As part of the three-year contract, the company will provide residential recycling collection services in four of the city’s six recycling regions.

Chicago’s Department of Streets and Sanitation (DSS) has announced Lakeshore Recycling Systems (LRS), Morton Grove, Illinois, will assume residential recycling collection services in four of Chicago’s six recycling regions beginning this June, while DSS crews will continue services in two areas.

According to a news release from DSS and LRS, four companies submitted bids, and the lowest bidder, LRS, was selected for the three-year contract. DSS says the contract is for $79.6 million and that the department is working with partners to ensure a smooth transition and no service interruptions are expected.

The city and company report that LRS has “more recycling assets than any other company in the Chicago area, including a state-of-the-art single-stream recycling facility that can sort cardboard, mixed paper, glass, steel, other metals and plastics.”

“We are excited to partner with the city of Chicago,” says Joshua Connell, managing partner of LRS. “We look forward to providing reliable recycling collection services and increased recycling rates for the city of Chicago and its residents.”

As part of the contract, LRS will collect recycling with less than 50 percent contamination. A spokesperson from the city of Chicago told Recycling Today that LRS will submit daily reports on contaminated carts with more than 50 percent contamination levels with photographic evidence. The spokesperson says the city will also have field staff to monitor contamination levels.

“The Department of Streets and Sanitation remains committed to supporting waste diversion efforts,” says Chicago Commissioner John Tully. “The contract allows for penalties for missed collection and has a greater clarification around contamination. We believe these will help improve recycling rates.”

A contract following this three-year contract will be guided by the results of a citywide waste study led by the Mayor’s Office, in partnership with Delta Institute, which is expected to be released later this quarter. The city says the study reviews current waste- and recycling-related policies, contracts, data and infrastructure. The study will guide the development of a framework for further improving recycling and waste diversion, including in commercial and high-density residential settings.

A spokesperson for the city tells Recycling Today that it hopes the study provides recommendations for all the city's material management to inform and improve recycling and waste diversion for residential, commercial and high-density residential settings.

Additionally, DSS and the Chicago Department of Public Health received a grant from the National Resource Defense Council (NRDC) to work on food waste reduction in 2021. The Food Matters project at NRDC partners with cities to achieve reductions in food waste through policies and programs.

Recyclopedia provides residents a pictorial guide on what can and can’t be recycled.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) has released Recyclopedia, a new tool to help the public and businesses determine the quickest and easiest ways to recycle materials. The web-based application offers what the department calls an “easy-to-navigate, pictorial guide for more than 200 commonly used recyclables and where those can be recycled depending on the user’s ZIP code.”

“Recyclopedia is a new and exciting way DNREC is harnessing technology to reduce the amount of recyclables sent to our landfills,” says DNREC Secretary Shawn Garvin. “One of our challenges is confusion about what and how to recycle. Recyclopedia is a one-stop resource to help everyone know how to recycle right.”

According to a news release from DNREC, Recyclopedia users can determine whether items should go in the trash or to a curbside or drop-off recycling location. For example, a search for “milk jugs” on the web-based tool tells users they are accepted in curbside recycling carts, whereas a search for “coffee cups” tells users they are not accepted in curbside recycling.

DNREC’s Division of Waste and Hazardous Substances hired Ontario-based software developer iWasteNot Systems to develop Recyclopedia. The program is available in more than 100 languages. DNREC reports that it will update the program regularly to ensure opportunities for recycling are up to date.

The certification is designed to ensure that its plastic feedstock is postuse, traceable and auditable.

Cyclyx International LLC, a consortium-based feedstock management company headquartered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, has received certification through the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification PLUS (ISCC PLUS) process for its postuse plastic management systems.

ISCC PLUS certification provides Cyclyx customers with assurance that the plastic feedstock acquired for their processes satisfies conditions of being postuse and is traceable and auditable. According to a news release from Cyclyx, the designation certifies Cyclyx as a circular pathway point of origin and allows the consortium’s customers to use mass balance accounting to attribute postuse plastics to the production of their certified circular plastics and other products.

Cyclyx reports that it is sourcing postuse plastics for advanced recycling facilities, including the Agilyx Corp. and AmSty joint venture Regenyx’s facility in Tigard, Oregon, and the ExxonMobil facility in Baytown, Texas. The postuse plastic sourced for these facilities originates from more than 500 sources and already is certified as ISCC PLUS compliant. Cyclyx says it also has collaborated with other international companies and that this certification allows the consortium to source and qualify feedstocks anywhere in the world.

