News Room

from Recycling Product News November/December 2022, Volume 30, Number 8

by Baum Publications Ltd.

From the Editor

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EVERESTLABS RAISES $16.1 MILLION TO FURTHER AI-ENABLED OPERATING SYSTEMS

EverestLabs has raised $16.1 million in Series A funding led by Translink Capital and joined by NEC Orchestrating Future Fund and existing investors BGV, Sierra

Ventures, Morado Ventures, and Xplorer Capital. The funding enables the company to invest in its scaling and go-to-market capabilities, including further commercialization activities that build on its AI-powered RecycleOS operating system, robotics, and end-of-arm tools.

“The materials recovery facility industry represents a major market with a $9 billion opportunity in the U.S. alone, yet MRFs are losing billions in missed revenue from recyclables that end up in landfills or that could have been sold in bales to manufacturers,” says Kaz Kikuchi, principal of Translink Capital.

“EverestLabs’ AI-enabled RecycleOS solution has proven that it is uniquely positioned to solve this challenge, significantly improving MRFs’ operational efficiency and cost savings, and alleviating labour shortage issues – all of which are critical as the recycling industry continues to evolve and play a key role in the future of global sustainability and the circular economy.”

Recent socioeconomic issues are further driving investments in AI and robotics to enable better material recovery within

MRFs, including international policies such as China’s National

Sword policy that mandates minimal contamination in recyclables, changing U.S. national and state policies, high turnover in sorting jobs amplified by COVID-related issues, and commitments to minimum recycled content goals.

EverestLabs’ value proposition has been validated by public companies, private companies, and local cities in the U.S., including one of North America’s largest MRFs, Sims Municipal

Recycling Sunset Park in Brooklyn, New York.

“EverestLabs’ mission to improve performance in our industry is welcome, and we are excited to see what the company will achieve,” says Tom Outerbridge, president of Sims Municipal

Recycling. “Since installing four EverestLabs robotic cells in our commingled recycling facility in spring 2022, we’ve seen cost savings and improved materials recovery within a short period. We look forward to continuing work with EverestLabs to expand our investments in the coming months.”

GLOBAL COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABLE PACKAGING IS FAILING TO MEET TARGET BALCONES RESOURCES PARTNERS WITH CP GROUP TO BUILD NEW MRF IN SAN ANTONIO

The commitment made by many of the world’s largest consumer brands to use only reusable, recyclable, or compostable plastic packaging by 2025 will likely not be met, according to the latest New Plastics Economy Global Commitment progress report. The report was issued by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, which in collaboration with the UN Environment Programme, united more than 500 organizations including brands, retailers, and major packaging manufacturers to reduce plastic waste.

Measurable progress is being made toward reaching the global commitment, but the use of flexible packaging and a lack of investment in collection and recycling infrastructure means the 100 percent reusable, recyclable, or compostable plastic packaging by 2025 target is becoming unattainable for most businesses.

Four years after launching the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment, the 2022 annual report shows progress varies across the signatory group.

Brands and retailers must continue to exponentially increase their use of recycled content if they are to hit the aggregate target of 26 percent by 2025. Whilst some businesses appear on course to exceed their goal, others will need to significantly accelerate their use to achieve theirs.

Since 2018, more than half – 59 percent – of brands and retailers have reduced their use of virgin plastics. However, in 2021 increases by some of the biggest users of plastic packaging resulted in an overall rise of 2.5 percent, reversing the reductions seen in 2019 and 2020.

In 2021, the first few global brands announced quantitative targets to increase the adoption of reusable packaging. However, 42 percent of signatories have yet to introduce any reuse models into their packaging strategies.

Many businesses have been investing in ways to achieve 100 percent technical recyclability for rigid plastic packaging, but the benefit of this investment is being stifled by inadequate collection and sorting infrastructure around the world.

Flexible plastic packaging, such as sachets and films, poses a significant problem. The difficulty of recycling these plastics – in practice as well as at scale – is a key reason why most businesses will miss the 2025 target. Balcones Resources has selected CP Group as the equipment provider of its materials recovery facility in San Antonio, Texas, set to open in 2024. The MRF will have a processing capacity of 50 tons per hour and will service both residential and commercial recycling streams for the City of

San Antonio. It will be integrated with the ability to receive and bale high volumes of post-commercial, post-industrial paper and plastic waste for the region’s growing distribution infrastructure, and will employ only five to ten manual sorters.

