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Unsinkable
Food waste
Seabins
Modernizing ship recycling 20
Building collection into a hi-rise 26
Cleaning up marinas and harbours 28
SHADES
of BLUE An insider’s colour commentary on Ontario’s blue box plans
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FALL 2019 VOL. 24 NO. 3 Editor Emily Atkins emily@newcom.ca (416) 614-5801 Editorial Director John G. Smith johng@newcom.ca (416) 614-5812
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COVER STORY
SHADES OF BLUE An insider opens the lid on Ontario’s blue box management
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PRESIDENT
New Technology.......................................... 13
Gone in 60 seconds
Opinion..................................5
New robot dismantles hard drives in record time
News.......................................6
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Slow recovery Europe may miss plastics recycling target
Innovations...........................30
28
Vessel Recycling........................................... 20
Facing headwinds A dirty business gets a cleanup Case Study................................................... 26
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Fall 2019 3
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EDITORIAL
The plastics scene Practically every news item that finds its way into my inbox begins with a recitation of the amount of plastic waste we generate, that ends up in our oceans, as microplastics or winds up in landfills. While these numbers are staggering and depressing, it’s also encouraging to see that the growing awareness of the problem is generating investments in research and development of new processes and technologies designed to provide innovative recycling opportunities for various kinds of plastics. In this issue we look at several developments in this area, including a Canadian study into recycling fibreglass boats and an American company that’s commercializing production of a variety of products made from used wind turbine blades (page 21). We also examine research being conducted at two universities into creating conductive carbon nanotubes from black resin and making rotationally moulded kayaks and
holding tanks from recycled PET (page 30). These are just a few samples of the kind of work being funded as part of a global push to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in the environment as pollution or needlessly buried in landfill. As these new recycling technologies and processes advance we will be watching and reporting on those that are commercially viable and end up making a measurable contribution to pollution prevention. In the meantime, we are also keeping a close watch on collection programs. With Ontario’s August announcement of its re-direction of the blue box program, our cover story this issue offers an insider’s perspective on what goes on behind the scenes. Be sure to check it out on page 16 and send me your reactions. Until next time. Emily Atkins 416-614-5801 | emily@newcom.ca
SOLIDWASTE&RECYCLING E-NEWS Emailed news. Not recycled. Subscribe at www.solidwastemag.com
Visit solidwastemag.com Fall 2019 5
NEWS
Report offers ‘reset’ options after China’s recycling ban
A new report by the Solid Waste Association of North America’s (SWANA) Applied Research Foundation (ARF) offers several suggestions on how recycling programs can be adapted in the wake of China’s National Sword Policy. The Chinese policy banned the import of several recyclable materials from all countries – including mixed paper and mixed plastics – on January 1, 2018 and reduced the acceptable level of contamination in scrap and recyclable materials not banned to 0.5 percent effective March 1, 2018. China also imposed tariffs on many recyclables specifically from the U.S. – including cardboard, other recovered fibre,
metals, and plastics – in August 2018. National Sword has contributed substantially to a 50 percent reduction in the revenues received from the sale of recyclables recovered through curbside recycling. In addition, it has resulted in increased processing costs and residue rates at material recovery facilities (MRFs). “The China National Sword policy is providing recycling program managers with an opportunity to re-evaluate the costs, funding mechanisms and materials targeted by their curbside recycling programs in an effort to make them more sustainable and effective,” says Jeremy O’Brien, SWANA’s director
