Quick: does April 22nd mean anything to you? If the date doesn’t sound significant, you’re not alone. Earth Day is held on April 22nd every year, although it’s unlikely that many Americans have committed that fact to memory. It’s not a holiday in the traditional sense; mail delivery continues as usual and kids don’t get...Continue Reading

Is the recycling industry coming to an end? Why all this talk? For the past few years you may have noticed any number of media articles addressing the downturn of the recycling markets. Some have even gone so far as to state that recycling is coming to an end.  Is the recycling industry, something that...Continue Reading

Your intentions may be good, but your recycling practices may not be – and it’s time to change that. The term “wish-cycling” was coined to describe the phenomenon of people recycling things that they think or hope can be recycled. The pizza box made of cardboard (covered in grease), the plastic peanut butter jar (still...Continue Reading

So you’re starting a renovation or demolition project. You (or the crew you hire) are going to be generating a huge amount of waste, and even a dozen waste bins will get filled up quickly. Having a roll-off container parked outside is the best, most efficient way to collect it all. Before finalizing arrangements for...Continue Reading

Big Business and Food Waste Earlier this year, the Center for Biological Diversity analyzed the food waste practices of 10 major grocery store chains. The report’s authors gave each store a letter grade based on its accountability, prevention and recovery/recycling efforts around food waste. Only one chain, Walmart, was awarded a B. The other nine...Continue Reading

Have you visited a preschool classroom lately? They’re filled with little scientists running experiments. Give a preschooler a few magnets and he’ll probably try to stick them to wooden blocks, books, stuffed animals or his own body – with no luck, of course. It doesn’t take long for kids to figure out that magnets only...Continue Reading

Have you ever ordered something tiny, only for it to arrive at your door in a huge box? The rise of next-day shipping and Amazon Prime has simplified holiday gift buying and errand-running for most of us – but it sure has added to our consumption of cardboard and paper products. Clearly, online shopping is...Continue Reading

The closing of a glass manufacturing plant in Milford probably didn’t much interest the average Massachusetts consumer, but that closure marked the end of an era – and exemplified the way the glass recycling market has changed. Ardagh, which manufactured glass bottles, closed its plant in March. It was the major customer of the Strategic...Continue Reading

Most people have heard the news of China’s 2018 National Sword policy, and how this is negatively impacting recycling markets throughout the world. You may not be aware of how and why this is impacting single stream recycling programs, not only for companies but also for nationwide U.S. municipal programs. Single stream recycling began as...Continue Reading