{"id":4257,"date":"2016-04-15T14:00:06","date_gmt":"2016-04-15T20:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=4257"},"modified":"2023-06-06T12:53:30","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T18:53:30","slug":"pe-streamlined-processes-economies-scale-better-trained-buyers-vital-increased-recycled-plastic-usage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/4257\/pe-streamlined-processes-economies-scale-better-trained-buyers-vital-increased-recycled-plastic-usage\/","title":{"rendered":"Streamlined processes, economies of scale & better-trained buyers all vital to increased recycled plastic usage"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo
Photo courtesy of Plasticity Forum.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is the\u00a0theory<\/em>\u00a0of plastics recycling, and then there is the practical market reality of it. So notes\u00a0Lawrence T. Black<\/a>, a former Waste Management Inc. executive who now is senior adviser to\u00a0McDonough Innovation<\/a>, the Charlottesville, Va.-based sustainable-development consultants.<\/p>\n

Through his own firm in Denver, Black Ink Results, he works with governments, urban planners, major corporations and thought-leaders globally to help address waste, recycling, packaging and circular-economy challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of numbers out there about the potential value of plastic in its recycled form,\u201d he said in an April 6 telephone interview, \u201cand yet I know that there are literally containers upon containers of [scrap] plastic sitting on docks all over the world because nobody wants it. If it is so valuable and so worthwhile, why does nobody want it?\u201d Black asks.<\/p>\n

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A key challenge, according to Dr. Michael Biddle, a 25-year plastics recycling veteran, is the lack of a large U.S. domestic market for buyers of scrap plastics who want supplies that are reliable and consistent in both quality and volume, and collectors, generators and recyclers who want a reliable market that can create sufficient value to cover their costs and provide an attractive return on their investment.<\/p>\n

Biddle, who founded durable-goods recycler\u00a0MBA Polymers Inc.<\/a>\u00a0in 1994, and clean-tech consulting firm\u00a0Material Solutions<\/a>\u00a0in March 2015, noted that while operators of U.S. material recovery facilities (MRFs) demand long-term supply agreements often extending from 10 to 20 years from local municipalities before they will invest in their MRFs, they remain reluctant to sign long-term supply agreements with their customers, preferring to rely instead on a \u201ctrading to the highest bidder\u201d model.<\/p>\n

MBA Polymers<\/h2>\n

Check out MBA Polymers’ global operations in these slides. Here, we get an inside look at the company’s\u00a0UK-based plant.<\/p>\n

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\"Another
Another view inside MBA’s UK plant.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"MBA
MBA Polymers plant in Kematen an der Ybbs, Austria<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Incoming
Incoming raw materials at MBA Polymers Austria.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This reluctance has continued, even with the slowdown in export markets for mixed plastic waste (largely a factor of decreased demand from China) and the fact that their trading models have turned against them.<\/p>\n

\"Dr.
Dr. Michael Biddle is the founder of MBA Polymers, Inc. and Materials Solutions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Still, Biddle remains optimistic. \u201cThere is a huge opportunity waiting to be tapped in plastics recycling. I\u2019m convinced that it\u2019s mostly about the streamlining of processes, as well as about the very important economies of scale.\u201d Indeed, Biddle suggests, economies of scale and streamlined, optimized processes are the only real edge that virgin resin has over recycled plastics.\u00a0\u201cAll other advantages,\u201d he says, \u201care in recycling\u2019s court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biddle notes that steel recycling went through many of the same growing pains. \u201cVirgin steel companies often said that steel <\/a>recycling would never expand beyond \u2018downcycling\u2019 \u2013 a method of recycling that involves breaking an item down into its component elements or materials \u2013 into applications such as reinforcing bars. But today, the biggest steel companies in the U.S. are based on mini-mills and recycled steel.\u201d Biddle sees no reason why the plastics industry can\u2019t replicate the steel industry\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\"Lawrence
Lawrence T. Black is senior advisor to McDonough Innovation, the Charlottesville, VA-based sustainable-development consultants.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When it comes to the demand challenge, Black says, \u201cToo many manufacturers just arbitrarily say \u2018virgin [resin],\u2019 since they don\u2019t want to mess with the complexity of a recycled plastic \u2013 even for things that are ludicrous, like a cheap plastic chair. Why someone would want to spec virgin [for such applications] is beyond me \u2013 but they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, he noted, the major producers of virgin plastic resins tend to talk down recycled resin to their customers by stressing the potential problems of using anything less than virgin. They suggest there is a liability or risk exposure in using recycled materials \u201cbecause you don\u2019t know what\u2019s in there.\u201d Ideally, he suggests, we need a business model whereby these major petrochemical companies also can make some money with recycled resin<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Black believes it\u2019s vital for the product manufacturers, brand owners and big-box retailers to drive demand for recycled resin. And that brings its own challenges.<\/p>\n