of applied research. The report, “Resetting Curbside Recycling Programs in the Wake of China,” presents several options that can be implemented to counter the impacts of China’s National Sword policy. One example would be to switch from a weekly to bi-weekly schedule for curbside recyclables collection. “We expect municipal officials and other key recycling stakeholders will review the important data, conclusions, and recommendations from this ARF report and incorporate them into their recycling programs. Local governments have several options that are preferable to dropping curbside recycling programs,” said David Biderman, SWANA’s executive director and CEO. China’s National Sword policy underscores the need to address the high contamination levels of incoming single stream recycling loads that are processed at MRFs. Contamination is costing curbside recycling programs over US$1 billion per year on a national basis when additional collection and processing costs associated with contamination are considered. While contamination has not been caused by National Sword, the need to clean up recyclable streams has been highlighted by the new restrictions. ■
Nuclear cooperation with Korea renewed Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) and its South Korean counterpart, the Korea Radioactive Waste Agency (KORAD), have renewed a co-operation and knowledge-sharing agreement. Derek Wilson, chief engineer and vice-president of contract management of the NWMO, and Dr. Sung-Soo Cha, president and CEO of KORAD, signed the agreement at a ceremony held at the NWMO Toronto headquarters in August. “The NWMO is proud to renew our agreement with KORAD. International co-operation and knowledge-sharing agreements are a key part of our commitment to international collaboration, as we work to implement Canada’s plan for the safe, long-term management of used nuclear fuel,” Wilson said. Agreements such as this one help foster international 6 www.solidwastemag.com
co-operation on the development and demonstration of technology, learn from other countries’ experiences, and implement best practices in repository design and safety cases. “We look forward to continuing to build on our positive relationship with the NWMO and learning from each other,” said Cha. This renewed agreement joins accords already in place with nuclear waste organizations in Finland, Japan, Belgium, France, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The NWMO was created in 2002 by Canada’s nuclear electricity producers. Ontario Power Generation, NB Power and Hydro-Québec are the founding members, and along with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, fund the NWMO’s operations. The NWMO operates on a not-for-profit basis and derives its mandate from the federal Nuclear Fuel Waste Act. ■
Canada 8th worst in global waste index In a weighted score across a number of waste management indicators, Canada has ranked eighth worst out of the 36 countries within the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). South Korea ranks as the best country for waste management, thanks to a meticulous recycling system The Global Waste Index ranks countries according to how effectively they manage their waste per capita. It analyzes the most common methods of processing waste and allocates a number of positive or negative points relative to the amount of CO2 emissions, methane, and environmental contamination the technique causes on average. The 36 countries within the OECD were then all scored according to the kilograms of waste they process using each method. These include: recycling, incineration, landfill, and open dump, as well as the amount of waste generated per capita and the amount of waste that’s not accounted for. According to the ranking, Canada sends 510 kilograms of waste per capita per year to over 10,000 landfill sites across the country. By contrast the United States is the biggest generator of waste per capita worldwide, with each citizen producing an average of 808 kilograms per year. Canadians recycle just 20 percent of their total waste: 145 kilograms per capita per year. Iceland ranks top for recycling. Icelanders recycle over 360 kilograms of waste per capita per year – more than half of all the waste they produce. Turkey is worst in the index, largely because it has the highest number of open dumps per capita. To see the full study and methodology visit: https://tinyurl.com/SWR-Index. ■
Microplastics threatening potential ‘catastrophe’ Plastics in our waste streams are breaking down into tiny particles, causing potentially catastrophic consequences for human health and our aquatic systems, according to new research from the University of Surrey in the UK and Deakin’s Institute for Frontier Materials. The research highlights the current difficulty in detecting the presence of nano and microplastics in treatment systems. In order to ensure water quality meets the required safety standards and to reduce threats to our ecosystems, new detection strategies are needed, with the aim of limiting the number of nano and microplastics in water and wastewater treatment systems. “The presence of nano and microplastics in water has become a major environmental challenge,” said Dr. Judy Lee, who is project lead and senior lecturer at the University of Surrey. “Due to their small size, nano and microplastics can easily be ingested by living organisms and travel along water and wastewater treatment processes. In large quantities they impact the