The city of Baltimore plans to deliver 200,000 curbside recycling carts to residents in the city and to launch a recycling education campaign to inform the public about the new carts and what can and cannot be recycled. The city has received investments for these carts and the education campaign from The Recycling Partnership, the American Beverage Association and Closed Loop Partners. The project also received a plastic resin donation from Dow for the recycling carts, lidded rollout recycling carts manufactured by Rehrig Pacific and support from the Baltimore Civic Fund.

According to a news release from The Recycling Partnership, this more than $10 million project is estimated to increase recycling output per household by 80 percent and generate as much as 40 million pounds of new recyclables each year. The program will also help collect and recycle 30 million new pounds of plastic over 10 years, including 16 million pounds of polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

The public-private initiative includes a $3.6 million investment from The Recycling Partnership, Falls Church, Virginia, as well as $1.65 million from the American Beverage Association’s Every Bottle Back initiative. The recycling program also received a $3 million investment from New York-based Closed Loop Partners’ Infrastructure Fund, which finances projects that grow and strengthen recycling and circular economy infrastructure in the United States. 

This collaboration will help Baltimore provide free, larger recycling carts to 200,000 households to collect and process more recyclable materials, including beverage bottles and cans.

“Making Baltimore more sustainable through diverting waste from our landfills and incineration is key as we lay the groundwork for future generations,” says Baltimore Mayor Brandon M. Scott. “By providing our residents with the proper resources and education thanks to this partnership, I know that more Baltimore households will do their part to reduce waste and recycle.”  

“This marks a significant milestone in our collective work with the city of Baltimore and other key stakeholders, proving what is made possible through meaningful collaboration,” says Ron Gonen, founder and CEO of Closed Loop Partners. “Strengthening the city’s local recycling system lays the groundwork for improved recycling rates, and ultimately, reduces the number of valuable materials going to landfill or into nature.”

The city says its transition to automated recycling collection enables safer and more efficient collection efforts. It also reduces manual labor, prevents injury to collection staff and ensures continuity of service during labor shortages.

The city says the delivery of free recycling carts is one of the key recommendations in the city’s Less Waste, Better Baltimore Plan. The initiative identified options for improving solid waste diversion, recycling and disposal. 

“The Department of Public Works is excited to support this new initiative to increase recycling and waste diversion in Baltimore city,” says Baltimore Jason W. Mitchell, director of Baltimore’s Department of Public Works. 

The Recycling Partnership’s recent Paying It Forward report shows that 40 percent of Americans don’t have equitable access to recycling. The partnership says this project’s solution will help to close that gap for Baltimore, which is currently the eighth-largest city in the U.S. without universal cart recycling access.

“This collaboration will be a critical step in creating a more sustainable and circular community in Baltimore,” says Diego Donoso, president of Dow Packaging & Specialty Plastics. “I hope this project is just the beginning of future collaborations to bring improved recycling infrastructure across this country.” 

Baltimore says it expects the delivery of recycling carts to be completed in early 2022.

LRS, headquartered in Morton Grove, Illinois, says it has entered into a definitive agreement to purchase assets from Ontario-based GFL Environmental Inc. The move expands LRS’ reach across northern Illinois and northern Minnesota and expands the number of acquisitions LRS has made in 2021 to 13.

Financial terms of the transaction, which closed at the end of the third quarter, have not been disclosed. 

Alan Handley, president and CEO of LRS, tells Recycling Today that this deal has been “top of mind for me” for “some time.”

The purchase is the company’s largest and most influential acquisition to date and includes GFL's recent acquisition of Lake Barrington, Illinois-based Prairieland Disposal and Recycling Services, which closed this summer. As a result of the purchase, LRS says it will serve as the official waste and recycling services provider for GFL/Prairieland's 16 municipal solid waste contracts across the Illinois counties of McHenry and Lake, which include the cities and villages of McHenry, Island Lake, Saddlebrook Farms, Tower Lakes, Port Barrington, North Barrington, Richmond, Hebron, Oakwood Hills, Crystal Lake, McCullom Lake, Capron, Union, Fox River Grove, Lake Zurich and the Wauconda.

