Market forces put America’s recycling industry in the dumps

October 12, 2018 6:00 am Leave a comment

Ben Harvey, an owner at EL Harvey & Sons, a waste and recycling company, stands on Sept. 6 next to bundles of mixed fiber, composed of a variety of paper and cardboard, in Westborough, Mass. The company is stacking and keeping about 2,500 tons of the material, which is awaiting a destination where a recycler will process the bundles. Recycling programs throughout the United States are being shut down or scaled back because of a market plunge blamed on contamination at the curbside bin. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

America's recycling industry is in the dumps.

Tagged with: La Crosse recycling

Fire burning at Wisconsin recycling plant

July 2, 2018 11:04 am Leave a comment

Wisconsin authorities say three dozen fire departments are battling a blaze at a recycling plant in Racine County.

Tagged with: recycling

Program gives ex-cons experience on demo projects

July 7, 2017 11:10 am Leave a comment

Josh Stewart, a participant in Better Futures Minnesota, removes old electrical conduit and wiring from roof trusses as deconstruction proceeds on June 28 at 4414 Humboldt Ave. N. in Minneapolis. Once the deconstruction work is complete, the site will be used by the first supermarket to be built in north Minneapolis in years. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Josh Stewart was once a man in trouble. After having served 30 months in the criminal justice system for the illegal possession of firearms, he found himself on the outside with few opportunities for employment or housing.

Tagged with: Better Futures deconstruction demolition recycling

Racine city worker killed when hit by car while on the job

December 15, 2016 9:38 am Leave a comment

A city worker in Racine was killed when he was struck by a vehicle while on the job.

Tagged with: recycling

Road builders saving money, resources with recycling practices

April 21, 2016 3:25 pm Leave a comment

An excavator operator uses a pick to raze a bridge that supports eastbound traffic lanes of Interstate 94 over the Hank Aaron State Trail on April 15 in West Allis. Recycling material from job sites saved the Wisconsin Department of Transportation about $14.3 million in the state’s latest fiscal year. (Staff photo by Kevin Harnack)

Road builders don’t need Earth Day to remind them that recycling construction materials benefits both their bottom line and the planet.

Tagged with: recycling Wisconsin Concrete Pavement Association WisDOT WTBA

Mix of external, internal motives drives construction recycling

January 14, 2016 2:37 pm Leave a comment

When it comes to recycling construction materials, the color green can have a double significance. Along with its usual association with solicitude for the environment, it can stand for cold, hard cash.

Tagged with: LEED recycling

A strange sort: Milwaukee recycling program both unique and ordinary

January 13, 2016 3:56 pm Leave a comment

A row of recycling bins awaits pickup in Waukesha recently. In nearby Milwaukee, the city uses its recycling trucks to also plow snow during the winter. (Staff photo by Kevin Harnack)

Milwaukee’s residential recycling program largely falls in line those adopted by many other municipalities in that it relies on the so-called single-stream recycling method and employs marketing strategies supported by those in the industry.

Tagged with: recycling