performance of water treatment processes by clogging up filtration units and increasing wear and tear on materials used in the design of water treatment units.” There has been substantial study of microplastics pollution, but their interaction with water and wastewater treatment processes had not been fully understood until now. Led by Lee and Marie Enfrin from the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at the University of Surrey and Dr. Ludovic Dumée at Deakin’s Institute for Frontier Materials, the project investigated nano and microplastics in water and wastewater treatment processes. The team found that tiny pieces of plastic break down further during treatment processes, reducing the performance of treatment plants and impacting on water quality. The study was published in Journal of Water Research. ■
Fall 2019 7
NEWS
Feds funding ghost gear retrieval A new federally funded gear retrieval contribution program will provide up to $8.3 million to assist fish harvesters, environmental groups, Indigenous communities, the aquaculture industry, and coastal communities to find and retrieve harmful ghost gear from the ocean and dispose of it responsibly. In July 2019, Fisheries and Oceans Canada alongside industry partners and local communities conducted a three-day ghost fishing gear retrieval program in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Over 100 snow crab traps and nine kilometres of rope were removed during the operation. This represents just a fraction of the 640,000 tons of abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear, also known as ghost gear, that enters the world’s oceans. Ghost fishing gear can stay in the ocean for hundreds of years and entangles and continues to catch species like whales, turtles, sharks and fish. The Sustainable Fisheries Solutions and Retrieval Support Contribution Program will also support fish harvesters to acquire new clean technologies to reduce gear loss. This new program is designed to address the entire spectrum of issues surrounding ghost gear, including prevention, mitigation and disposal. To further address ghost gear in the oceans, Fisheries and Oceans Canada will host a Gear Innovation
8 www.solidwastemag.com
Summit in February 2020, which will include discussions on technological solutions to prevent ghost fishing gear from entering the oceans in the first place. “Ghost gear undermines the sustainability of our fisheries, often trapping marine animals which would otherwise be part of a regular catch, said Halifax MP Andy Fillmore. “Not only is it damaging to the ecosystem, it affects the industries and coastal communities that depend on fisheries for their livelihoods. This program will be a tremendous asset to harvesters, small craft harbours, and all those with a vested interest in keeping our waters clean and healthy.” In support of the G7 plastics Charter, Fisheries and Oceans Canada has committed $2.6 million dollars towards initiatives that invite Canadian small businesses to develop innovative technologies to reduce domestic marine plastic waste. The government is also assessing regulations to ensure that potential impediments to addressing and reducing ghost gear domestically are identified and addressed. ■
RECYCLE.AB.CA
Alarm bells ringing over recycling fires British Columbia’s major recycling collectors and processors have seen seven fires in 2019, with several of them having endangered lives and forced the temporary closure of facilities. “Hazardous materials present a very real danger for workers in BC’s recycling industry. They can cause explosions and fires, and most of these incidents are caused by residents placing items such as lithium-ion batteries and propane or butane canisters into the residential recycling,” said David Lefebvre, director of public affairs for Recycle BC. “Earlier this month a resident put 58 rounds of live ammunition into their recycling. We need people to think before they put something that is potentially explosive and deadly into a recycling bin.” Recycle BC audits of materials in 2019 found two thirds of container loads had hazardous materials present, a 47 percent increase over the last five years. These materials include butane and propane canisters; batteries (especially lithium-ion batteries); compressed gases; ammunition; knives; sharps; and, bear spray. Fires are such a significant issue to recycling companies that material receiving facilities often have special teams trained to respond to fires quickly. The number of fires could be significantly higher if these teams were not on hand to manage smoldering
materials. While they are able to put out the majority of incidents before they become unmanageable, the potential for injury and significant damage to the recycling system is high. Last year the waste industry reported three deaths and 13 injuries across North America due to these types of incidents. (See Solid Waste & Recycling’s Spring 2019 feature on fire prevention at https://tinyurl.com/SWR-fire). “Hazardous materials have a significant impact on our staff. We are concerned about their safety and the potential for someone to be injured or worse,” said Alisa Murray, health and safety coordinator at Cascades Recovery. Across North America, the industry saw a 26 percent increase in the number of fires in waste and recycling facilities in 2018, with 371 unique incidents
