recyclable toothpaste tubes available to other brands
Read the full story at Consumer Goods Technology.
Unilever will convert its entire global toothpaste portfolio to recyclable tubes by 2025 and is making the packaging innovation available to other companies.
Are recyclers really saving the trees?
Read the full story at Waste360.
Whether you’re a veteran or a new convert it’s likely that the beneficial outcomes motivated you to recycle. You may have discovered that recycling a specific material saves millions of gallons of water. Maybe you were surprised to learn that it could conserve enough fuel to fire up all your neighborhood’s propane grills for the next century.
For the past thirty years, we’ve been told by the paper and paperboard industry that by recycling 2,000 pounds of newsprint we could save 17 trees. That figure varies slightly depending on the type of paper produced, but the idea remains the same. According to the American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) the United States now recovers 67% of all paper and paperboard produced. Apparently, the messaging was successful. Who doesn’t want to save trees? After all, we’re the only ones who can prevent forest fires, right? Well, maybe not.
Your recycling is not always being recycled—here’s why
Read the full story from PBS Newshour.
Recycling rules seem to differ in every municipality, with exceptions and caveats at every turn, leaving the average American scratching their head at the simple act of throwing something away. Jennie Romer, author of “Can I Recycle This?” joins NewsHour Weekend’s Christopher Booker as he delves into the nebulous, confusing world of American recycling.
How Taco Bell is going to start recycling its hot sauce packets
Read the full story at Nation’s Restaurant News.
Usually, flexible film packets are not recyclable but Taco Bell is partnering with TerraCycle to give their hot sauce packets a second life
Can recycled glass help restore Louisiana’s eroding coastline?
Read the full story in The Guardian.
A new initiative to turn glass bottles from New Orleans’ many drinking spots into tiny particles of sand has raised hopes of a green transformation.
Groupe Renault, Veolia & Solvay partner to recycle end-of-life EV battery metals in a closed loop
Read the full story at Green Car Congress.
Groupe Renault, Veolia and Solvay are partnering to enable the circular economy of EV battery metals in Europe through closed-loop recycling. The existing Veolia and Solvay consortium, created in September 2020 (earlier post), is thus reinforced with Groupe Renault’s position and experience in circular economy and in the life cycle of EV batteries.
Lithium-ion battery recycling and manufacturing startup raises $20 Million from global industry leaders
Battery Resourcers, a vertically integrated lithium-ion battery recycling and manufacturing company, recently completed a $20 million Series B equity round with financing led by Orbia Ventures, the venture capital arm of the multinational Orbia, and participation from other investors including At One Ventures, TDK Ventures, TRUMPF Venture, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures and Jaguar Land Rover’s InMotion Ventures.
The financing will support the development of a commercial-scale processing facility with the annual capacity to process 10,000 tons of batteries — or the batteries from approximately 20,000 electric vehicles (EVs) a year.
EPA hears divergent opinions on chemical recycling
Read the full story at Plastics Recycling Update.
If a process breaks down scrap plastics into chemicals that are later used to make new plastic, should the federal government consider that “recycling?” What if the end product is a fuel that is combusted?
Those are just a couple of the plastics-related questions the U.S. EPA is grappling with as it seeks to define exactly what “recycling rate” will mean. Last fall, the agency released a national recycling rate goal of 50% by 2030. Using current methodologies, the EPA estimates the U.S. has a 32% recycling rate.
But the EPA is considering changing the calculation methodology. In particular, the agency is examining which sources of material, types of materials, management pathways and destinations to count. Not surprisingly, among the 108 comments from different recycling industry stakeholders, advice differed dramatically.
