Emily Coven will serve as California executive director for Circular Action Alliance, leading the EPR program plan for the state, the producer responsibility organization announced Thursday. CAA is the PRO helping to facilitate the extended producer responsibility for packaging program established by California law SB 54. "I look forward to engaging directly with interest holders and communities across California to build a system that delivers meaningful results for Californians,” Coven said in CAA’s announcement. Emily Coven Permission granted by Circular Action Alliance   Coven’s appointment comes less than a year after CAA tapped former CalRecycle director Rachel Wagoner to lead the organization’s operations in the state. In May this year, CAA announced that Wagoner would “move into an external advisory capacity” for CAA, prompting a new search for an operational executive director. This followed an anonymous whistleblower’s complaint to California’s Fair Political Practices Commission, which the Los Angeles Times reported on in February. The whistleblower sought an investigation, suggesting that Wagoner “violated a ‘switching sides’ ban that prevents former regulators from receiving compensation to work against the state on matters they once oversaw.”  Coven previously founded and led software company Recyclist, which was acquired by Routeware in 2023. Recyclist was designed to assist with waste and recycling compliance and sustainability programs. CAA said its work has supported implementation of recycling and organics policies in California. “Emily’s experience in California’s municipal recycling ecosystem and her proven expertise in scaling startups will be instrumental to our work,” said CAA CEO Jeff Fielkow in a statement. This month, CAA opened registration for California producers, which it’s asking them to complete by Sept. 5. Producer supply reporting will be due by Nov. 15. CalRecycle is currently accepting comments on revised text for SB 54 rules. That period continues through Oct. 7, when CalRecycle plans to host a hybrid public hearing regarding the permanent regulations.

As of this year, legislators in every U.S. state have at some point introduced bills to improve the repairability of consumer technology such as electronics. Texas was the latest to pass such a law and advocates predict even more in the years to come. Liz Chamberlain, director of sustainability and head of the right to repair advocacy team at iFixit, said “we're at a point where the concept has always made sense to people that hear about it, but I feel like we broached a level of awareness that we didn't have previously.” Right-to-repair laws tend to cover items such as laptops, phones, cameras and other small-format devices, but there’s also legislation focused on automobiles, agricultural equipment and medical devices such as powered wheelchairs. For original equipment manufacturers, that means a growing obligation to share or create repair manuals, certain specialized tools and processes to sell parts. While OEMs originally balked at the requirements, several have started to shift positions. Google is one notable opponent turned proponent.  Steven Nickel, director of consumer hardware operations at Google, said the repair concept “just aligns really well with Google’s mission, so we love talking about this wherever and to whomever.”  A growing trend Automotive right-to-repair laws were some of the first passed, followed by agricultural equipment, as both are large, integral investments for consumers.  In 2023, Colorado became the first state to pass a repair law for farm equipment, with more than a dozen states also introducing legislation that year. Similar legislation has also been introduced at the federal level for several years. As personal electronic devices grew more common, attention grew on that sector. Since 2022, California, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Connecticut, Maryland, Texas and Washington have passed right-to-repair laws for consumer electronics. Broadly, the laws require OEMs to make available to independent repair shops and consumers the parts, tools and documentation needed to fix devices covered under the laws, with a few differences between states. For example, Oregon, Washington and Colorado’s laws also ban the use of software to ensure a device will only operate with specific parts, called parts pairing. Some states also backdate their laws to cover consumer electronics purchased in the past, while some do not. Some companies, such as Apple, have strongly opposed banning parts pairing, while Google has advocated for it. If repairs are constrained by parts pairing “then you don't really have right to repair,” Nickel said. “So we think that’s a really critical piece.” When Texas passed its consumer electronics law, HB 2963, this year, it was lauded as the first “red” state to do so. Chamberlain said it further proves what iFixit has found in polling throughout the years: The right to repair is a solidly bipartisan issue. It often draws sponsors from both parties, she added, because “everybody wants to fix our stuff.”  Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of The Repair Association, called Texas’ law, which was based on a model bill from TechNet and the Consumer Technology Association, “a good start.” “We’re really happy to see a big red state pass it, because it’s good to have some balance,” she said. CTA, which opposed some right-to-repair bills in the past due in part to security concerns, has changed its stance in recent years. It did not respond to an interview request.  While Texas’ law did not have language banning parts pairing, Nickel said he’s not concerned about losing momentum. The text contained the fundamentals of access to parts and manuals, and “if you start there, that's great,” he said.  Chamberlain said the Texas law also moved right-to-repair consumer electronics language forward in a big way by closing a persistent loophole that allows OEMs to send customers a new device instead of engaging in the repair process and sharing knowledge and tools.  “All of the bills otherwise that we have passed so far in the U.S. have what we call the ‘Amazon loophole,’ which says if you replace products instead of repairing them, you meet the requirements of the bill, and so far Amazon has done that basically entirely,” she said.  HB 2963 gives consumers the explicit opportunity to choose repair and the OEM must honor that request. Chamberlain said while usage of the clause relies on consumer education, and enforcement is up to the state attorney general, “it's a big step forward in that it begins to address one of the major problems with the legislation we’ve passed so far.” In fact, iFixit has put the language to close that loophole in its template bill and hopes to see more states adopt the change in the coming years.  Stakeholder positions adapt As OEM perspectives start to shift from entrenched opposition to neutrality or even support, e-scrap recyclers and groups such as the Recycled Material Association have also advocated for right-to-repair legislation. ReMA noted in a position paper that “reuse provides an excellent environmental and economic benefit” that recyclers sometimes miss out on due to OEM locks and blocks.  Chamberlain said iFixit is seeing cell phone and laptop manufacturers “do a pretty good job of at least beginning to comply or making moves to comply,” even if she would like to see more manuals and schematics made available.  Nickel added there was initial concern about sharing instruction manuals, but that eased as OEMs realized the bills were “coming from a really reasonable place.”  “They’re not saying you need to give away trade secrets. There’s a lot of aspects where they really considered the manufacturers’ concerns,” he said. Manufacturers of cameras, video game consoles and household appliances have been less compliant, and Gordon-Byrne said she’s finding a low level of awareness of obligation from some sectors. Trade associations need to do more outreach to ensure that their members know their legal requirements, she said, and The Repair Association will also continue to share the news and encourage people who run into problems getting covered items repaired to submit a complaint to their state’s attorney general.  Looking forward, Chamberlain said her goals are to pass bills that close the “Amazon loophole,” address product categories such as medical devices, and strengthen and protect existing laws.  Nickel also foresees the launch of devices that are easier to repair as more states pass laws and the right-to-repair concept takes off globally. He pointed to the repair directive in the European Union and the French system of assigning a repairability score to devices at the point of sale as trends to watch.  “I think five years from now we’ll be looking at really simplified repairs, because in the sense of any legislation being some type of restriction, I think that drives creativity and innovation,” he said.  For example, Google created a "repair mode” that allows technicians to work on a phone while protecting data, without the need to fully wipe a device, Nickel said. He spends most of his time working on the design-for-serviceability program, which seeks to prioritize repairability. “We’re thinking about products in 2027 and 2028,” he said. “If you don't engage at these certain gates and windows, you'll miss the opportunity. Design is so iterative.”