reported between February 2018 and January 2019. The risk of fires or explosions is especially high for material collection vehicles and receiving facilities due to the presence of significant amounts of paper. The combination of easily flammable material, plenty of oxygen and large amounts of material sorted into piles where sparks can smolder for lengthy periods of time undetected makes the presence of hazardous material especially precarious. “Sorting and recycling processes are fast-paced, with material constantly getting moved, compacted, and crushed.” said Oleg Vinokurov, industrial engineering manager at Green by Nature. “A recycling baler can develop pressures of hundreds of pounds per square inch. Compacted at these pressures, any compressed gas cylinder becomes a potential bomb for our employees.” ■
Micron to develop cannabis capabilities Micron Waste Technologies Inc. has received a Health Canada Cannabis Research License to develop its aerobic waste digester technology for the treatment of cannabis waste. The five-year license, which began on August 23, 2019, will be used to further develop the company’s treatment system that alters and denatures cannabis waste while recovering reusable water. The company will expand cannabis
waste and wastewater programs, both through its Cannavore waste processing system and through its developing facility wastewater management program at the Micron Waste Innovation Centre in Delta, BC. Micron will also begin profiling and cataloging cannabis cultivars, also known as strains, to identify resin and fibre content. The profiles will help identify the best microbe and enzyme
blends to improve the digestion process to destroy, digest and denature Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) according to leaf, flower and stalk ratios and cannabinoid content. Micron has also announced it will be offering cannabis facility wastewater mitigation consulting services under the leadership of Bob Bhushan, the company’s founder and chief technology officer. ■ Fall 2019 9
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NEWS
BC groups recycle, repurpose debris What do you do with 70,000 kilograms of marine debris? That’s how much junk the Ocean Legacy Foundation collected from Canadian coastlines in 2014, its first year of operation. “It completely transformed my plastic usage and I knew I had to do something about it,” said Chloé Dubois, the foundation’s co-founder and executive director. “I think there’s a misconception that because we live in Canada, our coastlines are pristine. But depending on where you are, it can be incredibly polluted. It’s important to acknowledge the problem we have at home.” The foundation, along with dozens of other groups throughout southern B.C., continues to gather a colossal amount of debris, ranging from polystyrene, fishing gear, rope and beverage containers to tampon applicators, pens and shotgun shells. And it has found creative ways to repurpose the mountain of debris accumulating inside its Delta warehouse. Hard plastics from fishing floats are given back to Harbour Chandler Ltd. for fishers to reuse and repurpose. Fishing ropes are given out for art projects, such as carpet building, potted plants and bracelet making. Water bottle materials are being tested for shoe production and tires are being recycled into new rubber products. The foundation has also partnered with Lush Cosmetics North America, which uses the hard-mixed plastics collected from beaches to package some of its products. Other companies have also reached out to the foundation for sustainably sourced packaging. “We are working on what we want these plastics to be used for, so it doesn’t create more single-use plastic products we are going to have to clean off the beach,” said Dubois, noting the foundation will soon be able to process and transform rope and netting materials into pellets for re-manufacturing. ■
Fitness centres avoid more than 22 million water bottles Water-bottle refilling station provider FloWater announced that 22 million single-use plastic water bottles were prevented from entering the environment across at Xponential fitness studios across the U.S. In a program launched in late 2018, Xponential deployed over 600 FloWater Refill Stations. Xponential operates eight fitness brands and plans to deploy FloWater Refill Stations at more than 3,000 of its locations in the U.S. over the next few years. Since the company’s launch in 2013, FloWater’s Refill Stations have saved over 125 million plastic water bottles from entering the environment and is on target to hit one billion by 2022. The company has deployed nearly 5,000 of its water refill stations into businesses, hotels, schools, gyms, and concert venues in nearly all 50 U.S. states. ■
