The pilot program, with locations at four Sam’s Clubs in El Paso, Texas, gives consumers cash incentives for recycling PET thermoformed containers.

A recycling pilot program at four Sam’s Club locations in El Paso, Texas, is giving consumers cash incentives to recycle polyethylene terephthalate (PET) thermoformed containers. The program was created by Austin-based Texan by Nature and Houston-based Texans for Clean Water and is made possible with the assistance of project partners and local El Paso community organizations. According to the Texan by Nature website, the program aims to collect 110,000 pounds of No. 1 PET plastics from July 6, 2022 to January 2023.

Karina Araujo, marketing manager of Texan by Nature, tells Recycling Today that PET thermoformed containers were chosen because of their low rate of recycling compared with PET bottles. Araujo says PET thermoforms often flow into a mixed plastics bale at material recovery facilities without optical sorting capabilities, after which they may end up in landfills. PET thermoformed items include plastic clamshells used for produce, trays, tubs, clear egg cartons, lids and cups. 

The pilot is similar to beverage container deposit programs that provide incentives for plastics recycling. In the 10 U.S. states offering deposit policies that provide 5 to 10 cents for containers returned for recycling, there is 50 percent less litter on roadways and 30 percent less litter in waterways, Araujo says.

“Pairing PET data with this information offers an opportunity to reduce landfill waste, reduce litter on roads and in waterways and possibly prove a circular model,” Araujo says.

Receptacles for PET thermoform deposits, designed by Texan by Nature, are located at Sam’s Club parking lots in El Paso. Those interested in depositing materials can use the MeCycle App to claim incentive payments and to view their drop-off histories. Users will receive 10 cents back for every clear, thermoformed No. 1 PET plastic package they recycle. Once they have deposited 50 or more items—a total of $5 in earnings— they can transfer the balance to a Venmo account. Users also are given the option to donate the money they receive to local charities:  

Vernon, California-based Green Impact Plastics is working with L&P Scientific Consulting in El Paso to empty the receptacles throughout the duration of the six-month pilot. The thermoforms will be baled in El Paso and transported to Juarez, Mexico, where they will be processed into flakes. These flakes will be sent to packaging manufacturer D6 Inc. in Dallas for manufacturing into new PET thermoformed products. In total, D6 has recycled more than 1.1 billion pounds of domestic PET over the past nine years. Araujo says D6 will be able to convert the recycled scrap and have it processed back into PET thermoforms in under two weeks.

Funding for the project, including the incentive payments for recycling participants, is covered by Texans for Clean Water. D6 Inc. also has promised additional funds for incentives.

Araujo says the program has engaged the El Paso community through marketing and educational materials in English and Spanish. The marketing materials, which were created by Texan by Nature with input from local organizations, are being shared with El Paso community organizations, municipal services, multifamily housing and El Paso media. Several organizations are partnering with Texan by Nature in marketing and outreach efforts, including the Better Business Bureau Paso del Norte, El Paso Community Foundation, Green Hope Project, Paso del Norte Community Foundation and the Frontera Land Alliance.

A video contest with cash prizes for El Paso high school students is being launched in August to engage youth in PET thermoform recycling. In addition, each recycling location features artwork from El Paso artist Patrick Gabaldon, highlighting the surrounding Chihuahuan Desert.

Araujo says residents of El Paso can get involved by recycling, sharing the project with their networks or volunteering to help monitor the recycling receptacles.

Araujo says the success of the pilot will be measured by several variables:

At the end of the pilot, Texan by Nature will create a comprehensive report with feedback from all partners detailing all data that was captured, best practices, lessons learned and more.

“This pilot is intended to be a model framework that any corporate retailer could learn from and recreate to increase the circularity within their supply chain,” Araujo says

Alison Keane of the Flexible Packaging Association says extended producer responsibility could provide a solution to managing this material at end of life.

It’s no secret that we—all of us—are facing a very real, very serious threat from pollution. Yet, this is where our common ground seems to end.

Environmental challenges are complex and controversial—just look at the vastly different recycling and plastic legislative bills proposed each year across the country. Regardless of politics, there’s no doubt that we’re responsible for undoing the damage that lifetimes of pollution and waste mismanagement have caused to our planet—an almost overwhelming task that can feel far out of our grasp.

Words like “sustainable” are used more and more in our everyday lives—from grocery shopping to home and personal care products to the package that just arrived at the door. But just how sustainable are these options if they ultimately end up in landfills or, worse yet, in the environment?