“We are excited and proud to have received the ISCC PLUS certification,” says Joe Vaillancourt, CEO of Cyclyx. “We understand the great need to validate the claims of recycled content made by our customers for the products they produce. This certification is the result of significant hard work by the Cyclyx team and provides validation of our unique process for chemically characterizing end-of-life plastics and ability to target different recycling options for postuse plastics as we strive for an overall goal of increasing global plastic recycling from 10 percent to 90 percent.”

The company says it will increase the use of recycled content in its products.

Aluminum rolling and recycling company Novelis Inc., Atlanta, says it will further its sustainability commitment by becoming a net carbon-neutral company by 2050 or sooner and reduce its carbon footprint 30 percent by 2026.

In addition, the company has pledged to become a “fully circular” business, along with a more diverse, inclusive and safe workplace.

"Our ambition is to be the world's leading provider of low-carbon, sustainable aluminum solutions that advance our business, industry and society toward the benefits of a circular economy," says Novelis President and CEO Steve Fisher. "As the world's largest recycler of aluminum, sustainability has been paramount to our business and these new commitments will further ensure the health and well-being of the environment, the safety of our people and the long-term success of the communities in which we live and work."

In addition to the carbon neutrality and CO2 reductions, Novelis has pledged that by 2026 it will :

Novelis says it will increase the use of recycled content in its products, engaging with customers, suppliers and industry peers across the value chain to drive innovation that improves aluminum's overall sustainability.

"Our path to a more sustainable and circular future goes beyond our environmental commitments by setting new targets to reshape a more diverse and inclusive workforce that reflects our local communities,” Fisher says. “Globally, we are dedicated to increasing the representation of women in senior leadership and technical roles in order to create and foster the next generation of female scientists and engineers."

Novelis says it will increase representation of women in the company to 30 percent in senior leadership positions and 15 percent in senior technical roles by 2024. To achieve the goals, the company has established a global Diversity & Inclusion board, as well as supporting councils in each of its four regions. The company says it also will continue assisting its Employee Resource Groups to help create a more inclusive environment where everyone has a sense of belonging and different backgrounds and perspectives are embraced and valued.

Novelis works with the communities it operates in through the Novelis Neighbor program, which includes financial contributions and employee volunteer service. The program emphasizes STEM education, raising recycling awareness and fostering better overall community health and well-being.

Novelis is a subsidiary of Hindalco Industries Ltd., an industry leader in aluminum and copper, and the metals flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, a multinational conglomerate based in Mumbai, India.

The Punch Cutter III removes sidewalls from off-the-road tires for recycling applications.

Eagle International, a manufacturer of tire shears, derimmers, bead removers and sidewall cutters that is based in Lyons, Nebraska, has released the Punch Cutter III for the off-the-road (OTR) tire recycling market. Eagle International’s third installment of the Punch Cutter line cuts away sidewalls from OTR tires up to 70/70-57 in size. The scrap tire is loaded onto the machine and lifted into place, and then a 10-inch blade punches through the thick rubber on the outside edge of the tread.

“Removing the sidewalls from OTR tires presented a particular challenge that we were excited to tackle,” says Joe Brehmer, president of Brehmer Manufacturing Inc., the parent company of Eagle International. “We know that this machine can help recyclers make better use of end-of-life OTR tires and create more sources of revenue.”

According to a news release from Eagle International, recyclers can expand their capabilities with the Punch Cutter III when it is used in conjunction with Eagle’s OTR Downsizing System. The Punch Cutter III removes the sidewalls and gives access to the tread for reuse. Then Eagle’s OTR Debeader pulls the steel bead from the sidewalls for scrap. Finally, the Eagle Titan II or Titan Plus cuts the sidewall into smaller pieces for shredding or pyrolysis.

“There are a lot of materials to extract from an OTR tire,” says John Tejkl, sales representative for Eagle International. “Since the makeup of the rubber is different in OTR sidewalls than in the tread, the tread is much more desirable feedstock for downstream processing. But several different parts of the tire create value once extracted. Now that we’ve developed an easier way to separate the tread from the sidewall, it opens up even more possibilities.”

Eagle International has been building hydraulic-powered tire recycling equipment since 1991.