Dive Brief: Closed Loop Private Equity acquired Agri-Cycle, an organics management company serving 850 commercial and industrial clients in 14 U.S. states, it announced on Wednesday.  Closed Loop Partners, which advances circular economy solutions through separate research and private equity arms, has made investments in more than 80 companies over the last decade. Its capital management division received a funding infusion from Capricorn Investment Group in February. Founded in Maine in 2013, Agri-Cycle has positioned itself as a solution for states with organics diversion mandates, like Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. The company began as a food waste collection service, bringing material from its customers to on-farm anaerobic digesters run by a separate entity. Dive Insight: Food waste management is a potentially $110 billion market, according to research from nonprofit ReFed. Closed Loop has identified the sector as a "key focus area for the firm," which has also invested in plastics, packaging and textile recycling. Last year, research supported by Closed Loop Partners identified sluggish growth in the organics processing industry between 2018 and 2023, and it called for additional investment to spur growth. Circular Services, Closed Loop Partners' private recycling and circular economy services provider, acquired Quantum Organics in February. The company runs an anaerobic digestion and composting facility in Southington, Connecticut, in an area where towns are increasingly seeking to divert organic waste. That acquisition will remain separate from Agri-Cycle. Closed Loop intends for the Agri-Cycle acquisition to fuel its plan to aggressively expand into the food waste management market. This would occur through both internal growth mechanisms and acquisitions. "Closed Loop Partners is proud to back Agri-Cycle, and partner with their management team to accelerate their path to scale and drive meaningful impact for organics circularity in the U.S. Through this acquisition, we can together capture the significant market opportunity for food and organic waste diversion in the U.S.,” Jackson Pei, co-head of Closed Loop Private Equity, said in a statement. Agri-Cycle was the first organics company in the Northeast to install a food waste depackager in 2015. With the technology, the company was able to help regional grocery chain Hannaford divert 100% of its food waste from landfill, reducing the chain’s hauling costs by about 40% as of 2021. Today, Agri-Cycle services 2,400 locations across its footprint, providing education, collection, processing and disposal service to its customers. “Agri-Cycle has provided services to keep thousands of tons of food in circulation over the last decade,” Dan Bell, CEO of Agri-Cycle, said in a statement. “As the organics waste challenge grows more urgent, we look to continue meeting market demand, and work alongside Closed Loop Partners to accelerate impact at scale.”

Dive Brief: PepsiCo, Bold Reuse and the San Francisco 49ers have teamed up to bring reusable cups to Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, this football season. The partners launched the cups in special club areas of the stadium at a preseason game on Aug. 9. They estimate the program will “eliminate the need for tens of thousands of disposable single-use cups” during the 49ers’ 10 home games this season, according to an announcement last week. According to Bold Reuse’s CEO Jocelyn Quarrell, this marks Bold Reuse’s first implementation in California. The company now operates in several cities with a growing network of wash hubs. Dive Insight: In addition to collaborations with festivals and retailers, Bold Reuse has established other programs with professional sports teams across the U.S. The operator also expanded to the East Coast earlier this year at the Spectrum Center, home to the National Basketball Association’s Charlotte Hornets. In another new development this year, Bold Reuse partnered with Avery Dennison to pilot RFID to better track the cycle of reusable cups, “from distribution and return to wash cycles and end-of-life,” in Portland, Oregon, where Bold Reuse services the city’s professional soccer and basketball venues. Bold Reuse also collaborates with other beverage companies and NFL teams. For instance, Bold Reuse has partnered with Keurig Dr Pepper to scale reusable cups for the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, also at the club level. The 49ers collaboration is PepsiCo’s first reusable cup project with a National Football League franchise, according to the announcement, and comes after the CPG sunset its formal packaging reuse target earlier this year. “Advancing reuse requires collaboration and a systemic shift to help make the reusable option the most convenient and accessible option for consumers to enjoy their beverage,” Burgess Davis, chief sustainability officer for PepsiCo North America, said in the 49ers’ announcement. Previously, PepsiCo stated that it aimed to deliver 20% of all beverage servings sold via reusable models by 2030. The company reported having sold 10% of beverage servings in reusable models in 2023. Now, reuse falls under an umbrella target for PepsiCo to have 97% of its primary and secondary packaging in key markets be either recyclable, compostable or reusable. “Initiatives like this can provide important insights into how that shift can become a reality at scale while having an immediate impact in reducing waste,” Davis continued. Also in California, PepsiCo previously participated in Closed Loop Partners’ monthslong community-scale reusable cup trial in the city of Petaluma. In the wake of that project, CLP’s Center for the Circular Economy last week announced the upcoming Reuse Cities Initiative, which will aim to “further scale reuse in California, building on the Center's successful reuse pilots in cities across the U.S., including Denver, Tucson and Petaluma.” “In 2026, reusables for foodservice packaging and beyond will be offered by major brands, supported by regional reverse logistics infrastructure and a citywide consumer campaign in California,” CLP announced, calling this “its largest multi-retailer reuse activations yet.”

