Plastic as a Recycling Foundation

Is the time right for MRF World to take plastics more seriously? Should plastics be at the forefront of curbside recycling? Just as co-mingling of recyclables has made collection at curbside easier, the co-mingling of information on recovered materials may provide some answers. Trust me. We are not mixing apples and oranges; the markets do share some interesting parallels. To see what drives the market dynamics behind all the plastic containers we recycle, we need to take a brief look at other recovered materials like paper, metal, and glass.

Basically, in fall of 2008, the demand for most reclaimed materials drastically fell. According to an article published in, The Gazette, Melissa Kolwaite (a spokesperson for Waste Management) said, “we have been in the recycling industry for 40 years, and the reality is that there are cycles in terms of highs and lows”. Kolwaite goes on to explain this particular downturn was so severe because it coincided with a worldwide recession. While that may be true, I think it is only part of the story (For more background discussion see: http://www.recygal.com/?p=684#more-684)

Up until the fall of 2008, strong Asian demand for reclaimed materials left MRFs scrambling to export more and more recyclables. Taking their “eyes” off local markets, shipment of scrap papers, scrap metals, and scrap plastics flowed to faraway places. Overcome by the lure of moola from Asia, investment and development in less “hot” opportunities came to a standstill. In many cases, development of more sustainable, closer to home opportunities were either totally ignored or put on the put on the back burner. Just when the “hot” strategy seemed to be paying off, Asia dried up!

As Asia wilted, reclaimed material prices melted: aluminum dropped by about 50%, scrap plastic fell by 20% (www.plasticsmarket.net), scrap glass by 58% (see:www.glassgo.net), scrap paper fell by 44% (www.paperfiber.net ) and recovered papers such as newsprint fell as much as 70%! The rapid price deflation not only lowered recycling’s profitability; it questioned its feasibility. Everything from aluminum cans to plastic soda bottles were in the fray. Needless to say, with the value for recyclables in the garbage, some of our recyclables went to landfills. What a shame!

The market value for many recovered materials declined for 6 months, then in summer 2009 prices started to move up. As of 4th quarter 2009, prices for scrap plastic have actually reached or surpassed previous high levels. The big question is, “How volatile are these prices?” If there are any economists out there, I would really appreciate your thoughts!

During the whole mess, the decline in composite plastic value (an average index taken across all reclaimed plastics) lagged far behind that of metal (www.metalpricing.com) and paper. Although Asia’s pull out hurt PET (#1) bales (prices sunk another 40% to 60%), the across the board value for reclaimed plastics was not so drastically effected. To give you an idea how Asian demand drove the post consumer PET (#1) bottle market, we must take a look at the past decade. From 1998 to 2008, the total market increased by over 80% to reach 1,549 MM lbs. While U.S. reclaimer purchases declined by 6% (757 MM lbs to 713 MM lbs), the explosive export market grew by over 800% (89 MM lbs to 836 MM lbs). Half of this explosion occurred within the past three years! Overheated Asia pushed market growth as the captive PET (#1) market base remained relatively unchanged.

Plastic recycling (as we know it today) began with the PET (#1) bottle which was patented in 1973. Soon after its introduction, PET (#1) bottles began replacing glass bottles for many beverages. Although PET (#1) recycling began in 1977, it took “years” before most facilities began to accept this plastic for recycling. The breakthrough came in 1991, when Coca Cola^© introduced the first recycled PET (#1) bottle. Recycling of PET (#1) bottles has grown from 8 MM pounds in 1979 to an estimated 2,410 MM pounds in 2009. (A 300 fold increase in 30 years!) With volumes of this magnitude, PET (#1) is the most recycled consumer plastic. With a large, captive beverage market, reclaimers that specialize solely in PET (#1) weathered the recent storm better than those reclaimers focusing on more volatile materials like paper.

Because reclaimers often handle several commodities, including PET (#1), many of these “mixed” facilities were snagged by the lure of Asia. Focusing on fast, lucrative export sales, attention was taken away from building more sustainable business models closer to home. As the Asian market for reclaimed materials dried up, export focused firms were not positioned to tap other outlets for their recyclables. Many found themselves dumb struck or scrambling for new ways to justify their existence.

The recent upswing in reclaimed materials pricing, points to MRF recovery. As MRFs begin to operate more smoothly again, plastic reclamation should play a larger role. According to the “2008 Report on Postconsumer PET Container Recycling Activity” ¹, the total pounds of PET bottles and jars available in the U.S. for recycling were 5.366 billion. The amount of postconsumer PET bottles collected for recycling and sold in the U.S. was 1.415 billion pounds. The resultant Gross Recycling Rate was 27%. Honestly, wouldn’t you think it would be higher? While many professionals in the plastics industry are ecstatic with this recycling rate (the highest in the past 10 years), it still falls short of the 1996 rate of 31.7%. With 27% reclaimed, there is still 73% not accounted for and likely ending up in landfills. Let’s get more PET bottles collected and recycled!

