Hello and welcome back to Talkin' Trash, Waste Dive's look at the stories from the week, big and small. This week was a big one, with an exclusive Wast Dive interview with the CEO of TerraCycle and important news coming out of municipalities. 

Let's go.

Stories that drove the week

Dallas is considering a recycling mandate for multi-unit residential buildings.

• More than half of Dallas' population lives in multi-unit buildings, but fewer than a quarter have access to recycling options.
• The Apartment Association of Greater Dallas said the logistics and costs of increasing access to recycling options were the biggest barriers, and made known their concerns about a potential mandate.

The ordinance draft is expected to be complete within three months. The city has already outlined certain restrictions on the proposed mandate, such as only requiring certain materials, or only including buildings over a certain size threshold. The 2013 Dallas "zero waste" plan calls for recycling in multi-unit buildings by 2019 — the city may get there ahead of schedule.

Nashville, TN formally launched a downtown glass recycling program — though it's starting with just 20 bars.

• The program launched as a pilot with three bars. The "Honky Tonk Glass Recycling Program" is costing the city $416,000 for two trucks and $400,000 annually for six collection workers' salaries.
• Collections will be twice daily for the 20 bars, and the city is still determining how to best use the collected material.

Nashville is taking on a big cost, given it doesn't have a definitive end-market for the glass. The current plan is to send it to a processing center in Tennessee to create material for sandblasting. Officials are hoping for a solution that allows for processing within the city. Whether Nashville expands this program or decides it isn't worth the cost will be an interesting journey to watch.

At least three municipalities in Massachusetts expressed dissatisfaction with Republic Services, with some going so far as to say contracts could be at risk.

• The town administrator of South Hadley told Waste Dive that collections from Republic had "dropped precipitously" between Thanksgiving and Jan. 23, though things were improving as of this week. An official in Freetown said Republic could be in breach of contract for missing collection dates.
• A spokesperson for Republic said there was a "perfect storm" of winter weather combined with the holidays to make pickup difficulty. She expressed sympathy with the towns, saying "I completely understand that [service interruptions] definitely plays a role" in contract negotiations.

Republic also recently faced prominent contract issues in Florida, where Polk County issued a notice of default to the company. Ultimately, that issue was settled — and clearer weather in Massachusetts should mean Republic is back on schedule.

ReFED came out with an action guide revealing food waste is an $18.2 billion opportunity for retailers.

• "We really think that's there a huge opportunity, but it’s going to take a completely different model of food rescue and distribution," ReFED Executive Director Chris Cochran told Waste Dive.
• The action guide is designed to increase rates of voluntary food donation and organics recycling. 

Food waste is a constantly-lamented issue in the industry, with good reason. Ugly produce that won't be picked up in grocery stores, or food that's beyond it's "best by" date — but not actually dangerous for consumption — has high value as a feedstock for anaerobic digestion or composting, or could be donated to reduce local hunger. Materials like this action guide from ReFED can educate retailers to realize just how large the potential value is from food that would otherwise go to waste, leading to increased diversion for localities and increased participation in organics programs.

In an interview with Waste Dive, TerraCycle CEO Tom Szaky said he thinks recycling is just a "Band-Aid."

• "If everything became practically recyclable that would harm TerraCycle's business, for sure. And I hope it happens. Full stop," he said. "I really would love that to be the case, and we're actually even doing that in a way to ourselves."
• To be clear, Szaky still sees a lot of need for recycling difficult materials, and also discussed the company's first-ever acquisition of Chicago-based Air Cycle. The company specializes in recycling fluorescent bulbs, batteries, ballast and e-waste. Going forward, Szaky hopes to acquire one new company roughly every year.
• A big focus for the company, which Szaky was referring to his comments, is a mysterious new concept called LOOP. The new line of durable and reusable packaging is being developed with multiple big names in packaging and will be announced at the World Economic Forum in 2019. Following that, and other growth fueled by a current $25 million fundraising round, TerraCycle may even go public.

Other interesting stories from the week...

• Eleven groups have asked New York City to halt the commercial waste franchising planning process and reopen public engagement in the issue.
• Baltimore is spending $15 million on smart trash bins from Ecube. The company wants to open its East Coast headquarters in Baltimore, too.
• Court documents discovered by local media outlets showed Waste Management has been funding community groups opposed to removing toxic waste from a Superfund site in Texas, advocating instead to keep the site secured and capped. Waste Management is a responsible party, and would have to pay some of the cost of removing waste from the site.
• D.C. public works took over litter collection at National Park Service sites for a day during the government shutdown.
• A huge open garbage dump in Brazil was shut down, making room for more sanitary waste management. However, local trash-pickers are now left with an uncertain economic future.
• "Gangs" in China have been busted for smuggling thousands of tons of waste material into the country. All signs point to Beijing not playing games when it comes to the new import rules.