John Shegerian, ERI’s CEO and co-founder, is on the road again. His company has made a name for itself as one of the largest electronics recyclers in the country, expanding over the years to do business in about 140 countries.  Advancements in the electronics at the heart of ERI’s business model are also the reason Shegerian travels about 175 days a year, he said. “With technology, with AI, nobody knows what’s real or fake anymore. But having real, personal relationships with clients and strategic partners – that’s what sets us apart,” he said. “The interpersonal relationships you build with people face to face are now more important than ever before.”  In the last few years, ERI has expanded its footprint across the U.S. It opened a new battery recycling plant in Indiana in 2024 and is getting ready to open an electronics recycling and IT asset disposition facility in Georgia. The company also plans to announce several international partnerships this year. This comes at a time when the U.S. government aims to prioritize domestic recycling initiatives in an effort to get back critical materials from electronics.  ERI is also balancing domestic and international business expansion with sustainability initiatives Shegerian said further set his company apart in a competitive field. “It doesn't matter if you’re Republican, Independent or Democrat, everyone agrees that we want to leave the environment better than how we found it,” he said. Shegerian talked with Waste Dive about ERI’s latest carbon neutral and zero waste initiatives, its focus on its battery and e-scrap services, and its relationship with the current Trump administration. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Domestic recycling infrastructure for electronics and batteries has seemed to really pick up in recent years, and you yourself have said competition can be fierce.  What are ERI’s priorities in this space, and how is it mapping its own growth? Optional Caption Courtesy of ERI   Only 22% of all electronics being used today and sold and used on this planet today are being responsibly recycled. That still leaves a massive 78% delta for myself and all of my competitors to chase. People ask why I’m friends with my competitors, and it’s because we can learn a lot from them, and it's not a zero-sum game. There's so much stuff to recycle that we can all do very well together. It's really an industry of collaboration, and collaboration is what's going to make the biggest impact. One example of collaboration that we’ve had going since about 2005 is the electronic take-back programs with Best Buy and Staples, which is now the second most successful take-back program in the world for batteries and electronic waste. We also manage the Salvation Army take-back program now. We’re always trying to get the word out, get more education and activation, because people want to do the right thing with electronics, they just don't know where it exists.  When we take back all the batteries at Staples, you know about 85% of these postconsumer batteries are alkaline batteries. Our technology so far is doing very well at our recycling plant in Indiana, [which focuses on alkaline battery recycling]. It's closed loop, no emissions, and we create and sell a wonderful black mass there.  At the same time, we're opening other infrastructure. In the fourth quarter we plan to open our northwest Georgia location, which will do ITAD and electronics recycling, and we plan to continue to grow in other parts of the United States as well.  We are also going to grow outside of the country. We’re getting more and more business in Asia, Canada, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. We're going to be opening locations in those regions in the next 12 months in the form of ERI owned and operated [facilities], with partners in those regions. ERI recently published its latest sustainability report, which says the company is the first in its industry to become carbon neutral. What steps did you take to do that, and why are these specific sustainability metrics important? We started our company around 23 years ago, which is a lifetime ago when it comes to technology. That was before any company had a chief sustainability officer and “circular economy” wasn’t a word yet.  It does cost ERI more and requires more intentional work to be carbon neutral and to achieve zero waste. You just don't write a check and buy your way into it. Our carbon neutrality and zero waste efforts stand out really fast compared to our competitors.  All our big clients like the retailers, OEMs, cities and municipalities — they all have to answer to somebody and create sustainability or impact reports. We're one less problem on their balance sheet. We're not creating more scope 1, 2 or 3 issues for them.  The fact is, we have strategic partners that are investors and board members of ERI, so everyone knows where our materials go. Batteries go right to Redwood Materials. Alcoa gets all of our aluminum and LS MnM gets all of our copper and precious metals. People know there's no brokers. They see the transparency to that.  We have eight big facilities across America, but we never had a head of procurement until about two years ago, which is kind of embarrassing. Having a head of procurement is Sustainability 101. The march towards carbon neutrality becomes a lot easier when you're buying right and when you're diverting right. No one's truly zero waste. We're at about 2.3% to 2.7% that goes to a hazardous waste landfill, but the rest gets diverted. Those efforts all came from our procurement and also from our chief sustainability officer efforts to increase and improve our diversion.  Our sustainability officer and his team also look into how to power our facilities with green energy such as solar, and then whatever we can't do ourselves at the end of the day to zero out and reconcile this, then we'll buy credits. The Trump administration has been pretty clear that it wants to see more investments in domestic manufacturing and the recovery of critical materials, which it says is important to stay internationally competitive and reduce reliance on other countries. What’s ERI’s role in these larger federal priorities? In the last nine months, we've met with leadership from Canada, the United States and Japan. They all are interested in the same thing. They don't want to decouple from China, but they want to de-risk their resources and supply chain. The question on their minds is, “How can we recycle more electronics domestically and keep those material resources domestically?” And that's what we've been asked to advise on. ERI had an office in Washington, D.C. for 10 years under both Republican and Democratic administrations, and we would walk the halls to meet with both sides of the aisle. Each side gave us wonderful lip service. The Republican people typically say, “We love the job growth that you're doing in our communities.” The Democrats would say, “We love what you're doing for the environment.”  What’s different with the Trump administration, love them or hate them, is that this is an administration of doers. They've come to us and said, “Give us specifics. How can we retain more electronics, domestically speaking, and keep our resources domestic?” They ask practical questions and they’ve followed up with us numerous times. That’s never happened in all the years I had an office in D.C. By the way, the Canadian and Japanese governments are doing the same thing. I know each one of those administrations is going to do a lot more to make their countries safer and more independent and de-risk their supply chains. This is a high, high priority for all administrations of those three countries. This is just not idle chatter.  ERI is known for electronics and battery recycling, but you also do a fair amount of plastics recycling because of the plastics in electronics. How has that area of the business evolved over the years, especially in the context of your zero waste goals? Plastics have always been important to us. We built proprietary shredders back in 2008, and they have been upgraded every year. Those shredders create cleaner commodities, and smelters want the most liberated resources and commodities to smelt, because certain plastics will ruin their smelters.  When OEMs started realizing that circularity and sustainability were trends, they all created design for sustainability divisions. One of the ways they want to make their products greener and more sustainable is by avoiding buying virgin plastic and instead buying back recycled plastic from me. We make sure it goes to a good vendor who can meet our specs. We've been working with OEMs for the last 15 years on this, but now more and more OEMs are doing that. What they're realizing is that young people are voting with their pocketbooks and want to buy greener and greener products.  We've chased this space vigorously for 15 years, and we continue to chase it. We continue to find great vendors on different continents that can help us recycle our plastic that we create in those continents and then also fulfill the needs of our OEMs. 

