In September 2026, MRF operators must continuously decide whether they want to leap by accepting new materials as technology adapts, markets shift, and brand packaging changes in response to consumer preferences and new policy. That requires balancing the risks and the rewards.
Materials that were once banned from recycling bins also have the chance to transition to acceptance. For example, a standard part of recycling education used to be that pizza boxes were not recyclable curbside, but that’s changed. In recent years, there’s also been regular debate around expanded polystyrene, cups, small-format plastics, cartons, and more.
A few states have uniform recycling acceptance lists, but not all. Currently, industry participants and policymakers are striving to make it happen through extended producer responsibility for packaging laws in seven U.S. states.
As per Kate Davenport, chief impact officer at The Recycling Partnership, an MRF is “fundamentally a manufacturing facility.” “They’re getting feedstock in and having to prepare that to sell into a supply chain,” she said. A key difference from most other manufacturers is that MRFs “have no control over the quality, composition or volume of the material you’re getting on a day-to-day basis.” For something to be truly recyclable, “it has to be collectible, sortable and marketable,” said Zan Jones, executive director at Eco-Cycle, a Colorado mission-based recycler. “If all three of those things aren’t in place, then something isn’t really recyclable.”
Finally, the question of adding a material has both a mechanical answer and an economic answer. Commodity values and end markets are always in constant flux and any kind of facility upgrade or alteration will require downtime must be carefully scheduled. Addition of any material to the acceptance list also requires research, planning, and sometimes a leap of faith as well.
The whole procedure begins with some kind of push to add a material, whether it’s a request from a municipal customer, a new market opportunity the MRF has identified, a change in state policy, or a campaign from a material trade group.
One of the primary and basic requirements of an MRF operator is to determine whether multiple end markets are available for the material in question, Davenport said. It has to be multiple, not just a few with stability, but multiple affordable ways to move material to those markets must exist. “You don’t want to accept a material and sort it into bales if you have no one to send it to. And there have been examples where MRFs have accepted materials, and then markets have disappeared, and then they’re left holding the bag,” she said.
Another required consideration is whether an MRF is already receiving a material not accepted in a recycling program, such as film and flexible plastics. Then, the MRF must determine how to remove the material from other commodity streams that it may be contaminating or manage that material on its own.
It is vital to get a sense of just how much of that material is in the stream first, says Spence Davenport, an MRF process improvement consultant who’s previously worked for recycling companies and has no relation to Kate Davenport.
“You need a period of transition where you figure out what’s the incidental amount that’s already coming here,” he said, and a way to determine if there would be a bump in tonnage if accepted.
MRF performs a detailed study to determine aspects like volume, said Sadie Gardner, MRF director at Eco-cycle. Even though the cost of managing non-accepted material does not automatically justify accepting it, Kate Davenport says. Trade groups and brands eventually work to develop markets for materials, but Jones says, “a lot of things have to come together before you take that leap,” even if there is some industry backing.
The Carton Council, for example, has been encouraging MRFs to take both gable-top and aseptic cartons for years. It has been particularly vocal in California about its belief that cartons do meet the recycling acceptance thresholds under labeling law SB 343 and EPR law SB 54.
“It’s still not the strongest market, but they put a lot of effort into trying to stand that up,” Jones said. Gardner said Eco-Cycle takes aseptic cartons even though “they are a very low scale in terms of revenue so they do not cover their cost of processing but because we’re mission based, we’re investing in doing this.”
“Upgrading equipment is not just a pure capital cost consideration,” said Kate Davenport, who previously worked at Minnesota-based Eureka Recycling. Rarely, a facility could simply slot in a new machine. Adding new equipment usually requires completely reconfiguring the facility to expand the conveyor line, build a new bunker, add air compressors, and make other necessary flow changes.
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