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While recycling was not mainstream 30 years ago, it has become an accepted business and personal practice. Thirty years ago, as a passionate recycler one had to plead with others to consider the merits of diverting what was once known as trash into the recycling bin.
Today, most municipalities and businesses measure the amount of waste and recycling that is generated. Waste diversion as a percentage (%) is a common sustainability measure across the globe.
As we have updated in previous months, serious changes in recycling end markets in recent months have led to a significant decline in global recycling commodity prices. In many cases, customers materials values have been $0 or in some cases a negative value per metric tonne. Recycling commodities like other globally traded commodities do fluctuate. Current declines in value for Cardboard and Mixed Paper in particular would be described as significantly lower than historical averages.
In July 2018, Metro Vancouver is banning Styrofoam or EPS (Expanded Polystyrene Packaging) from local landfills. Styrofoam will be on the long list of materials banned from landfill. Garbage loads with over 20% EPS will be subject to a 100% surcharge on the tipping fee.
National Sword initiatives continue to impact Chinese markets and mills. To remind the reader, one of the outcomes of the 2017 National Sword initiative is that Mixed Waste Paper Mixed (MWP) was banned from importation into China – it is one of the twenty-four grades of recyclables no longer allowed to be imported. In addition to the ban of MWP, the remaining material grades that can be imported into China must meet a new stringent quality standard of 0.5% contaminants or less.