The Balcones MRF will be able to process significant volumes of high-quality recycled materials, allowing more quality feedstock to enter the circular economy. The site and building design is focused on rapid turnaround time for city collections, haulers, outbound recipients of baled commodities, and businesses.

TOP NEWS OF 2022

This year saw in surge in news related to electrification, alternative fuels, robotics, and artificial intelligence, in addition to an increased focus on the shift toward a fully circular economy.

Turn to page 34 for our roundup of this year’s most notable stories.

JOINT VENTURE WILL BUILD AND OPERATE 10 NEW ADVANCED RECYCLING FACILITIES IN THE U.K.

Clean Planet Energy has agreed to a new joint venture with private equity firm Crossroads Real Estate to fund Clean Planet Energy’s flagship ecoPlant currently under construction in Teesside in North East England. This will be the first of 10 new ecoPlants that Crossroads Real Estate and Clean Planet Energy are jointly seeking to build and operate across the U.K.

The new joint venture could see over £400 million of new U.K. investment deployed for the future construction of these facilities to tackle the plastic waste crisis. Potential sites have already been identified in Lincolnshire, Gloucestershire, Lancashire, and South Wales, with further locations to be added.

Clean Planet Energy’s ecoPlant is an advanced recycling facility intended to process non-recyclable and hard-to-recycle waste plastics that would otherwise be sent to landfill. Each ecoPlant is designed to accept 20,000 tonnes of plastics each year and to convert this waste into ultra-low-sulphur fuels which can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 75 percent compared to the use of traditional diesel.

MENTOS TRAINS TEAM OF RACCOONS TO FIND AND RECYCLE PAPERBOARD GUM BOTTLES

The Mentos paperboard gum bottle was made to be recycled, yet only 32 percent of Americans actually recycle. Mentos is tackling that problem head-on with the only logical solution: raccoons. Dubbed the Mentos Raccoon Recycling Force, these raccoons just completed a successful mission on the streets of Simi Valley, California, by digging through trash cans and placing the paperboard gum bottles in the recycling.

More than 40 hours of expert training were given to four raccoons to help them learn the difference between a recycling bin and a trash bin, and they took it from there.

After conducting several real-world tests with the raccoon task force, the results are in: the Mentos Raccoon Recycling Force can recycle 75 percent of the time.

BRANDT TRACTOR NAMED AUTHORIZED DEALER FOR MORBARK, RAYCO, AND MORE

Morbark and its affiliated brands Rayco and Denis Cimaf have selected Brandt Tractor as the exclusive, authorized dealer for the company’s tree care, forestry and biomass, recycling, and Rayco Forestry/Denis Cimaf equipment lines in Canada. The lines include equipment like brush cutters, stump cutters, articulated wheel loaders, horizontal and tub grinders, forestry mulchers, mulching attachments, whole tree drum chippers, and flails.

“For Morbark, it was an easy choice to sign Brandt as our exclusive dealer in Canada,” says Michael Stanton, vice president of sales and marketing. “Their 56 full-service locations will provide our Canadian customers with the complete support they need and deserve.”

SURVEY FINDS CONSUMERS STRUGGLE TO UNDERSTAND PLASTICS RECYCLING

According to a new survey from Republic Services, despite high confidence levels in their knowledge, most consumers lack an understanding of proper recycling practices, particularly for plastics. In fact, confusion about which plastics should be recycled is leading some to forgo it completely.

The survey analyzed the recycling knowledge and habits of more than 2,000 U.S. consumers. While nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of respondents said they know what types of plastics can be recycled, 61 percent incorrectly believe flexible plastics, including grocery bags and bubble wrap, are recyclable in their curbside bins.

As for recycling habits, water bottles, milk jugs, and laundry detergent jugs are some of the most widely acceptable recyclables, yet consumers aren’t always recycling them. When asked about which items they consistently recycle: • 62 percent of consumers recycle water bottles • 51 percent recycle milk jugs • 43 percent recycle laundry detergent jugs

As brands set ambitious targets for recycled content in their packaging and jurisdictions begin to adopt minimum recycled content standards, the demand for high-quality recycled plastics will only grow – but the current supply of the right types of recycled plastics falls short.

