The National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) has announced the recipients of its 2026 Recycling Awards, with 6 organizations/projects selected, covering categories including recycling facilities, sustainability public education, organic waste management, recycling equipment innovation, and value chain collaboration. Among them, Project ReWear, a public education initiative that embeds textile waste prevention into everyday clothing donation, resale, and redistribution activities, received the "Sustainability Public Education Excellence Award." The awards ceremony is scheduled for January 20, 2027, at the NWRA industry conference at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

Key Points

  • Project ReWear recorded over 7,400 transactions, reached more than 3,500 customers, measured nearly 25,000 pounds of textiles, and redistributed over 1,500 pounds of clothing free of charge.
  • The GFL Montreal East Materials Recovery Facility invested CAD 95 million (approximately USD 66.6 million), officially opened in January 2025, with an annual processing capacity of 220,450 tons of recyclables.
  • WM and Starbucks' "Cups To-Go" cup recycling program received the "Breakthrough Collaboration Award." WM stated its recycling infrastructure investment exceeds USD 1.4 billion, with over 2 million households gaining access to cup recycling within four months.

Textile Waste Reduction Enters Mainstream Recycling Awards Spotlight

Project ReWear's award is noteworthy for the used clothing and textile recycling industry. This public education project connects textile waste prevention with everyday donation, resale, and redistribution of clothing, while simultaneously tracking and disclosing the quantifiable impact of participation, through sub-projects including Landfill Project, Don8 Project, and Wearhouse Sales. According to NWRA data, Project ReWear has completed over 7,400 transactions, attracted more than 3,500 customers, measured nearly 25,000 pounds of textiles, and redistributed over 1,500 pounds of clothing free of charge. Its reach covers consumers, donors, families in need, homeless individuals, and school communities, with participation and attendance rates continuing to rise. NWRA considers this to reflect the project's effectiveness in promoting textile reuse and practicing circular economy principles.

Recycling Facility Awards: Montreal East MRF and Southern Organic Waste Campus

The GFL Montreal East Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), which won "Recycling Facility of the Year," was transformed by GFL Environmental from a site damaged by fire in 2022, with an investment of CAD 95 million, serving a population of approximately 1.3 million. Officially opened in January 2025, it can process up to 220,450 tons of recyclables annually, handling approximately 25% of Quebec's curbside recyclables, and provides processing redundancy to ensure uninterrupted service. The facility features 17 AI optical sorters, dual processing lines, an advanced film recovery system, automated quality control, real-time operational data tracking, and highly automated material handling. The project was advanced through a partnership between GFL and Quebec producer responsibility organization Éco Entreprises Québec (EEQ). NWRA views it as a model of public policy and private investment working together to upgrade recycling infrastructure.

The "Organic Waste Management Facility of the Year" was awarded to Circular Services' organic waste campus in Southington, Connecticut. Through a 2025 acquisition, the campus integrated depackaging, anaerobic digestion, composting, transportation, and soil production on a single 60-acre site, equipped with North America's longest continuously operating anaerobic digester and the Northeast's largest food and beverage depackaging facility. Its annual processing capacity is 100,000 tons of food and beverage waste and 500,000 cubic yards of leaf and yard waste. The renewable natural gas produced can supply over 800 households and several municipal facilities, reducing approximately 5,000 tons of CO2 emissions annually, supporting 57 local jobs, and selling approximately 200,000 yards of compost, mulch, and soil products annually, including 2.5 million bags per year. NWRA noted that approximately 40% of Connecticut's waste must be shipped out of state for disposal, and this campus offers a regional solution that keeps materials, economic value, and environmental benefits local.

Public Education and Equipment Innovation

Rumpke Waste & Recycling's "Building Trust in Our Industry" project received the "Recycling Public Education Excellence Award." The project centers on the Rumpke Education Center built in partnership with COSI, supplemented by interactive exhibits at the Cincinnati Museum Center, facility tours, community events, digital education outreach, and university collaborations. In 2025, the project organized 272 recycling facility tours with 3,254 participants, 72 landfill tours with 1,353 participants, and held 106 presentations and events reaching approximately 20,000 people. Online, 972 educational social media posts generated nearly 2 million impressions, reached over 1.45 million people, and produced more than 139,000 engagements; the company website received over 9.2 million views, with recycling-themed pages receiving 74,908 views, fan club membership exceeding 4,800, and customer email open rates between 65% and 86%.

The "Recycling Equipment Innovator of the Year" was awarded to CP Group for its CP Auger Silo automated storage and feeding system. The system addresses the inefficiency of recyclable storage and feeding to balers at materials recovery facilities, automatically supplying material with controlled metering, helping operators manage inventory, increase storage capacity, and stabilize baling operations. Facilities using the system reported up to 30% increase in storage capacity, significantly reduced half-bale clearing and commodity changeover times, and baler utilization improved from approximately 70% to over 90%, thereby increasing throughput and reducing downtime and labor needs. CP Group estimates the resulting operational gains can exceed USD 700,000 per processing line per year.

Breakthrough Collaboration Award: WM and Starbucks Paper Cup and PP Cup Recycling

WM and Starbucks' "Cups To-Go" recycling program received the "Breakthrough Collaboration Award." The program addresses long-standing recycling barriers for paper beverage cups and polypropylene (#5 PP) cold cups: PP generation rates in households are comparable to high-density polyethylene, but its recycling rate is only a fraction of the latter. WM stated that it partnered with Starbucks and related organizations to expand recycling drop-off points, strengthen end markets, and raise consumer awareness of cup recyclability; supported by WM's over USD 1.4 billion recycling infrastructure investment, the company added paper cups and plastic beverage cups to its accepted recyclables list and helped communities update local recycling guidelines. PP cups received How2Recycle's "Widely Recyclable" designation, meaning at least 60% of U.S. households have access to recycling programs that accept such cups. According to the announcement, in just four months, over 2 million households gained access to this recycling channel, nearly 150 communities updated their recycling guidelines, and a national awareness campaign reached approximately 6.9 million people through media coverage, social media, and stakeholder engagement.

NWRA President and CEO Michael E. Hoffman stated that these awardees are solving real-world challenges, strengthening recycling systems, and finding new pathways to recover valuable materials, and their achievements demonstrate the industry's role in building a more sustainable, circular economy. For used clothing trade and textile recycling practitioners, this year's awards mark the first time a clothing donation, resale, and redistribution project has entered a mainstream recycling association's award list, indicating that textile waste prevention is being incorporated into the mainstream narrative of North America's recycling system and beginning to be linked with extended producer responsibility (EPR) frameworks, public education metrics, and quantifiable environmental benefits.

Source: NWRA announces 2026 Recycling Awards recipients · Originally published 2026-10-07