Full Circle Future, a new nonprofit spun out from Industrious Labs' waste and circular economy campaigns, launched Tuesday. The six-employee team, sponsored by nonprofit Social and Environmental Entrepreneurs, will continue and grow the work it's done under Industrious to advocate for tighter landfill restrictions and stronger circular economy protections. Katherine Blauvelt will lead the organization as executive director. She was previously circular economy campaign director at Industrious, a climate solutions nonprofit focused on heavy industry. In a release announcing the spin-off, Industrious Labs Partner Evan Gillespie highlighted the circular economy campaign’s work over the past few years, which includes advocating for new landfill emission rules in Oregon and Washington. “The Industrious Labs team is proud of its work to incubate and grow the circular economy campaign, from a concept to the leading, high-impact operation it's become,” Gillespie said in a statement. In her new role, Blauvelt will continue the work she’s done advocating for policies at the local, state and national level that require landfill operators to implement the latest emissions tracking technology. Full Circle Future sees removing organic waste from landfills and more quickly resolving landfill gas plumes as important public health issues that can be solved using tools like drones, satellites and other technologies that are already available. “Our focus is eat, sleep and breathe solving the single biggest component in landfills today, and that's organic waste. It's a massive, massive missed opportunity,” Blauvelt said. At launch, Full Circle Future has released a national policy tracker that also includes Carbon Mapper’s up-to-date data on landfill gas plumes. The organization plans to get involved in ongoing landfill policy debates, including in states with pending regulations like Colorado and California. Blauvelt discussed her vision for Full Circle Future with Waste Dive, as well as how she views landfill policy today. This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. WASTE DIVE: Tell me what your mission will be with Full Circle Future. Katherine Blauvelt, former circular economy campaign director of Industrious Labs, is leading Full Circle Future. Permission granted by Full Circle Future   BLAUVELT: We started Full Circle Future to tackle a big but solvable problem, and that's organic waste. When food and yard waste end up in landfills, they create methane. There's toxic co-pollutants, and that's harming communities and it's fueling climate change. The U.S. is home to 2,600 municipal solid waste landfills. There's at least one in every state. Piling trash in landfills is more than just a waste of food and money. It's creating emissions that exacerbate climate change. The pollutants make us sick. They pollute our air and water. So let's take our current take, make, waste economy that's all downside and no upside and flip it on its head and build a system that puts people at its center. That's the big, bold win.  It's just, do you care about economic development? Do you care about forever chemicals? Do you care about keeping your families healthy and kids being able to play outside. There's just so much opportunity here on this issue to just make people's lives better.  We can get in place better policies and systems. We can imminently solve this problem. So it's a new organization focused on turning waste into a public health win, climate win.  We're launching Full Circle Future to really focus deeply on supporting communities and building the partnerships that are needed to transform how we handle waste, starting from the ground up. We're coming at the issue from every angle. We want to improve landfill emission standards, expand organics recycling, really build the coalitions and policy change that's achievable and bold. We are doing that in partnership with local grassroots leaders who know what their communities need.  Where do you see the greatest opportunity for action? Is it local? Is it state? Is it federal? How do you get involved? What’s really exciting about working on organic waste is every level of government has an opportunity to make a change that will have a direct tangible benefit for people and for the environment. Full Circle Future, we’ll be delivering our data chops, our policy smarts, to really just help supercharge existing efforts. We're bringing together people who are impacted by landfills, who live with these landfills 365 days a year, into a national space. We could really problem solve together. There's no question the folks that deal with the toxic impacts of landfills know what the solutions should be.  In your launch release, you mentioned that our waste systems, particularly landfills, exist at this nexus between health and climate impacts. Do you feel like that connection is something that people currently understand well? There's been study after study that have shown the multibillion-dollar costs with the pollution that methane creates. We're talking about sick days, lost workdays, premature deaths, hospital visits. Landfills have been this zombie problem, this invisible problem lurking in our backyards. Now, thanks to technology that's really making these methane emissions detectable, it's coming more to the forefront.  At the same time we have all this game-changing technology that's really leveling up what's possible in terms of responsibly controlling these emissions. It’s this great confluence that we really want to work with communities to take advantage of. How do you see the state of the landfill regulations in this country today? Right now, landfills are like zombies. They're everywhere. They're not going away on their own. They're creating these multiple compounding problems. We're talking forever chemicals, landfill fires that are endangering entire communities and these constant methane emissions that are fueling our climate crisis and public health problems.  And here's the flip side: The solutions are tangible and already within reach. We have ready technology that's being deployed and is in use. And what we're really looking for is making that a common sense standard for all communities across the country.  There's just been so much momentum from cities in Ohio to Florida to Washington that are realizing local economic development. You just create more jobs when you don't landfill or incinerate. You can also strengthen food systems and feed hungry people with delicious food that just needs to get to them. We see really strong prospects for progress because it's just such a practical, in your backyard, in your community win that's really tangible. Local leaders are frankly hungry for solutions that benefit people, and so we'll be there to help them act on it. How much of the policy work that you plan to do will revolve around organics recycling or other things that are essentially keeping organics from getting into landfills in the first place? That speaks to our name, Full Circle Future. We're really working on all of the above. Even if we stop burning and burying waste completely tomorrow, we're still stuck with these zombie landfills for decades.  