White Papers
CRI
Container Recycling Institute
This report describes the evolution of single-stream recycling in the United States, the recent
downturn in the scrap market for all recyclable materials, and explains factors affecting
collection costs. The real purpose of the study, however, is to examine the impacts of singlestream
recycling, as compared to other methods, on every step of the recycling process,
including:
- Initial ease of collection and collection costs;
- Contamination rates and overall material yield at Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs);
- Impacts on material yield at paper mills;
- Impacts on yield at plastics processors;
- Impacts on paper mills, on quality, quantity, equipment maintenance and costs;
- Impacts on aluminum processors on contamination levels, resulting equipment shutdowns, and profit losses;
- Impacts on glass, including color mixing, suitability for certain end-uses, and increased operating costs; and,
- Impacts on plastic quality and costs.