The acquisition also includes three Illinois transfer stations in Elburn, Northbrook and Rolling Meadows; a transfer station in Rochester, Minnesota; the Rolling Hills Landfill in Buffalo, Minnesota; and facilities in Lake Barrington and Wauconda, Illinois and St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Handley says, “This acquisition was mostly an infrastructure play. It basically solidifies my infrastructure position in northern Illinois by giving us the three transfer stations that we needed: North Brook, Rolling Meadows and then Elburn.”

The included acquisition of Prairieland, which has a large presence in McHenry County and in parts of Lake County, “allows us to feed that material into that existing infrastructure” and further solidifies LRS’ position in the market, he says.

Handley adds that this deal is “a little bit more atypical than what we would normally be looking at” in terms of acquisitions, saying LRS will continue to buy and seek deals that make sense for the company in the greater Midwest.  

Regarding future purchases, he says LRS plans to announce another one this Friday. “And then we have, probably seven or eight more that we’ll close this year in a pretty broad swath of territory in the greater Midwest” in what will be “a very big quarter for LRS.” Handley says those investments should total more than $100 million.

“We'll just continue to do what I've been saying we're going to do all along. We’re seeking out well-run, multigenerational waste recycling companies that are located in the greater Midwest And we continue to find them and continue to be an attractive acquirer for those companies because we bring a lot more to the table than other people who are seeking those same kinds of investments.

“I think 2021 when we look back on it will be a phenomenal year for LRS, and I think it is setting us up in a great position for the future.”

In a news release announcing the purchase from GFL, Handley says, "This dynamic acquisition of the entire GFL footprint in both northern Minnesota and northern Illinois, including transfer stations, collection operations and landfill, is a game-changer for LRS. With the addition of these new markets, facilities and disposal assets, LRS is positioned to thrive as the largest privately held waste, recycling and portable services provider in the Midwest United States."

Customer outreach letters will be distributed soon to all Prairieland residential and commercial customers, welcoming them and walking them through the transition to LRS, the company adds.

"Measuring performance levels on every gauge, LRS has moved aggressively to disrupt the waste industry status quo, bringing about much-needed competition and fair pricing in the markets we serve," Handley says in the news release. "Our cornerstone differentiator is being among the first in our industry to adopt a circular operating model that today serves as a bedrock company value: to safely divert, repurpose and recycle more material away from the waste stream, conserving and protecting our planet for a more sustainable future."  

LRS acquisitions announced through the third quarter of 2021 include:

• Maywood, Illinois-based Roy Strom Cos.;
• Oregon, Illinois-based Big John;
• Woodstock, Illinois-based Crown Restrooms and Arrow Septic and Sewer;
• Janesville, Wisconsin-based Ace Portables;
• Niles, Michigan-based Joy's Johns;
• Kingston, Indiana-based Johnson Johns;
• Milwaukee-based Commercial Rubbish Collection LLC;
• Mauston, Wisconsin-based Clark Disposal;
• Minneapolis-based Atomic Recycling;
• North Branch, Minnesota-based Jimmy's Johnnys;
• Monmouth Transfer Station from the City of Monmouth, Illinois; and
• Seaton, Illinois-based Jackson Disposal.

In early September, Macquarie Infrastructure Partners (MIP) V, an $6.9 billion unlisted infrastructure fund managed by Sydney-based Macquarie Asset Management (MAM), made an equity investment in LRS. The resulting ownership structure, LRS says, was designed to accelerate its growth trajectory and solidify its leadership position as the largest privately held waste, recycling and portable services provider in the Midwest and one of the largest in North America.

Republic Services Inc., Phoenix, unveiled its $18 million Technical Institute training center Sept. 17. The state-of-the-art 76,000-square-foot facility is located in Dallas. According to the company, the site will host the waste industry’s first-ever diesel technician training program. 