We're really working at it from all sides. That's where we're going to see the most bang for our buck. What's exciting is we know what the solutions are. We don't have to do a hydrogen moonshot program. We just have to apply what's known and really raise this issue to policymakers and work with them on tangible solutions. Are you agnostic on organics recycling technologies at this stage? Would you support anaerobic digestion in addition to composting? We are focusing on any and all policies and programs that divert organic waste, that promote food recycling. But we're really, in our approach, centering partners and communities that have traditionally been left out of the economic system. So we are prioritizing starting with folks that know the most about what works for their community and what the problems are, and that will absolutely inform the kind of policy decisions you'll see us working on.  For example, we're super excited about working with folks who are based in Detroit and doing amazing, really grounded work in both composting and also dealing with basic issues of food insecurity. We’re really starting there in terms of, OK, what kind of policy solutions from Lansing would really benefit both the communities in Detroit, but also across the state? You'll be seeing more about that in the coming months. How do landfills fit into this vision of circularity that you're promoting with Full Circle Future? What do you think is the best way to move forward with these existing zombie facilities, as you've called them? We absolutely believe you don't ever want to make the problem worse. We know solutions aren't one-size-fits-all. It's why you have to approach waste sector transformation from all sides. I don't think anyone woke up from a community perspective and said, “This is exactly the waste system that we want in this country.” We believe in a future where landfilling isn't the status quo, it isn't the default solution. You can create so many more jobs, reduce pollution, strengthen food systems, support healthier communities, when you're invested in food recycling, when you’re invested in moving edible food to a food pantry as opposed to the trash. That's the future that we're fighting for.  Frankly, this is achievable for the existing landfills. We've got everything from drones to satellites to wellhead tuning, smart practices around cover. In this next decade, we could absolutely see a lot of progress towards transformation in terms of how landfills are managed in this country. That'll take policymaker action, which we're the tip of the spear on. Can you tell me more about the kinds of changes that you hope to see and achieve in the coming years on this issue? From Maryland to Michigan to California to New York, we're seeing real appetite for policies that protect public health, that cut emissions, that are cost effective, and just deliver tangible benefits like clean air, local jobs, less food waste. There's nothing stopping us. We'll be working at the state and local level to scale up food recycling and rewrite the outdated rules that are governing landfills.  That's all while building power alongside communities that are living near landfills. Those are the folks leading the charge and conversely are just living with a clear and present danger every day.

Dive Brief: The Zero Waste International Alliance recently released version 8.1 of its zero waste hierarchy, driven by updates to its definition of a circular economy and to policies involving chemical recycling, or “chemical processing” as ZWIA terms it. Notable updates included additional guidance for the principle of “Do Not Export Harm” and the addition of a “Do No Harm” principle. Both are related to concerns about potential effects from certain materials management processes. The update was finalized with work from ZWIA, Zero Waste Canada, Zero Waste British Columbia, Zero Waste Europe, Gaia and the Energy Justice Network, among others. Dive Insight: This international definition of “zero waste” dates back more than 20 years, following ZWIA’s founding in 2002, and is widely used by businesses and communities throughout the world. The guidelines were updated in recent years to account for the rise in chemical recycling, but some European members were concerned about potential gaps. “There were some areas in the hierarchy that were not emphasizing the dangers and the nonconformance of pyrolysis to a zero waste program and policy. So we had to look through it, and there were a few extra areas where we added pyrolysis not to be acceptable,” said Jamie Kaminski, lead policy advisor for Zero Waste Canada and the member who led this update process for ZWIA. Another motivation for the update was ZWIA’s work to better standardize the definition of “circular economy.” Gary Liss, chair of the ZWIA certifications committee, said the focus was on specifying that high-heat processes like pyrolysis are not considered part of a circular economy. Liss also researched this issue as chair of a working group for the National Recycling Coalition, which updated the its policy on chemical recycling. That group’s recently released policy specified that processes which turn plastic into fuel are not considered recycling. This work helped inform some of ZWIA’s work on the new do no harm principle. “One of the issues that came up was for these facilities that technically might be okay from our hierarchy perspective, they may do harm to the communities around them,” said Liss, citing examples such as explosions, rail car derailments and other potential hazards involved with the broader plastics industry. Liss said these general precautionary elements were already present in ZWIA’s hierarchy, but the new do no harm principle further codifies them. The Northeast Recycling Council also recently published a related policy on the issue. The U.S. EPA has also been asked to weigh in on this topic by proponents of chemical recycling. The agency recently decided to maintain its classification of certain pyrolysis facilities as municipal waste combustion units, though opted to back off from a separate Biden-era proposal that the industry didn’t like. The broader question of where certain processes should rank in waste hierarchies has long been debated, including at the federal level.  During the Biden administration, the U.S. EPA updated its food recovery hierarchy to a wasted food scale. This new scale placed landfilling and incineration on the same level, while the EPA’s broader waste hierarchy states a preference for “energy recovery” over disposal. Following advocacy by certain environmental groups, the agency added a note that it would review the hierarchy “based on the latest available data and information.” Liss and Kaminski said their group’s hierarchy views both landfilling and incineration as challenging options under the do no harm and do not export harm principles. ZWIA prefers landfilling to incineration as a last resort, but suggests treating the biological fraction of any material disposed first. ZWIA’s Zero Waste Communities Certification Program Guidelines specifically state “until all materials are diverted, use of upgraded landfills that meet European Union Landfill Directive or equivalent is preferable to any form of incineration.” Communities are also ineligible for certification if “they are participating in expanding or developing a new incinerator for 10% or more of their discarded materials.” In line with the do not export harm concept, Kaminski said communities should aim to maximize their use of local or regional landfills that meet necessary standards when possible. The long-term goal of achieving high waste diversion rates, while reducing the use of incinerators and landfills, is still in the distance for many large U.S. cities. Liss noted examples such as Baltimore and Minneapolis that have considered this approach in their long-term planning.

