MATERIAL MATTERS
Member Spotlight: Call2Recycle’s industry steward program helps battery and product manufacturers fulfill recycling requirements in the U.S., including compliance with extensive state and federal regulations, such as the Mercury-Containing and Rechargeable Battery Act (The Battery Act).

What are the Benefits?
  • Producer Responsibility: demonstrates your company’s commitment to environmentally-sound recycling of batteries.
  • Simplicity: allows your company to manage regulatory complexities and cost-effectiveness by supporting one program.
  • Liability: serves as a third-party strategy to help reduce your legal risk that results from landfilling, reselling on the black market or shipping overseas. Call2Recycle meets the highest standards of responsible recycling to ensure batteries are properly managed and recycled, including Responsible Recycling® (R2) certification.
  • Reporting: on behalf of its stakeholders, Call2Recycle submits extensive recycling reports to regulatory bodies, which require them as part of the regulations.
  • Information: ensures your company remains informed of pertinent updates on regulatory changes, steward responsibilities and fees and collection results.
  • EPEAT Requirement: participation in Call2Recycle’s stewardship program fulfills the criterion in the EPEAT Conformity Assessment Protocols for End of Life Management.
Members of the Illinois Recycling Association enjoy the benefit of spotlighting their Business, Government, Educational Institution or Non-Profit entity in a future Newsletter. If you would like to be featured, please send an email to info@illinoisrecycles.org.
Suncast: Recycled Content Products

Suncast Corporation, a long time member, is the leading US-based designer, manufacturer, and distributor of high-quality recycled content products for the home and industrial markets. A company whose manufacturing and distribution operations are entirely located in Illinois, Suncast prides itself on 35 years of innovation and sustainability across a wide range of product categories with materials proudly sourced in the USA. Suncast utilizes solar to power much of their energy needs and strive to reduce waste wherever possible. Additionally, Suncast uses recycled content to manufacture its products, which are made of plastic resin that is recyclable at end of life by Suncast to support a closed loop sustainable business model. Suncast big box retail and other customers and the consumers who buy from them increasingly want sustainably made products, including those that are manufactured using renewable energy, contain recycled content and are themselves recyclable and not single use. In these market conditions of tight product supply and increased consumer concerns about the environment, Suncast is working with several partners to capitalize on opportunities to enhance its supply chain with recycled raw materials.  
Foam Cycle Granted US Utility Patent

A press release from Member: Foam Cycle, the first foam packaging recycling system designed to be placed at outdoor municipal recycling drop-off centers, was recently issued a Utility Patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The patent outlines a “method and system of recycling polystyrene waste”. (Patent No.: US 11,241,695) Foam packaging, also known as Styrofoam, is one of the most plentiful, yet least recycled plastics in existence today. With packaging waste shifting from retailers to direct home delivery, foam packaging waste is too large to be placed in a curbside container and is not accepted by most single-stream recycling facilities. Foam Packaging waste joins a long list of other hard-to-recycle materials that cannot be collected at the curb, such as mattresses, tires, rigid plastics, metals and electronics. When dropped off at a recycling collection center equipped with a Foam Cycle system, foam packaging is able to be recycled! Read Entire Article Here
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NEW STUDY: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR RECYCLED CONTENT IN PLASTICS 
 
The latest report from the Ocean Conservancy, Recommendations for Recycled Content: Requirements for Plastic Goods and Packaging, makes the case for recycled content standards at the national level for plastic products and packaging within the US. The report, prepared through a collaboration with RRS, reviews the current plastic recycling landscape and evaluates several policy scenarios and their implications. 
 
The study highlights the importance of pursuing supply-side policies, such as extended producer responsibility and beverage container deposits, in concert with demand side policy, like minimum recycled content standards. It provides an overview of the various policies that require minimum post-consumer recycled content levels as well as recommendations for minimum post-consumer recycled content levels in federal policy. 
 
The study is available for free download on the Ocean Conservancy website: Recommendations for Recycled Content  
Legislative Update from IRA

The State of Illinois legislature is nearly at the end (April 8) of an extremely short and fast session. Due to the speed and desire for agreed upon bills, few items have passed of concern to our shared interests. However, this still means that negotiations are taking place and compromises forged. We are closely monitoring 66 bills this session and the IRA has meetings on some that may harm or may help members significantly. It is important to note that many, due to the abbreviated session, are not moving, but some to note:

HB 107 PART RECORDS-TIRE RIMS - took a broader turn than expected - read it - passed House
HB 4734 CATALYTIC CONVERTERS - requires scrap and auto recyclers to record IDs - passed House
HB 1789 DRUG TAKE-BACK ACT - EPR for pharmaceutical manufacturers - passed House
HB 4258 PACKAGING STEWARDSHIP - EPR for packaging products - work with stakeholders on-going
SB 1915 PROCUREMENT Single Use Plastic - Requires most state offices to choose comp
SB 1164 PAINT STEWARDSHIP - EPR for Paint - no action but work being done with stakeholders
SB 3040 CARPET STEWARDSHIP ACT - EPR for Carpet - possible passage in veto session