REPUBLIC SERVICES AND ARCHAEA ENERGY TO BUILD NEW RNG FACILITY

Republic Services and Archaea Energy will build an renewable natural gas facility at Middle Point Landfill that will be developed through both companies’ Lightning

Renewables, LLC joint venture. The project will convert the gas that naturally occurs as the waste at Middle Point Landfill decomposes into pipeline-quality RNG that can be used as a low-carbon alternative to fossil fuels.

The Middle Point Landfill gas-to-RNG project will create clean energy resources, further control the potential for off-site odour, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions while contributing directly to Republic Services’ long-term sustainability goal to beneficially reuse 50 percent more biogas by 2030. RNG projects bring meaningful local and global environmental benefits with little to no negative impacts on the local community.

Using EPA estimates, the projected total annual environmental benefits from the project will be equivalent to the carbon sequestered by more than 800,000 acres of U.S. forests in one year.

The Lightning Renewables, LLC joint venture includes plans to develop 39 new RNG projects at landfills owned or operated by Republic Services across the U.S. The Middle

Point project is part of the first phase of development for the joint venture. This RNG partnership builds on a growing slate of environmental commitments by Republic Services, including fleet electrification and investments in plastics circularity.

Republic Services is involved with 77 renewable energy projects at its landfills across the U.S., which generate electricity as well as RNG and help users and communities meet their own sustainability goals. RNG powers 21 percent of Republic

Services’ fleet, and when used as a transportation fuel, RNG can reduce emissions by up to 70 percent.

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NOVELIS OPENS $35 MILLION FACILITY FOR DEVELOPMENT OF ALUMINUM SOLUTIONS

Novelis has celebrated the opening of its Customer Solution Center (CSC) for the automotive market in Novi, Michigan. The $35 million facility is part of Novelis’ global network of CSCs, which are designed to speed up the development of aluminum solutions.

The centre’s high-tech equipment ranges from a hot stamping press to computer-aided design software to visualization technologies that model vehicle safety scenarios. These capabilities enable Novelis to develop new aluminum solutions and demonstrate their benefits for current and future vehicle applications. Manufacturers and suppliers are using the centre to see these technologies firsthand, which includes greener life cycles and more cost-effective solutions.

Since launching the Customer Solution Centers in 2018, Novelis has made several advancements in automotive innovation. In addition, Novelis has worked to increase the amount of recycled aluminum in automotive alloys and expanded closed-loop recycling systems, which recovers aluminum scrap generated during the stamping process and recycle it back into the same product.

PELLENC ST AMERICA INAUGURATES NEW TEST CENTRE IN NORTH CAROLINA

Pellenc ST has opened a new test centre in Pineville, North Carolina. Pellenc ST will also be moving and upgrading its Japanese test centre and opening two new test centres in Australia and the U.K.

With this new test centre, Pellenc ST will provide its users with a 560-cubic-metre industrial demonstrator site with the latest intelligent sorting equipment. Two Pellenc ST sorting machines are available to study sorting strategies and ensure the quality of the sorted flows. A machine from Bühler was added to the process in order to carry out tests on plastic flakes.

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DEBRAND TO EXPAND TEXTILES RECYCLING OPERATION FOLLOWING WM INVESTMENT

Debrand, a reverse logistics textile solutions provider, has received a strategic investment from WM, the first investment made by WM in textile recycling. Leveraging Debrand’s technology, WM expects to offer new textile recycling capabilities and provide circular solutions across

North America.

This year, Debrand is projected to divert nearly 1,000 tons of used textiles from landfills through resale, recycling, and repurposing. The investment from WM will accelerate Debrand’s plans to grow its operations, capabilities, customer network, and team.

“Our customers are looking for ways to reduce waste from their operations, enhance their sustainability reporting, and accelerate the transition to a circular economy,” says Eric

Dixon, vice president of sustainability and environmental solutions at WM. “WM, in turn, is continuing to adapt to meet these needs and become a true sustainability partner to our customers.”

Significant demand and growth are expected for Debrand’s solutions as the industry moves toward a circular economy. The fashion industry is one of the highest producers of greenhouse gas emissions globally, and a growing number of brands have committed to adopting circular strategies to reduce emissions that derive from producing fibres and raw materials.