Providing recycling access in British Columbia isn’t the easiest task, especially because numerous areas of the province — including some First Nations communities — are in remote regions only accessible by barge or dirt road. To manage waste and recycling in these secluded areas, many First Nations communities already work with the Indigenous Zero Waste Technical Advisory Group, which offers waste management training as well as technical support and recycling hauling services. Now, thanks to a new partnership agreement, IZWTAG will formally administer the First Nations Recycling Initiative. It’s an outreach and recycling program run by BC’s Stewardship Agencies of BC, a coalition of EPR organizations. The initiative raises awareness of BC's EPR programs and supports local collection and recycling events for EPR-eligible items like electronics, large appliances and household hazardous waste. The partnership is meant to streamline and improve upon SABC’s First Nations outreach, because IZWTAG’s indigenous-led efforts are well-attuned to the needs of those diverse communities, said Craig Wisehart, an ambassador for SABC. Improving recycling access is a major priority in BC, the province with the most extensive list of extended producer responsibility programs in North America, he said.  “The synergy between these two groups are going to be really instrumental in bringing a much better service a lot more accessibility to more communities,” Wisehart said.  Optional Caption Courtesy of SABC   IZWTAG is a well-connected and well-respected group with strong recycling and zero waste training programs, he said. “They develop recycling champions within the community, which is important when you live in a community of maybe 300 people and may not have a solid waste coordinator,” Wisehart said. Partnering with groups like SABC helps bolster IZWTAG’s ongoing sustainability efforts, said president Calvin Jameson. With limited access to transfer stations, recycling facilities and landfill capacity, “we want to get away from this solid waste stuff. We are totally zero waste,” Jameson said.  SABC will continue to focus on recycling logistics, as well as technical support for how to best recycle items eligible for EPR. “Logistics in these communities is often really expensive,” said Wisehart, who also serves as the executive director for the Electronic Products Recycling Association. If his organization wanted to go into an indigenous community to collect just electronic items, “it would cost a fortune. But if we collectively coordinate to pick up a [load] of not just electronics and appliances, but also things like tires and batteries, it’s a better deal.” SABC’s First Nations Recycling Initiative started in 2017 with participation of eight of BC’s stewardship programs. It recently added the other five. “Now, with all 13 SABC member organizations involved, we can make it even easier for communities to recycle a wider range of items,” said SABC chair Jordan Best in a statement. That includes products like used oil and antifreeze, leftover paint, lead-acid batteries and some kinds of household hazardous waste.  EPR organizations in SABC include Call2Recycle Canada, Return-It, BC Brewers’ Recycled Container Collection Council, the Electronic Products Recycling Association, the Canadian Battery Association, Recycle BC and others.  Jameson, a member of the Lil’wat Nation and its public works superintendent, has long been involved in improving waste and recycling efforts for 200-plus First Nations communities in BC. Recycling programs are one piece of the puzzle, he said. More than a decade ago, Jameson worked to close an unlined landfill he described as an “open garbage pit” where most of the Lil’wat Nation’s waste was going. “The bears were getting in, and people would light it on fire. The school and health center and the elder's complex were all nearby, and that really got to me,” he said. Jameson also worried about the garbage dump’s proximity to the nation’s aquifer. “I thought, our children won’t have drinking water in 10 years.”  The landfill closed in 2012 and was replaced by a recycling and solid waste transfer depot. That experience helped spur Jameson’s continued involvement in creating or maintaining other indigenous-led waste infrastructure programs as part of IZWTAG.  IZWTAG focuses heavily on educating people in their own communities to get recycling and zero waste initiatives up and running. The organization also offers regular support through initiatives like the Circuit Riders, where IZWTAG members visit communities to help troubleshoot recycling and waste system operations and perform maintenance or needed repairs.  For some regions where ice and snow prevent larger trucks from accessing the community in winter months, IZWTAG might also bring a “mobile eco-depot,” a type of recycling system that sits on the back of a smaller pickup truck and allows for door-to-door recycling pickups.  Along with pursuing solutions for better recycling infrastructure, composting infrastructure and education is another major focus for IZWTAG right now, Jameson said. Newly adopted composting programs in the Haida Nation, located on the Haida Gwaii archipelago, and the Heiltsuk Nation located on the Central Coast of BC, are already diverting between 1,700 and 1,800 pounds a week, he said. Along with recycling, “eliminating food waste is a very big thing in a lot of remote communities,” he said. “A lot of the First Nations are getting back to growing food and focusing on food sovereignty because the cost of food and everything needed to get it onto the remote islands is so high.” This story first appeared in the Waste Dive: Recycling newsletter. Sign up for the weekly emails here.

