Landmark US pilot program paves way for flexible plastics recycling

29 Jun 2020 --- Materials Recovery For the Future’s (MRFF) pilot program in Pennsylvania, US, has published a research report demonstrating the successful collection, separation and preparation for the recycling of flexible plastic packaging (FPP). The project is the first curbside recycling program in the US to accept FPP with other recyclables, separate it at a community material recovery facility and bale it for reprocessing. The MRFF consortium, which includes major industry players like Nestlé Purina PetCare, Nestlé USA and P&G, is motivated by the need to reduce plastics in the environment, increase recycled resin use in products and create an innovative and effective recycling solution for FPP.

“FPP plays an important role in our daily lives – protecting products to keep us safe and healthy. Yet, there is a critical need to address the environmental impacts of FPP and develop viable ways to recover these materials for reuse and recycling in innovative ways,” Diane Herndon, Senior Sustainability Manager, Nestlé Purina, tells PackagingInsights. “This pilot created a path for community recyclers to collect and sell packaging that is not commonly recycled today.”

“Nestlé globally is committed to making all of its packages recyclable or reusable by 2025, and many of the other partner companies made similar commitments. I know how much work and investment is going into meeting that goal throughout Nestlé, including at Purina. It is just as critical for community recyclers to be able to separate and pass along this flexible plastic material, so our collective efforts to evolve this type of packaging can be successful. It is very exciting to see the successes from the pilot and to be working together with great thought leaders in achieving it,” Herndon says.

FPP plays an important role in society – ensuring the protection of the foods we consume.“Approximately 12 billion pounds of FPP are consumed annually in the US and it’s one of the fastest-growing consumer packaging formats, but collecting, sorting, recycling and reintroducing this material back into the marketplace as new products requires a comprehensive approach to ensure that these materials don’t end up in landfills,” adds Brent Heist, MRFF Steering Committee Co-Chair; Section Head – Packaging Sustainability, P&G.

Demonstrating effective FPP recycling
The report “Flexible Packaging Recycling in Material Recovery Facilities Pilot” prepared by Resource Recycling Systems (RRS) demonstrates that with adequate optical sorting capacity and peripherals, FPP can be efficiently captured in a large single-stream MRF and processed into a commodity bale, known as rFlex, for reuse in a variety of markets while diverting plastic from landfills.

The report also identifies more than a dozen end-market opportunities for the captured FPP. Building envelope products like roofing materials represent the highest volume and most immediate end-market opportunities. Other high-volume opportunities for using rFlex are pallets and railroad ties, where recycled plastic can serve as a more durable alternative to traditional wood.

Within one year of installing FPP sortation equipment at the TotalRecycle MRF, four of the five sortation performance goals established for the pilot demonstration were achieved, and the program continues to progress towards achieving the fifth goal.

The five pilot performance goals include:

• Reduce the amount of FPP going into fiber products, even with increased FPP in feedstocks.
• Minimize paper in the new rFlex product bale.
• Reduce fiber Quality Control staff by 25 percent and reallocate that staff to other job functions in the MRF.
• Integrate the FPP recovery system into TotalRecycle’s existing MRF control system.
• Capture at least 90 percent of FPP, which was determined from years of research prior to the pilot.

Scaling up the success
Herndon believes it is now important to scale up the pilot’s success to many more MRFs and connect the flexible plastic bales with vibrant end markets. “Explicit demand-pull for these products will be critical to justifying the investment needed to sort and create a marketable commodity. This will ensure that the material stays in a circular economy while being economically viable for the material recovery facilities.”The project is the first US curbside recycling program to accept FPP with other recyclables.

Material from these bales is already being incorporated into products including roofing boards, pallets, railroad ties and more and this usage needs to grow, Herndon adds. Meanwhile, packaging designers are experimenting with post-consumer recycled (PCR) resin in their non-food grade packaging.

“[Packaging designers] are also moving to the increased use of mono-materials in their packages, which makes the container easier to recycle. It is important for designers of the packaging and products to work closely with the reprocessors to ensure performance and appearance standards are met,” she explains.

Susan Graff, MRFF Research Director and Vice President, RRS, agrees that it is critically important to find financially viable opportunities and markets for rFlex bales. “Our hope is that the pilot research serves as a valuable data set to help other MRFs and communities economically recycle FPP while making cleaner paper bales. By working together to update sorting equipment, municipalities and businesses can support better quality recycling and meet commitments to buy more recycled content products.”

MRFF was performed in partnership with J.P. Mascaro & Sons at the TotalRecycle Material Recovery Facility (MRF) located in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania, and underwritten by the MRFF. The consortium’s other members include Amcor, Kraft Heinz, Mars, Mondelez International, PepsiCo, Sealed Air, the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR), the Canadian Plastics Industry Association, the Flexible Packaging Association (FPA), Plastics Industry Association (PLASTICS), and the American Chemistry Council.

By Joshua Poole