The second most reclaimed plastic is HDPE (#2) – with a recycle rate of 29%, 71% remains as garbage. Over the past decade, usage of PP (#5) for food containers has continually increased. However, with a recycle rate of only 11.4%, there are lots of yogurt containers and bottle caps “missing in action”. Despite the low recycle rate, the trend for PP (#5) recycling is actually on the upswing. New brand initiatives should help to increase recycling awareness of PP (#5) and improve the overall recycle rate.

 

Launched this past January, “Preserve Gimme 5”, is a noteworthy program. For more than a decade, the company Recycline has been marketing tooth brushes made from post consumer plastic under the Preserve brand. Preserve Gimme 5 is a partnership formed by the Preserve brand team, Stonyfield Farm, Organic Valley and Whole Foods. Consumers who purchase items packaged in PP (#5) like yogurt, cottage cheese, hummus, sour cream, etc. can return the used containers to a designated recycling station inside their local Whole Foods store. The program is expected to keep one million pounds of PP (#5) out of landfills this year.

Another PP (#5) recycling program, “Recycle Caps with Aveda”, collects plastic bottle caps to melt and convert into post consumer recycled bottle caps. Depending on the type of cap, the post consumer plastic content can be as high as 25 – 100%. PP (#5) caps are found everywhere (beverage bottles, shampoo bottles, peanut butter jars, laundry detergent, etc., etc.). Unfortunately, millions upon millions of these caps are not recycled. Millions end up in landfills where they sit undisturbed for centuries; millions more find their way into drainage systems polluting waterways and physically choking marine life.

No one has captured the disastrous effects that floating bottle caps can have on marine life better than the photographer, Chris Jordan. Please visit his incredible website, www.chrisjordan.com, and see his new video which vividly shows the effects of plastic litter on avian life in the Pacific Ocean.

After viewing Chris’s video, I am sure you will never want to “Not Recycle” another plastic bottle cap. Save them up and give them to Aveda. Aveda offers collection stations at its 150 U.S. stores and works with designated schools and independent salons to act as drop-off points for collected caps.

Many colleges and universities participate in the program too; these organizations simply mail in the caps to Aveda for reclamation. Started in April 2008, Aveda collected more than 50,000 lbs of bottles caps in its first 7 months of program operations.

What is interesting about these recycling initiatives is that they are spearheaded by consumer products companies, not municipalities or MRFs. The companies behind these initiatives not only care about the environment, they are filling a void in the marketplace for recovered plastic. It is time that more MRFs take a serious look at PP (#5) collection and recycling. Investment in the recycling of clean, food grade plastics such as PVC (#3) or LDPE (#4) or PS (#6) would also make the industry less vulnerable to market swings and keep more plastics out of our landfills and waterways. The global market shake up of 2008 shows that recycling should be approached from a broad perspective. The days of narrow focus on “What’s hot”, need to end. By supporting efforts like Preserve Gimme 5 or Recycle Caps with Aveda we help to sustain worthy recycling programs. With continued corporate efforts, perhaps our municipalities will take notice and begin recycling these materials too. I sure hope my municipality does. In the meantime, I will be dropping of PP (#5) containers at my local Whole Foods store and plastic bottles caps at the closest Aveda pick up station. Does your city or municipality offer curbside pickup for any of the above plastics? Please let me know. This is a topic which demands further attention.

© 2009 Recycle Life, LLC
The RecyGal^TM and the RecyGal character, logo are trademarks of Recycle Life , LLC

References for this article were obtained from:
¹“2008 United States National Postconsumer Plastics Bottle Recycling Report”, American Chemistry Council and Association of Postconsumer Plastic Recyclers, 2009 “Report on Post-Consumer Pet Container Recycling Activity”, National Association for PET Container Resources, 2009, “2007 United States National Post-Consumer Report on Non-Bottle Rigid Plastics Recycling”, American Chemistry Council, 2009, “Recycling Takes Hit As Needs Fall Back”, The Gazette, April 12, 2009, “Sagging Economy Trashes Demand for Recyclables”, Albany Times Union, December 26, 2008, “History of Recycling”, California Environmental Protection Agency Integrated Waste Management Board, California Department of Conservation, 1997, “Overview of the Recovered Paper Market, Moore & Associates, March 2009, “Is Export Important?”, Waste Age, July 2009, “U.S. Aluminum Can Recycling Reached 54.2 Percent in 2008.”, Business Wire, August 12, 2009, “Plastic Packaging”, www.ballcorporate.com, 2009, “Reduce, recover, reuse: preserve CEO Eric Hudson shares his vision to make stylish, eco-friendly products–and preserve resources and encourage recycling at the same time”, Brand Packaging, May 1, 2009, “Preserve Gimme 5 Program Offers Recyclers With Polypropylene #5 Plastics Convenient Recycling Option”, Food Business Week, February 12, 2009, “Aveda creates system to recycle bottle caps”, Plastics News, December 8, 2008, “Recycle Caps with Aveda”, aveda.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 3:59 pm and is filed under Corrugated material, HDPE (#2), Helpful websites, LDPE (#4), MRFs, PET #1, PP (#5), PS (#6), PVC (#3), Paper, Plastic Bags, Plastic Bottle Caps, Plastic Recycling, Pollution, Reclaimed paper, Recycling, Worldwide Recession. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.