Walmart, for example, is a driver of demand at the highest level, and across various channels. And it can make a statement such as \u201cWe want X quantity of recycled material,\u201d but there\u2019s always a caveat \u2013 \u201cas long as it doesn\u2019t cost more.\u201d<\/p>\n

A lot of the buyers, Black contends, have not been properly educated in how to negotiate the whole recycled-materials buy. \u201cWhen you have a strategy of using recycled material, but you don\u2019t have any training that supports that, the odds of your strategy being implemented are pretty low.\u201d<\/p>\n

But with dirt-cheap oil prices now \u2013 and resulting low virgin-resin prices \u2013 it\u2019s a tougher argument than ever to try to convince product makers to opt for a non-virgin alternative. The only real rationale is to take the long view, Black suggests. \u201cEventually oil prices will rise, and when they do, wouldn\u2019t it be nice if you already had your production shifted to recycled materials, so you\u2019re not caught in that spike?<\/p>\n

\u201cMy optimism is that a few big players educate their buyers on spec\u2019ing recycled plastic and that they also have the knowledge to successfully negotiate price parity. I think that\u2019s an essential component. I could deliver that program tomorrow \u2013 if people would want it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Black likes to focus on Walmart, because they certainly can move the needle. And he suggests focusing on private-label goods, as opposed to branded goods, because the manufacturer of private-label goods has the power to make the specifications for its own products. Retailers, for example, \u201care not going to change a Tide bottle \u2013 that\u2019s not going to happen. But they can change their own bottle of liquid detergent.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Plasticity-Logo_CMYK_SH_final\"<\/p>\n

Plasticity Forum will Explore Sustainability Topics<\/h3>\n

Both Mike Biddle and Larry Black will be speaking April 27, 2016 at the fifth annual Plasticity Forum, a plastics sustainability conference taking place in Shanghai, concurrently with the massive Chinaplas 2016 trade show there.<\/p>\n

Plasticity will explore the circular economy, the use of bioplastics, recycling advancements and scalable solutions for maximizing valuable uses of plastic while minimizing its environmental footprint.\u00a0It also will offer a guided Chinaplas tour and a half-day green-design workshop.<\/p>\n


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Black\u2019s focus is to train the buyers on how to: a) ask specifically for recycled plastic, b) ensure it gets spec\u2019d in to future products, and c) negotiate price parity or a price advantage compared with virgin resin. The manufacturer then can promote that as a good feature for the product, and use it as annual-report material.<\/p>\n

For his part, Biddle aims to streamline the recycling process and, in doing so, sees a real opportunity to recover more plastics. He notes that most developed countries today use \u201cnear infrared sorters\u201d in combination with hand sorters to recover plastics from their municipal solid waste streams to create scrap plastic bales that are rich in PET and polyethylene<\/a> (and, increasingly, polypropylene). In such systems today, the scrap is touched by the trash hauler, the MRF, the processor and sometimes the compounder, before it ever reaches the customer. This \u201cmany touches\u201d approach translates to very high handling and transportation costs.<\/p>\n

\"Plastic-coat-hangers-as-trash400\"
Plastic hangers pile up in the trash.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A vastly better, more streamlined option, according to Biddle, works as follows:<\/p>\n