Recycling and waste management are top-of-mind for many Americans who are looking for immediate, actionable and results-driven steps toward cleaner and greener practices. However, while many states continue to push for plastic bans or restrictions, the results are tepid at best—leading many of us to wonder if there’s a better way.

Although many solutions seem viable in theory, they could exacerbate environmental problems in practice. For example, if Americans move away from plastic and rely almost solely on paper and cardboard for packaging purposes, how would we then address the resulting and significant deforestation?

Sustainability is ultimately about balance, and when we examine our current systems, we can agree much more needs to be done to improve the life cycle of beneficial materials like flexible packaging and plastic to fully reap their benefits.

Flexible packaging is more durable, light and protective than many alternative packaging options, which are the hallmarks of sustainability. Typically composed of two or more materials, including plastic, joined together to protect and preserve contents, flexible packaging is more resource-efficient than many other packaging options because its production requires less water and energy, while its production and transportation result in less greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Surprising as it might sound, it is more effective than most other packaging options in protecting products from contamination, spoilage and damage—resulting in less waste in the first place.

While other packaging types might be more readily accepted at municipal recovery facilities (MRFs), they offer fewer protections for consumer products, especially food, while ultimately being more expensive and less sustainable to produce.

Flexible packaging helps to extend the shelf life of food products—the No. 1 contributor to landfills and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions—through protection from sunlight, bacteria, odors, moisture, damage from the transportation process and more. This is especially important considering that if food waste was a country, it would be the third-largest contributor to GHG after the U.S. and China. In fact, 52 percent of all flexible packaging is used for food.

Additionally, flexible packaging optimizes volume and weight to maximize storage and transportation efficiency while reducing the amount of packaging waste in need of end-of-life management. Increasing efficiency and reducing packaging waste results in source reduction—the most effective, environmentally preferred method of addressing excess waste.

Still, a problem remains: What do we do with flexible packaging waste? Current recycling infrastructure, which varies greatly from one municipality to another—even within the same state—often is inconsistent, inefficient and not accessible for all residents. Additionally, curbside programs face significant challenges, including shifting commodity economics, stresses on taxpayer-funded collection services and concerns about material quality and end markets.

But there’s a solution, and it already exists with an extended producer responsibility (EPR) approach, a policy in which commercial producers shoulder some of the financial and operational responsibility to process and recycle consumer packaging. Advanced recycling technologies, which currently are used for industrial recycling and waste management, can be implemented for consumers through current and new MRFs to process an expanded list of recyclables, including multimaterial flexible packaging. Realizing infrastructure investment and recycling modernization—with a shared responsibility with taxpayers, municipal governments, producers and consumers—is shown to increase recycling rates and cost-efficiency while reducing environmental impact.

EPR includes fee collection, remittances, reports on packaging use, consumer education and market development, among other responsibilities, and has several benefits for all involved. A fully developed system would include curbside collection options for flexible plastics, removing the need for consumers to bring piles of plastic bags and films to store drop-off locations. Educational programs also would increase consumer awareness of the opportunities for recycling and convenient collection. While costs of this system would be incorporated into the prices of consumer goods, this much-needed investment would benefit the public and businesses through resource efficiency and improved system management.

State governments will need to share responsibility in the new system and do their part from a regulatory standpoint to make it a reality. First and foremost, recycling systems need to be standardized at the state level. Our current system features thousands of municipal recycling systems, often with conflicting labeling requirements, strained finances and outdated machinery. An estimated $9.8 billion would be needed to provide the investment in the U.S. While this might sound like a huge number, it represents less than 1 percent of California's annual state budget when spread out over five to 10 years.

Once fully operational, a well-run EPR system would provide expanded curbside recycling options for families looking to act more sustainably and more material for manufacturers to make packaging from postconsumer recycled content. Producers and consumers also would benefit from standardized labeling requirements, increased material recovery and streamlined waste management systems. Finally, everyone would benefit from fewer carbon emissions and the use of natural resources as we work together to reduce packaging and plastic pollution and preserve our planet for future generations.

Alison Keane is president and CEO of the Flexible Packaging Association, Annapolis, Maryland. Visit www.flexpack.org for more information. 

Liberty Tire Recycling will provide Bolder Industries with feedstock for its new facility in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Liberty Tire Recycling, a tire recycling services provider headquartered in Pittsburgh, and Bolder Industries Inc., a circular solutions provider for rubber, plastics and petrochemical supply chains based in Boulder, Colorado, have expanded their North American partnership. The companies first announced a partnership in November 2021.