State legislators continue to introduce more legislation aimed at cutting food waste. The bills look to address emissions and preserve disposal capacity for waste that can't be recycled or reused. Those policy proposals take a range of approaches. Some aim to outright ban the disposal of organic waste that businesses or residents generate. Others seek to prevent wasted food by simplifying food date labeling to make it easier for consumers to understand. And others set waste reduction targets and require studies to identify best strategies. This variety of tactics can help regulators as they tackle the issue across the food supply chain, said Chris Thomas, vice president of public affairs for organics recycler Divert, at a WasteExpo panel on May 7. “We’re still just too much in early innings to say which policies are working,” Thomas said. “We’re eventually going to coalesce around really good ideas, but we're just not there yet.” Divert, in collaboration with the Zero Food Waste Coalition, tracks organic waste bills. The team found that in 2025, 31 states have pending bills that would promote food recovery in some form, 27 have bills that would institute or modify an existing organic waste ban, 12 have bills that would simplify date labeling and two have bills that could incentivize procurement of organic waste byproducts. Nina Sevilla, a food waste program advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said nonprofits can play an important role in education and outreach when new organic waste policies are introduced. NRDC is also part of the Zero Food Waste Coalition and has developed a state policy toolkit to help legislators write laws that minimize unintended consequences, according to Sevilla. “Policy moves slowly, and what the coalition is trying to do is develop tools that can help accelerate policy,” Sevilla said. “There's no silver bullet. But on the flip side of that, everything can help.” For states that do have laws on the books, enforcing organic waste policy still requires a lot of collaboration, said Ashlee Yee, SB 1383 branch chief at California regulator CalRecycle.  CalRecycle's SB 1383 enforcement division has roughly one representative for every 10 jurisdictions, Yee said. They’re assigned to help each find a path to comply with the state's organic waste rules, which include a mandate to divert organic waste from homes and businesses and procure organic waste byproducts like compost and mulch to support a circular economy. Yee said working to get jurisdictions into compliance with SB 1383 has been tricky, in part because the law represents an unfunded mandate to change city-level organic waste policy. But she stressed that the flexibility currently built into the program, including delayed timelines for rural communities and options for jurisdictions that are out of compliance, are helping regulators achieve their goal. “I think maybe everybody would prefer just to be told what to do, but I think that will add more costs on the back end,” Yee said. She also noted there are signs the program is working — the state set a goal to divert 20% of edible food to people in need by 2025, and Yee said the state is at 94% of that total. California's organic waste rules remain the most comprehensive in the country, Yee said, noting the state is still working to bring stakeholders together. She said the state is still missing needed organic waste processing capacity, and processors are dealing with increased organic waste contamination as residents learn new requirements. Divert’s Thomas also noted that stakeholders who support organic waste reduction are still identifying the ideal sequence of policies, like putting in place requirements to divert organic waste to beneficial uses like composting or anaerobic digestion before requiring jurisdictions to procure the resulting products. “States are still kind of wrapping their heads around how it can be implemented and how it's going to impact certain waste generators,” Thomas said. “Any time there's any kind of new policy being considered across the country, there's lots of new ideas to try.” Disclosure: Informa, which owns a controlling stake in Informa TechTarget, the publisher behind Waste Dive, is also the owner of WasteExpo. Informa has no influence over Waste Dive’s coverage.

Dive Brief: The Coalition for Sludge-Free Land, a group of roughly 30 local, regional and national environmental organizations, launched on Wednesday. The new group is pushing for an end to the practice of spreading sewage sludge on land as fertilizer. In recent years, a growing number of farmers have found their land is contaminated with PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, due to the spreading of the sludge. The coalition argues that’s evidence the practice puts farmers and potentially consumers at risk of health impacts. The coalition is pushing for new practices that reduce sludge volumes and require the final material be sent to landfills. Finding a new destination for sewage sludge, known in the wastewater industry as biosolids, has been challenging in states with bans on land spreading. Dive Insight: The debate over what to do about PFAS contamination of biosolids has been brewing for years. The first state-level action occurred a few years ago in Maine, where some farmers discovered their land was deeply contaminated with PFAS after they or the previous owners had spread the sludge. Maine passed a ban on land spreading in 2022. At the same time, it also halted the importation of out-of-state bulky waste, which is sometimes used to balance out aqueous wastes like biosolids in a landfill. The moves triggered a statewide crisis about what to do with the material, and eventually the legislature to reallow some bulky waste imports as the state seeks long-term solutions. Organics recycling companies that sell fertilizer made from biosolids have argued the material is a more natural, less carbon-intensive fertilizer than synthetic alternatives. Some industry groups have also pushed back on land spreading bans, noting the practice is a cheap means of getting rid of the material while finding a beneficial use. The U.S. EPA under President Joe Biden also released a draft risk assessment in January finding farmers who engage in the practice could be exposed to harmful levels of the chemicals, though the agency concluded PFAS was unlikely to reach consumer food products through land spreading. It also focused on two common PFAS chemicals that are being phased out of production, PFOA and PFOS. The EPA said Monday it would finish the public comment period for the assessment and determine a path forward. The newly launched coalition includes groups like Just Zero that have argued for an end to the widespread use of PFAS. They argue land application of sewage sludge represents an unacceptable public health risk, and are cheering a growing number of state bills targeting the practice.  “It is striking and encouraging that there has been so much action,” Erica Kyzmir-McKeon, a senior attorney in the Conservation Law Foundation’s environmental justice program, said on a webinar announcing the coalition. The group is calling for sludge to be landfilled. Laura Orlando, a senior scientist at Just Zero, said the industry should explore monofills for the sludge as well, a practice also used for incinerator and coal ash. At the wastewater treatment plant, she’s also encouraging practices that would improve dewatering and reduce sludge volumes.  “We need to get serious about sludge reduction,” Orlando said. “This is one of the great challenges.” Orlando said land application bans should also be accompanied with other measures to rethink waste systems. Bottle bills and organic waste diversion, for instance, would preserve more landfill space for toxic materials that don’t have another use, she said. Further upstream, the group is advocating for industries that produce contaminated wastewater to treat it for PFAS on site, rather than send it through the public treatment system. That would include landfills, whose leachate can contain PFAS and is sometimes sent through public systems. “Right now we, the public, are subsidizing industrial waste management and we're not doing a very good job of it,” Orlando said. “We're just dumping it back on our farms. And we need to start changing that.”