As the need for skilled workers continues to increase, the institute will offer free training where students are fully compensated during the 12-week program. Graduates immediately will begin full-time work, joining Republic’s 35,000 employees at one of its 180 local business units. 

The training program was developed in partnership with Lincoln Tech—a leader in postsecondary education for auto, diesel and skilled trades—to address the national diesel tech shortage. The program also features life skills training that is designed to support leadership development, inclusion and diversity and overall student wellness.

“The Republic Services Tech Institute is an investment in both our current employees and the employees of tomorrow, further demonstrating our commitment to being the place where the best people come to work,” Jon Vander Ark, president and CEO of Republic, says. “We look forward to welcoming these new graduates as they contribute to our highly trained workforce, increasing the reliability and consistency of our customer experience.”

Republic Services covers all costs, including tuition, travel and lodging during the training for those who qualify. Participants also earn a salary throughout the duration of the program. Following the 12-week program, they will be offered full-time technician positions in one of the 45 states in which Republic operates, performing ongoing maintenance and repairs to the company’s fleets. According to the company, graduates will receive a competitive salary, medical and dental insurance options, 401(k) benefits and paid time off.

Republic says it is targeting a candidate pool that will extend its inclusive and diverse workforce and propel the company toward its diversity goals. Trainees will include veterans looking to re-enter the civilian workforce, recent high school graduates and individuals from underprivileged areas.

“Republic has long been committed to building strong communities,” Sumona De Graaf, senior vice president and chief human resources officer of Republic, says. “These are new, nonentry-level jobs designed to help stimulate local economies and fill the shortage of highly skilled technicians nationwide.”

Massachusetts state Rep. Marjorie Decker, Sen. Cynthia Creem and other local lawmakers recently launched a campaign to modernize the state’s container deposit law. The goal is to expand what bottles can be deposited under the existing bottle bill, which was first introduced in 1982.

After nearly 40 years, some lawmakers think the state’s bottle bill needs to be updated to more efficiently reduce waste, litter and costs for disposal and cleanup in the commonwealth. 

Dubbed the Better Bottle Bill campaign, Decker and Creem want to expand the state’s bottle deposit program to include water bottles as well as bottles for juices, sports drinks and iced teas. The lawmakers also are proposing to increase bottle deposits from 5 cents to 10 cents, says Janet Domenitz, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Interest Research Group (MASSPIRG), a waste advocacy group that helped write the new bill.

“When the first iteration of this bill was passed in the 1982, it didn’t account for things like bottled water,” Domenitz says. “We wanted to include all of the new types of packaging, so the community is encouraged to recycle more through this method.”

She says the proposed bill will increase recycling through the bottle bill program by increasing what residents can deposit.

“It is the right time. There is no reason not to do this,” says Creem. “By expanding the container deposit system to include all these containers, we bring the Bottle Bill into the 21st century.” 

Environmental and civic organizations like Environment, League of Women Voters, Conservation Law Foundation and Sierra Club support the bill as well as 55 other state and local organizations, according to a news release from MASSPIRG.

However, some material recovery facility (MRF) operators in the state, such as E.L. Harvey & Sons, which operates a MRF in Westborough, Massachusetts, have expressed opposition to the proposed bottle bill program expansion. Ben Harvey, president of E.L. Harvey, says he believes that the bill will negatively impact operators in the state by affecting their established recycling streams.

“We as an industry are opposed to the expansion of the bottle bill,” Harvey says. “It could potentially take away a commodity stream like polyethylene terephthalate or aluminum beverage cans for our industry. It would make an indent in our revenue streams.”

Harvey also says that the expansion is not enough of an incentive for residents to go out and recycle.

“It’s an antiquated system. I feel that people don’t want to take their bottles back anymore,” Harvey says. “There are so many good recycling programs throughout the country, it doesn’t make sense for people to use two different baskets to recycle. Especially now, people are getting everything delivered to them, why would they want to go out and return their bottles when they could do something more convenient? It’s not a commonsense thing to do.”