by jondabach | Nov 25, 2019 | Market Conditions, Recycling
For nearly three decades, the U.S. has been shipping their recyclables to China. It was a mutually beneficial relationship born from the U.S.’s overproduction of single use plastics and China’s need for raw materials. But this relationship became a toxic one when...
by jondabach | May 28, 2019 | Market Conditions, News Brief, Recycling, Shipping and Logistics
A two-week investigation of Malaysian imports revealed that U.S. shipments of scrap plastic may be getting into the country despite rigid import regulations designed to keep them out. Malaysia is one of many Asian countries following China’s lead in raising purity...
by jondabach | Apr 8, 2019 | Market Conditions, Market Prices, Recycling
For the past few months, half of dutifully collected, rinsed, and sorted recyclables have not been recycled into new products as intended, but instead sent to incinerators and landfills. Well-meaning citizens of American cities continue to recycle with hopes that it...
by jondabach | Nov 28, 2017 | Market Conditions, Recycling
Though Chinese import restrictions have targeted all materials, scrap paper received a disproportionate blow as Jinping’s government officials planned to reduce the acceptable level of contamination for recycled paper loads to 0.3 percent, intending to fully...
by jondabach | Nov 20, 2017 | Market Conditions, Recycling
Without China, the US and other countries, including Australia, that heavily rely on exporting recyclables, specifically low-grade plastic scrap, to manage an ever-growing waste stream will have to turn to alternative markets, such as Southeast Asia, India, Latin...