UPDATE: July 11, 2025: Toyota Tsusho America completed its acquisition of Radius Recycling, the company announced Thursday. The deal will allow Radius to keep its current branding and headquarters, along with its management, employees and existing facilities, per a release. “Drawing from the combined strengths of both organizations, this is an opportunity to accelerate Radius’ strategic priorities, access new growth opportunities, and further solidify our position as a leader in North American recycling," said Radius CEO Tamara Lundgren in a statement, noting the deal "opens new doors for Radius." Dive Brief: March 17: Toyota Tsusho, part of the Toyota Group, announced on Thursday it's acquiring Radius Recycling, an industrial metals recycler based in Portland, Oregon. Radius, formerly known as Schnitzer Steel, operates more than 100 sites across 25 U.S. states, Puerto Rico and parts of Western Canada. The purchase price for the deal is roughly $907 million, according to a release from Toyota Tsusho. The buyer expects to complete the deal in the third quarter of this year. Toyota Tsusho plans to invest in Radius' business in North America, including its electric arc furnace mill in McMinnville, Oregon. Radius processed about 4.5 million long tons of ferrous recycled metal and 334,000 long tons of nonferrous recycled metal in 2024. Dive Insight: Founded in 1906, Radius is the second largest independent recycler in the U.S., according to investor materials from Toyota Tsusho. The company is focused on recycling end-of-life vehicles and metal scrap to manufacture recycled steel products like rebar. It also resells used car parts through its Pick-n-Pull used parts division. The deal comes as U.S. manufacturers have grown increasingly wary of tariffs’ impact on material prices, including for steel. Metal recyclers are seeing higher scrap metal prices and larger product orders in this environment, experts say. Radius Recycling reported revenue of $2.74 billion in August 2024, down from a high two years prior of $3.49 billion. Its stock price similarly reached a high in 2022 before following a multiyear decline to the present day. The value of Toyota Tsusho's acquisition will be a 115% premium on Radius' stock price as of market close on March 12, which was $30. "We are excited to have reached this agreement with TTC," Radius Chairman and CEO Tamara Lundgren said in a statement. “Like Radius, TTC is a proven leader in metals and automotive recycling services and solutions, and we look forward to enhancing and expanding our offerings as part of their larger organization while continuing to drive our strategy forward." Toyota Tsusho said the deal would allow it to expand its circular economy strategies for materials. The company has had sustainability goals for decades and pursued alternative uses for materials like automobile shredder residue generated during the disposal process, which is otherwise destined for disposal. Toyota Tsusho plans to harness Radius' collection network to expand its ability to supply automotive manufacturers with "green steel" made from recycled metal. It also anticipates increasing its collection volume of precious metals from catalytic converters and creating a closed loop recycling platform for batteries. “We look forward to collaborating with Radius, whose position as one of North America’s leading recycling companies aligns with our efforts to holistically improve recycling across the supply chain,” Ichiro Kashitani, president and CEO of Toyota Tsusho, said in a statement, adding that the company aims to “amplify and grow Radius’ robust networks and integrated operations.”

Dive Brief: Officials in Dane County, Wisconsin, are planning a new 30-acre sustainable campus, a business park it envisions will bring together recycling, reuse and waste management activities under a long-term circular economy plan. The county’s Rodefelt Landfill has less than five years of capacity left, and it’s in the process of building a new landfill across the street. Yet officials say significant new waste diversion infrastructure is also needed, especially because the county’s population is rapidly growing. Dane County’s Department of Waste & Renewables has issued a Request for Information to solicit large-scale waste diversion ideas, such as chemical recycling initiatives or anaerobic digester facilities, among other options. It also calls for ideas for reuse and repair businesses, educational and art facilities, or recycling solutions for “problem materials” such as mattresses and mixed plastics. Dive Insight: Dane County already operates a range of waste management and diversion programs, but wants to consolidate operations to create a cohesive campus with more space for purpose-built facilities, new programs and better coordination across activities. “We want to design this so that we're managing our waste differently in the future,” said John Welch, director of the Department of Waste & Renewables. “That means looking at what's left in the waste stream. What else can we divert, and how do we do it in an economically viable way?” Dane County joins other U.S. localities that are pursuing sustainability business park projects as a way to formalize waste diversion projects while attracting new investments. Kent County, Michigan, is building a similar business park as part of its goal to divert 90% of county-generated waste by 2030. Waste-to-energy and other diversion options are part of the vision.  Phoenix’s planned Resource Innovation Campus aims to include a MRF, transfer station, compost facility and land leases for waste diversion businesses and research. Washington, D.C., added a sustainability business park plan to its latest Zero Waste plan, which envisions MRF, anaerobic digestion and community reuse elements. Dane County operates a household hazardous waste facility, part of a public-private partnership, which also serves as an electronics and appliance recycling facility. There’s also a construction and demolition MRF, built by the county and operated by a private entity, that processes over 60,000 tons of C&D material a year.  In 2019, the county built a renewable natural gas plant at its landfill, which it owns and operates. Last year, Dane County launched a food waste collection program. Residential recycling is handled by the municipalities.  The department expects to begin work on the new landfill in 2026, and could start building co-located campus projects in 2027 or 2028. The county purchased the land from the city of Madison. Deputy director Roxanne Wienkes said the county is “looking at all available options” for projects that can fit with the county’s existing efforts to divert more waste, create jobs or generate materials that can be resold, such as recycled commodities or energy. A larger campus will give projects more space for logistics and storage, which could help launch new projects such as mattress recycling or new drop-off programs for residents, she said. It’s also looking to partner with institutions such as the University of Wisconsin at Madison, which is using grant funding to research a range of waste diversion projects. The Department of Waste & Renewables operates as an enterprise fund, meaning it does not use tax dollars for its projects or operations. “We run a lot like a small business, where our customers pay us to manage their materials, and that has to cover our cost of operations,” Welch said. As Dane County considers new businesses or projects for the sustainability campus, “it needs to be diverting additional waste. It needs to look at the larger environmental input, carbon footprint, aspects of it, but then it also needs to be financially viable.” Dane County’s RFI process for the campus is open through March 21.  This story first appeared in the Waste Dive: Recycling newsletter. Sign up for the weekly emails here.