Waste and Recycling: 2019 in Review

January 7, 2020

January 7, 2020


2019 has been a fascinating year for recycling and waste. Markets continue to stink, plastics are condemned as evil and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) re-embraces recycling. Listed below, in no particular order, are some of the more interesting stories in 2019.


MRFs Go Crazy with Advanced Technology


Recently, I spoke at a recycling conference in Toronto. One of the panels consisted of four companies that manufacture materials recovery facility (MRF) processing equipment. Usually these panels feature over-the-top sales claims and thinly disguised sharp elbows aimed at the competition. This one was the opposite. When the panelists were discussing their latest breakthroughs in sorting technology, especially in robotics and artificial intelligence, they were so polite to each other I thought I was attending a love-in. The reality is that their order books are full, and they all know their technologies are compatible. Their breakthroughs will increase the quality of recyclables for markets while making MRFs safer for workers. Who could possibly complain about that?


EPA Embraces Recycling


In 2017, the EPA budget proposed by the Trump administration zeroed out federal expenditures on solid waste and recycling. Its authors argued that both are state functions not deserving of federal dollars. Congress, instead, chose to maintain funding for those EPA programs at their existing levels. Flash forward two years to America Recycles Day. The EPA-sponsored Innovation Fair featured an array of new technologies and packages. EPA’s Administrator Andrew Wheeler proclaimed the agency’s decision to establish national recycling goals. I guess the federal government has a role in recycling after all.


A Mill Grows in Wapakoneta, Ohio


On October 1, Pratt Industries opened its new recycled containerboard mill in John Glenn’s hometown. This new mill will use 162,000 tons of mixed paper and 68,000 tons of old corrugated boxes as its raw material. The plan is to double the amount used in 10 years. While this mill is not enough to bring life back to depressed recycled paper markets, it is an important first step. Within two years, at least four more new mills will open. I don’t expect recycled paper prices to get close to the dizzy heights of a decade ago. But I do expect that by the end of 2021, the depressed prices we continue to experience will be a thing of the past.


Drone Delivery of Packages Takes a Flight Forward


In September, drones began delivering packages in Christiansburg, Va. Wing, the company whose drones will deliver packages of 3 pounds or less, was the first to be certified by the Federal Aviation Administration as an “air carrier.” The certification allows Wing’s drones to carry packages beyond their operator’s sight. If the drones prove cost effective and do not spark opposition based on noise, privacy or other concerns, drone delivery may become common in rural and exurban areas where they will be more cost effective than truck delivery. The drones also will start carrying heavier loads. Clearly, the packaging used for drone transportation will have to be sturdy enough to withstand any wind buffeting and the impact of being lowered to the ground. Which raises the question, what materials will they be made of?


San Francisco Quietly Abandons its Zero Waste Goal


For years, San Francisco has been claiming it diverts 80 percent of its waste from disposal. The city continued to make these claims even as the amount of waste it sent to landfills steadily increased every year since 2012. It now landfills 427,000 tons of trash. With the 2020 zero waste deadline looming, San Francisco quietly abandoned its 16-year-old goal. Now it wants to cut the amount of garbage going to disposal in half by 2030 and to cut per capita waste generation by 15 percent at the same time. As it turns out, San Francisco recycles barely more than half of its trash. This is quite an achievement for a large, densely populated, multi-lingual city with a high percentage of its population living in multifamily housing. But it’s not 80 percent. San Francisco proved that aspirational goals and aspirational accounting can mask reality for only so long.


Plastics as the Root of All Evil


The country, or at least some environmental groups, appears to have gone on an anti-plastic rampage. Driven by horrific pictures of a turtle with a straw in its nostril and water surfaces covered by plastic packaging, a rising tide of fervor is threatening to lead to sweeping restrictions on single-use products. While some of them are made from paper, glass or metals, it’s the plastic ones that are the focus of protest. As I noted in a summer blog, I have a soft spot in my heart for some single-use plastic products. Instead of railing against all plastic products, we need to accept the fact that many bring substantial environmental benefits, including lower greenhouse gas emissions, from cradle to grave, than their heavier, more recyclable competitors. This creates a dilemma. Which is more important? Lowering greenhouse gas emissions or increasing recycling? Until we figure out how to have our cake and compost it, too, we will have to decide. My choice is to use our brains, not our emotions. Lowering greenhouse gas emissions should be our priority. 



Chaz Miller is a longtime veteran of the waste and recycling industry. He can be reached at chazmiller9@gmail.com.

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September 17, 2025
The City of Medford won the 2025 Environmental Leadership Award for Outstanding Community presented by the Northeast Recycling Council, for its innovative work to reduce waste and create a more sustainable waste collection system through the City’s free curbside composting program. “I'm thankful to our team at City Hall, the Solid Waste Taskforce, our consultants Strategy Zero Waste and our volunteers for working so hard to launch our curbside composting program and making it such a meaningful success for our community,” Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said. “This award shows that the work we’re doing in both composting and recycling is having real, transformative effects on how our community thinks about waste and the steps we’re taking to create a more sustainable environment for the future. We are honored to be recognized by the Northeast Recycling Council for these efforts.” Each year, NERC honors a community, an organization, and an individual for their outstanding contributions to recycling education and innovation. This year will mark the 9th annual Environmental Leadership Awards Ceremony, recognizing individuals and organizations who help further NERC’s waste and recycling goals. “Our committee is wholeheartedly impressed by the work of the City of Medford, and how important and impactful that work is for the community,” said Sophie Leone, Development and Program Manager at NERC. “It is a perfect representation of NERC’s mission to minimize waste, conserve natural resources, and advance a sustainable economy through facilitated collaboration and action and we are very excited to bestow the City of Medford with this award.” You can read more about the Environmental Leadership Awards here . And if you haven’t signed up for Medford’s free curbside composting program, you can do that at medfordcomposts.com . Read on MedfordMA.org.
By Resource Recycling September 10, 2025
In the Northeast, recycled commodity prices continued to decline in April-June, with MRFs experiencing an average decrease of nearly 6% compared to the first quarter of 2025, according to the Northeast Recycling Council’s (NERC) second-quarter MRF Values Survey Report. NERC’s 25th quarterly report analyzed data from 19 MRFs across 12 states, excluding two facilities from the average blended value “because they did not market enough commodities within Q2 to provide a representative comparison with other MRFs.” Compared to the previous quarter, the responding MRFs reported average values per ton for blended recyclables with residuals at $82.68, a decrease of 7.74%, or $96.21 per ton, a 5.99% decline without residuals. Thirteen of the 17 MRFs contributing to the weighted average were single-stream, while four operated on a dual-stream/source-separated basis. In the Northeast, dual-stream facilities reported a blended value of $99.74 without residuals and $86.52 including residuals, experiencing decreases of 7% and 7.16% from the previous quarter, respectively. Single-stream MRFs recorded blended values of $95.08 without residuals, down 5.7%, and $81.28,down 8.3%, with residuals. Factors such as tariffs and weak demand have led major waste haulers to adjust their forecasts, anticipating challenges due to economic uncertainty for the remainder of 2025. This dip in commodity prices was reflected in second-quarter earnings reports, with four companies reporting an average year-over-year decrease of 15% in commodity values. Houston-based WM projected a $15 million decline in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization due to softening demand. However, the emergence of new and upgraded polymer facilities is enhancing processing capabilities, driven by the expectation of high demand for recycled PET. A version of this story appeared in Resource Recycling on Sept 9. Read on Resource Recycling.
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