As of Jan. 1, New York City stores, food service establishments and mobile food commissaries may no longer offer, sell or possess single-use foam food containers, according to the New York City Department of Sanitation. These include foam takeout clamshells, cups, plates, bowls and trays. Additionally, manufacturers and stores may no longer sell or offer for sale loose fill foam packaging (“packing peanuts”) in the city.

New York City enacted the ban after determining that dirty, postconsumer, single-service foam food and beverage containers cannot be recycled in a way that is economically feasible, environmentally effective and safe for employees as part of the city’s curbside recycling program.

Affected businesses, agencies and nonprofits will have a six-month warning period lasting through June 30. Following the warning period, Notices of Violation will be issued and civil action may be taken.

Beginning July 1, establishments found in violation of the foam ban will receive fines for each Notice of Violation issued within a 12-month period in the following amounts:

• $250 for the first offense; 
• $500 for the second offense; and
• $1,000 for the third and subsequent offenses.

Some exceptions include foam containers used for prepackaged food that were filled and sealed prior to the ban; foam containers used to store raw meat sold from a grocer; and foam blocks used as protective packaging in shipping.

The Ocean Cleanup's System 001, a giant machine known as “Wilson” out at sea cleaning up plastic pollution, has returned to port for repair after less than three months out in the Pacific Ocean. 

Officials announced on Ocean Cleanup’s blog that on Dec. 29, 2018, during a regular inspection of the cleanup system, an offshore crew discovered that an 18-meter end-section had detached from the rest of the system. They speculated that material fatigue and stress concentration caused a fracture, though they cautioned that the exact cause is unknown.

No material was lost, and both the 580-meter main section and the 18-meter end section are completely stable with all bulkheads intact. The blog post also says there were no safety risks for the crew, environment or passing marine traffic.

Wilson launched from the San Francisco Bay on Sept. 8 and reached the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area containing litter nearly twice the size of Texas off the coast of California, Oct. 16, 2018.

Wilson consists of a 600-meter-long U-shaped floater that sits at the surface of the water and a tapered 3-meter-deep skirt attached below. The floater provides buoyancy to the system and prevents plastic from flowing over it, while the skirt stops debris from escaping underneath. The system is designed to capture plastics ranging from small pieces up to large debris, including massive discarded fishing nets, which can be tens of meters wide. Ocean Cleanup says that a full-scale cleanup system roll-out (a fleet of approximately 60 systems) could clean 50 percent of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years.

However, the breach in equipment brought Wilson inland sooner than expected.

“We are, of course, quite bummed about this as 1) we hoped to stay out for a bit longer to collect more data on plastic-system interaction, and 2) it introduces an additional challenge to be solved,” Ocean Cleanup Founder and CEO Boyan Slat wrote on the blog post. “At the same time, we also realize that setbacks like this are inevitable when pioneering new technology at a rapid pace. Being in port provides us with the opportunity to make upgrades to the system with the aim of solving the plastic retention issue, which we previously reported.

“… Although we would have liked to end the year on a more positive note, we believe these teething troubles are solvable, and the cleanup of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch will be operational in 2019,” Slat continues. “The fact that the cleanup system orients itself in the wind, is able to follow the waves well and is able to catch and concentrate plastic gives us confidence in the technology.”

Slat says Wilson will be back out to sea when the weather is conducive to sailing.

The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA), Arlington, Virginia, and New Yorkers for Responsible Waste Management (NYRWM) announced an agreement to realign all of New York City’s commercial waste and recycling service companies under the organizational structure of the NWRA New York City Chapter. 

The realignment of NWRA and NYRWM was made possible by a combination of new NWRA national leadership and a resolution adopted by the NWRA NYC Chapter in May 2018 that endorsed maintaining the open-market system and rejecting Mayor Bill de Blasio’s zone-franchising proposal for the city.

“I am pleased that the entirety of New York City’s waste services industry will realign with our New York City Chapter. Our industry is stronger when we work together. We look forward to supporting our new members and advocating for solutions affecting our industry,” NWRA President and CEO Darrell Smith says.

The goal of this realignment, according to the organizations, is to unify and strengthen the industry’s voice and advocacy efforts on a wide range of issues of concern to the industry, principally the current debate over whether—and how best—to advance the industry’s operations to meet the city’s new environmental goals while maintaining the benefits of the existing open-market system.

When completed, the NWRA New York City Chapter will represent more than 50 companies, most of which are direct service providers licensed by the city’s Business Integrity Commission (BIC).

Okada America, Inc., Clackamas, Oregon, and Rotar International BV, based in the Netherlands, have announced a joint alliance of their demolition attachment businesses in the North American marketplace effective Jan. 1.

The joint alliance was created to offer customers more options in demolition, recycling and scrap yard attachments, Okada says in a press release. The statement adds that the joint alliance will strengthen the Okada and Rotar distributor networks in their ability to service existing and future customers.

Okada will provide sales, service, parts and warranty support for the Rotar products along with continuing to support the existing population of Okada products in the field.

“We are very pleased to team up with Rotar International BV and to be adding Rotar products to complement our existing line of attachments,” says Okada President Jim Brown. “Rotar’s demolition, recycling, scrap handling and mobile shear products are field-proven for performance and reliability, and they are backed by Rotar’s years of quality manufacturing experience.”

“We are very excited to be joining forces with Okada, which has been a leader in the attachment industry for more than two decades,” says Louis Broekhuizen, the commercial director of export for Rotar International BV. “Okada has a great reputation and we are proud to be involved in this joint alliance.”      

Through more than 200 U.S. and Canadian distributors, Okada currently offers a complete line of excavator, loader/backhoe, skid-steer, track, compact utility loader and mini-excavator mounted attachments, including breakers (TOP Series and ORV Series), crushers, demolition shears, pulverizers, processors, grapples, compactors (OAC Series) and screening buckets, along with a Pedestal Rock Breaker Boom System line.

Rotar International BV is a manufacturer of products in the demolition, recycling and scrap markets, as well as a supplier of hydraulic attachments for those industries.