According to a news release from Bolder Industries, the partnership will provide Bolder Industries’ Terre Haute, Indiana, facility with feedstock. The company says that facility, which is in development, will process more than 3 million end-of-life tires per year once fully commissioned in 2023. The company says it expects the volume of tires processed at that facility could increase to more than 6 million end-of-life tires over the next two to four years due to projected increased demand for the company’s BolderBlack, a sustainable carbon black product, and BolderOil, a petrochemical product.

“We view this relationship as part of our commitment to provide a core infrastructure for end-of-life tires for our customers,” says Thomas Womble, CEO of Liberty Tire.

In addition, the two companies say they have come to an agreement to expand this partnership to new states, including Illinois, South Carolina, Maryland and Tennessee.

“The partnership with Bolder is valuable and meaningful, allowing us to meet our [environmental, social and governance] goals and strengthen our role as a major contributor to the circular economy,” says Amy Brackin, Liberty’s vice president of sustainability. “In terms of sustainability and environment stewardship, the benefits of this collaboration will extend to Liberty customers and the communities we serve across North America.”

“Cross-industry collaboration is critical to making the massive leaps needed to achieve our vision of transforming manufacturing sustainability worldwide,” says Tony Wibbeler, founder and CEO of Bolder Industries. “We’re thrilled to formally partner with our friends at Liberty Tire who share in our vision and are right there with us, doing the hard work it takes to shift a massive supply chain toward long-term sustainability that will have positive ripple effects for decades to come.”

The material recovery facility in the City of Industry, California, recently celebrated 500,000 hours of operation without an injury.

Athens Services, La Puente, California, is celebrating 606 days, or 500,000 work hours, without a lost-time incident at its material recovery facility (MRF) in the City of Industry, California

The MRF operates six days per week with more than 100 team members sorting and transferring more than 3,000 tons of waste, recycling, and organic material daily from cities in Los Angeles County.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), MRF jobs are the fifth most dangerous in the world.

Recognizing this fact, in 2018 Athens launched the “Road to Zero” safety program, a company-wide initiative to put safety first. The program consisted of enhanced daily safety training, integration of technology such as cameras in trucks and throughout the facility and the establishment of a safety lead within the facility

Since implementing the “Road to Zero,” the MRF has decreased its total incident rate (TIR) to a level of zero in 2021 and through July 28, 2022. According to the BLS, the industry TIR average for MRFs in 2020 (the most recent year available) was 5.1, putting Athens ahead of the industry.

“Employees want to be involved, and asking their opinion is a high-impact way to include employees. It is a form of recognition that acknowledges the employee’s expertise, which we can all afford to do more often,” Athens Services Direcot of Safety Jaime Britt says.

At an award ceremony honoring the event, Britt recognized 10 Athens team members, each of whom had recorded more than 20 years without an accident.

“The influence of these workers on their peers is immeasurable. It shows the importance of teamwork. Everyone wants to be on a winning team,” he says.

The team members who were recognized and their record of years without an accident were:

Dave McMurtry previously was Aqua Metals’ chief strategist.

Reno, Nevada-based Aqua Metals has appointed Dave McMurtry as the company’s chief business officer. McMurtry has experience in renewable energy and international market development, Aqua Metals says. He advances to this position from his previous role as the company’s chief strategist. 

Prior to joining Aqua Metals, McMurtry was CEO of Global Stars Foundation at the Al Dabbagh Group in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, which focused on investing in local sustainable solutions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. For the last 25 years, he has held multiple executive positions with major organizations, including Habitat for Humanity International and Kiva, overseeing global strategic planning and implementation. 

“It is a pleasure to appoint Dave, who has quickly made a positive impact for Aqua Metals, as an officer of the company,” says Steve Cotton, president and CEO of Aqua Metals. “Dave has already assisted in driving us to 100-percent-renewable energy and helping to define our path to net-zero emissions. He has also formalized and built momentum for our government grant and government relations programs while attending key conferences, which has led to several valuable potential partner opportunities.” 

“After six months of getting to know the Aqua Metals team and engaging with our expanding network of key stakeholders, including feedstock and offtake partners, joint ventures and government officials, I am even more confident in Aqua Metals’ value proposition as a leading sustainable lithium-ion battery recycling company,” says McMurtry. “I am excited about the opportunity to leverage my experience and network to accelerate efforts to commercialize what we believe is the best available technology suite coupled with very promising economics for our business and our partners.