3 Recycling Trends to Watch

Facility managers have had to adapt their recycling programs to a new set of challenges during the pandemic, while keeping up with the old ones, too. CMM’s May/June 2021 cover story takes a closer look at a few creative solutions to today’s recycling challenges as well as some insights for what the future holds.

Here are three exciting recycling trends to watch.

1. Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policy:

The EPR policy approach to recycling gives producers the responsibility for the disposal of their post-consumer products. These programs incentivize manufacturers to design products and packaging for the environment to achieve recycling goals. More industries, governments, and companies are establishing EPR policies to help build better waste streams.

2. Harvesting plastics from the ocean

With at least 8 million tons of plastics turning up in the ocean every year, forward-thinking organizations are beginning to harvest that waste. Groups like Waste Free Oceans are transforming ocean plastics into a commodity. There’s now an emerging global market for ocean plastics that can be used in combination with other recycled plastics to make new products.

3. Artificial intelligence

Robotic machinery uses artificial intelligence (AI) to sort plastics and recycling materials. Smart recycling bins that help instruct individuals about recycling behaviors and decrease contamination at the source is one of the newest AI technologies in the receptacle market.

Learn more ways to rethink your facility’s recycling program in CMM’s May/June 2021 cover story.