The Price of Recycling Incorrectly
You may love to recycle, but you might actually be terrible at it. What’s the cost of our “wish-cycling”? Read More
A Helping Hand
Recent policies pertaining to scrap imports into China are making exporting some postconsumer recyclables increasingly difficult. Material recovery facility (MRF) operators are trying to find new technologies or processes to help them meet China’s stricter quality requirements. This situation and …
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Minnesota Recycling Efforts choked by Chinese import cutbacks
China has almost entirely stopped buying recycled material, which is rattling recycling bins halfway around the world in Minnesota. Industry experts say the unsold material is backing up, recyclers are losing money, and consumers are facing higher costs and new …
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Minnesota Recyclers scrambling in wake of Chinese restrictions
China no longer wants to buy the wastepaper, plastic and other material that’s tossed into recycling bins in the United States, and the effect of that ban is rippling across Minnesota. Deprived of the biggest overseas customer for American recyclables, …
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Cutting Edge Robot poring through trash in Shakopee
A recycling robot recently moved into Shakopee. And it has a craving for cartons. A new robot at Dem-Con Companies’ recycling facility is being used to detect and remove milk containers and other cartons from the recycling stream, the first …
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Dem-Con Companies Installs AMP Cortex Robot in its Minnesota Facility
In late March, the Carton Council of North America joined forces with Alpine Waste & Recycling and AMP Robotics to test the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the recycling of food and beverage cartons via a robot called …
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‘Wish-cycling’ headaches spur recyclers to help people toss the right materials
Recyclable materials zip along a conveyor belt in Shakopee as workers scramble to grab what doesn’t belong: Plastic bags, shredded paper, clothes hangers, a giant poster of Garfield. It’s all evidence of “wish-cycling,” the well-intended pitching of trash into the …
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Schooled in recycling
Dem-Con Cos. President Bill Keegan recently had an eye-opening experience during a Minnesotan city council meeting about a specific landfill. When residents who opposed the landfill were asked where they believed their garbage ended up, one woman replied, “It goes …
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Good Question: What’s Recyclable?
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — Ever heard of wish-cycling? It’s a phenomenon recyclers refer to when people put materials in their recycling bins that’s supposed to go in the trash.
Global Shift Puts Squeeze on Twin Cities Recycling
Plunging oil prices and a slowdown of the Chinese economy are causing ripple effects in the Minnesota recycling market, wiping out monthly profits that cities use to drive down costs for the service. The falling price for recyclable materials, coupled …
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