Minot Recycling – TheMinotVoice.com

Plastics companies know about chemical recycling’s shortcomings — but still sell it as a solution

by: MinotVoice | May 13, 2025

A new report from the Center for Climate Integrity is challenging the plastics industry’s latest promise: chemical recycling. While touted as a breakthrough that could make plastics infinitely reusable, the report argues the technology remains costly, inefficient, and largely unproven at scale. Internal documents from industry giants, including Exxon Mobil, reveal long-standing doubts about its

Read & Share sourced from: Grist

The misleading accounting behind your ‘recycled’ plastic

by: Josh Wolsky | May 12, 2025

A complex accounting method used by plastic producers is under fire for overstating recycled content in products. Mondelez, maker of Triscuits, is using a system called “mass balance” to claim up to 50% of its packaging comes from recycled materials, even though actual recycled content may be much lower. Critics, including environmental groups and a

Read & Share sourced from: Grist

The plastic recycling myth and our very real crisis

by: MinotVoice | April 15, 2025

Plastic used to be a convenience. Now it’s a contaminant — not just in our oceans and landfills, but in our bodies and even our brains. This Earth Month, Grove Collaborative CEO Jeff Yurcisin makes a clear-eyed case: recycling isn’t saving us, and industry has to do better. The plastic problem is no longer distant

Read & Share sourced from: Fast Company

Minot’s Recycling Program Exceeds Expectations

by: MinotVoice | March 14, 2025

Minot’s recycling program is doing better than expected, city officials say, with financial returns surpassing initial projections. At City-organized Neighborhood Meeting Thursday evening, residents toured the landfill and learned more about how the program works, including the steady demand for materials like cardboard. With 100 tons collected each month and contamination rates lower than many

Read & Share sourced from: Minot Daily News

Ban on throwing away old clothes now in force in Sweden

by: MinotVoice | January 3, 2025

Starting this year in Sweden, those with old clothing can’t just toss it in the trash. New national legislation requires all textiles to be recycled. It’s a step toward sustainability; the burden of which has been handed down to the municipalities to enforce and implement. Get the full story on one of our Scandinavian friends

Read & Share sourced from: Radio Sweden

Begrudgingly, I’m Recycling

by: Josh Wolsky | November 28, 2023

Nuance Alert: If you see the world in clear cases of right and wrong, black and white, us and them, you’re going to be confused by what you read next. I color myself fully for the environment. Climate change is real, human impacts are pushing the global environment out of balance, and we should absolutely

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Fargo scraps curbside glass recycling

by: Josh Wolsky | February 14, 2023

What does it make sense to recycle? That’s not an answer under control of municipalities with recycling programs, because it depends on what the MRFs (material recovery facilities) will accept. And the Minneapolis-based MRF Fargo sends their recycling to is no longer accepting glass. It just doesn’t pay. It’s causing an abrupt change to Fargo’s

Read & Share sourced from: InForum

Garbage Rates to Rise March 1

by: Josh Wolsky | February 9, 2023

Minot City Council took action on garbage and landfill rates on Monday night. The larger your bin, the larger your rate increase with increases of a dollar for the largest 95-gallon bins and 50 cents for smaller bins. Plus, we’re building a new landfill cell at a cost of $2.35 million. Jill Schramm with The

Read & Share sourced from: Minot Daily News

A New Bill in Washington State Would Reduce Unneeded Packaging and Other Recycling News

by: Josh Wolsky | February 3, 2023

The state of Washington has some of the highest recycling rates in the country, but usage is on the decline and landfills are still filling up. But they aren’t one to ignore the problem. And a new law is proposing a new approach — shift the waste stream burden from consumers to producers. It’s a

Read & Share sourced from: Route Fifty

City of Helena absorbs curbside recycling rate hikes for Helena residents, Rates on the Increase

by: Josh Wolsky | January 14, 2023

Resident recyclers of Helena, Montana receive city-subsidized recycling rates, and both the rate and the subsidy are increasing in 2023. The cost for the City for the remainder of 2023 will be $16 per month, the cost to the resident will be ~$8 per month with the City of Helena subsidizing the difference. Both the

Read & Share sourced from: Helena Independent Record

Another country bans single-use plastic plates and cutlery for environmental reasons

by: Josh Wolsky | January 9, 2023

When it comes to single-use plastic, England has decided the costs outweigh the convenience. They’re banning a bunch of stuff. Items caught in the policy net include plastic plates, trays, bowls, utensils, and other implements that find their way into the waste stream. England previously banned plastic straws in 2020. The goal is simple —

Read & Share sourced from: NPR

Why Recycling Isn’t the Answer to the Plastic Pollution Problem

by: Josh Wolsky | December 23, 2022

Recycling is a juggernaut. It has been so ingrained as the solution to waste management that we’ve failed to recognize that it’s just not very effective. For example, in a typical recycling program, only 15% of plastic actually gets collected for recycling. After collection, about 40% of the collected amount is discarded for poor quality.

Read & Share sourced from: Nature

Plastic recycling: the scourge of cities becomes a resource

by: Josh Wolsky | May 22, 2019

Recycling. It’s been a regular topic of conversation in Minot recently. People — this writer included — want to see us be better stewards of the environment. Others — this writer included — aren’t sure we should be making big public investments in an industry that’s being turned upside down. Where’s it all going to

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Winnipeg’s recycling cost to increase after too much ‘crap’ put into bins

by: Josh Wolsky | May 18, 2019

The report on recycling will be delivered to Winnipeg City Council in June. While we don’t know the full amounts, it is known that the cost of recycling to the City and citizens will be going up. The reason: contamination rates. Much of Winnipeg’s recycling materials are hauled across the ocean to Malaysia or India,

Read & Share sourced from: Winnipeg Free Press

More Recycling Won’t Solve Plastic Pollution

by: Josh Wolsky | July 8, 2018

Many residents in Minot want to see citywide recycling, but before we invest big in the facilities and equipment, perhaps we should ask — what problem is it we’re trying to solve? One answer we’d expect to hear is we need to reduce the amount of plastic entering the environment. If that’s the case, then Matt

Read & Share sourced from: Scientific American

The recycling game is rigged against consumers

by: Josh Wolsky | July 2, 2018

Minot recycling has been a contentious topic of late, and for those who support the effort, there are few reasons worthy of a delay. But circumstances far beyond Minot are wreaking havoc on the pillar of American environmentalism and forcing environmentalists to think differently about the practice. And one problem that’s been identified may surprise

Read & Share sourced from: Bloomberg