Bills that have passed the House are moving onto the Senate for hearings and, if passed, go to the Governor.
PHOTOS. PHOTOS. WE NEED LOTS AND LOTS OF PHOTOS

In an effort to do more on social media and alter make our website more reflective of our members, we are asking IRF Members to send generic photos of their recycling operations. Pictures can be of office collection, residential drop-off, MRF sorting lines, curbside service, someone placing items in recycle bins, reuse events, compost operations, etc. Please send jpeg/jpg pictures to info@illinoisrecycles.org.
A Note from the President, Marta Keane

This is the time of year we all Go Green with St. Patrick's Day, the Chicago River dyed green and Earth Day coming around the corner. As we deal with higher fuel costs due in large part to the tragic war in Ukraine, we are blessed to see COVID infections dropping and some return to normalcy. Still, our supply chains continue to be disrupted and inflation is hitting us on a variety of fronts, bringing new challenges. As a group, we remain hopeful and inspired to meet every challenge, to improve recycling, and to push towards a circular economy. Please take a moment to share with us your success story and we may feature it!
Nearly every business member and many government and institutional members have job openings. They are actually too numerous to list all, so please visit the IRF Membership Directory and find member's websites to see the jobs currently awaiting interested applicants.

OGLE COUNTY SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT DEPT, DIRECTOR

RRS, COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT
FREE INVITATION ON PAINT STEWARDSHIP LEGISLATION

On behalf of the Missouri Product Stewardship Council (MO PSC) and the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI), you are cordially invited to a virtual 2022 Missouri Paint Stewardship Workshop on Thursday, April 14, 9:00-11:00 a.m. CT. This workshop will be held over Zoom and is free and open to the public. To attend, please register through PSI by clicking here!
INTERNATIONAL COMPOST WEEK - WILL COUNTY BIN SALE

The first week of May is International Compost Week and Will County is celebrating by selling Compost Bins in partnership with The Conservation Foundation and Upcycled Products. Anyone interested may order one or more of three design choices on-line and pick them up on May 4 at the County Building in Joliet from 8:30am to 4:30pm. To learn more, visit IRF member Will County's green website.
THANK YOU TO THESE SUPPORTERS WHO HAVE
JOINED THE ILLINOIS RECYCLING FOUNDATION FOR 2022
A-Team Recyclers
Aurora Recycling Center (ARC)
Azure Technologies
Bi-State Regional Commission
Tracy Bugh
Call2Recycle
Can Manufacturers Institute
City of Carbondale
Cardinal Recycling
City of Champaign
Champaign County
Champaign County Environmental Stewards
Chicago Logistic Service
Chicago Textile Recycling
Christian County Courthouse
ClearStream Recycling
Com2 Recycling Solutions
Cook County
Paula Cross
Crusher Inc
Dart Container
Davis Index
Barbara Day
DeKalb County Health Dept
City of Decatur
Diageo Americas Supply
Digital R-E-D
Diversified Recycling
DuPage County
Dynamic Lifestyle Innovations
E-Scrap Technologies
E-Tech Trading
Eco Products
Ecology Action Center
Electronic Manufacturing Recycling Mgmt Co
Electronics Recycling Representatives (ERRO)
Elgin Recycling
ePaint Recycling
City of Evanston
Everlights
Ex-Cell Kaiser
Falcon Green Resources
Foam Cycle
Fortune Metal
g2 Revolution
GDB International
City of Geneva
Green Zone Recycling
Heartland Recycling-Aurora
Erica Helms
Bert Jacobson
JKS Ventures
Helping Hands
Illinois Eastern Community College
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA)
Illinois State University (ISU)
Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, Unv of Illinois
Jackson County
Joliet Junior College
JT Environmental Consulting
Kane County
Dave Keeling
Land and Lakes
John Lardner
Lewis University
Lockport, City of
LRS
Madison County Planning & Development
MBL Recycling
Gloria McDonald
McHenry County College
McHenry County Dept of Health
Metropolitan Mayors Caucus
Midland Davis
Midwest Fiber
MRK Group
MW Recyclers
NGA Recycling
Town of Normal
Mike Nowak
Village of Oak Park
Ogle County
Susan Paus-Gortowski
PCs for People
Red Oak Builders
Republic Services
Resource Management Companies (RMC)
Riverview Materials Inc
RRS
Shedd Aquarium
Staver Accident Injury Lawyers PC
Strategic Materials Inc
Suncast Corporation
SWANCC
TAZ Recycling
Tazewell County
University of Illinois Chicago
City of Urbana
URT
Waste Box
West Cook County Solid Waste Agency
West Liberty Foods
Will County
[Your Name Here] - Join / Renew Today!
SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR 2022 IRF BENEFACTORS
Consider adding your logo here. Become a 2022 BENEFACTOR for $1000.
If you have already joined and would like to upgrade to this status, send an email to info@illinoisrecycles.org.

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"For the whole world is Irish on the seventeenth o' March!"
Thomas Augustine Daly
Illinois Recycling Foundation / Illinois Recycling Association, PO Box 411, Geneva IL 60134
708 358 0050
info@illinoisrecycles.org