Bourbonnais at Sanexen Kevin Bourbonnais has accepted the role of president of Logistec Environmental Services Inc. and Sanexen Environmental Services Inc. Bourbonnais was president and CEO at Gulf Stream Marine, Inc. from August 2013 to 2018. As part of the acquisition of Gulf Stream Marine, Inc. by Logistec in March 2018, he joined the management team as vice-president, Logistec Stevedoring U.S.A. Inc. Previously he was COO and vice-president of USA Compression GP, LLC at USA Compression Partners LP , and before that he held various senior strategic management roles at Exterran, Universal Compression and the Royal Bank of Canada. Bourbonnais has a BA and MBA from the University of Calgary. Sanexen Environmental Services Inc. provides contaminated site remediation, manufacturing of woven hoses and trenchless structural rehabilitation of underground water mains. ■ Fall 2019 11
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NEW TECHNOLOGY
Gone in 60 seconds New robot dismantles hard drives in record time By Emily Atkins
L
ook down at your phone to read a text and you'll miss it. A new robot designed through a partnership between Conestoga College and electronics recycler Greentec, dismantles old hard drives in under one minute. The robotic cell, called Lexi, allows for a much cleaner separation of components, not to mention a quicker disassembly process for hard drive recycling. “Greentec typically sees around eight tonnes of hard drives a month. Until the arrival of Lexi we recovered some hard drive components by manually disassembling them," says Tony Perrotta, the company's president and CEO. A major obstacle with hard drives is the difficulty in cost-effectively separating and recovering useful materials, like rare earth magnets. “We're looking at the way we're processing hard drives specifically, and we realized that it was taking us a lot of time,” Perrotta says. “There were two problems we were trying to overcome. One was labour to disassemble them and to recover components. The other was when we would run them through our shredder, we would save the labour but then we would get a lot of commingled and contaminated downstreams.” Before Lexi, using the shredder, the material produced was only at 80 percent purity. When Lexi does the dismantling it reaches between 95 and 100 percent.
Student project Kitchener, Ontario-based Conestoga College and Cambridge, Ontario-based Greentec have collaborated in the past on research projects including optical sorting and ink and toner cartridge cleaning and sorting.. Perrotta says as
Lexi can currenty manage 48 hard drives at a time.
a polytechnic college Conestoga has the “depth and breadth of being able to handle these type of projects.” Lexi was a ground up project where most of the components were made in-house and all of the programming was done by Greentec staff and Conestoga students working together. A new hard drive has to be completely catalogued and described so that Lexi will know how to take it apart. For now about 48 hard drives can be loaded into the unit, although Perrotta says that may grow. He describes the disassembly: “It takes the circuit board off and places it in a location, then it takes the face plate off. Now, inside the hard drive it takes off the voice coil recorder. Then it takes the disc off. It removes the rare earth magnets and separates all these components. In the end what you have is a shell made of
extruded aluminum.” “The new robotic cell is truly a game changer for the electronic recycling industry,” says Dr. Hamid Karbasi, Conestoga College’s NSERC Industrial Research Chair for Colleges in Advanced Recycling Technologies for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). “With Lexi, recyclers can efficiently and effectively recover valuable materials and increase the rate at which these materials can be reused.” The future with Lexi looks bright. The company planned to go into full production with the robot this fall. “We look forward to further exploring other electronic devices that could be dismantled using the robotic cell,” says Perrotta. “Laptops, mobile phones, and tablets contain numerous high-value components that could be targeted through this robotic separation system.” Fall 2019 13
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PLASTICS
Slow recovery Europe may miss plastics recycling target By Emily Atkins
T
he European recycling industry is going to miss a 2025 target for recycling PET bottles, says a new study by ICIS, a global petrochemical market information provider, unless there is a reversal of the slowing growth rate in recovery. In March, the European Parliament adopted a Single-Use Plastics (SUP) Directive proposed by the European Commission to increase the recycling of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) – the main component in plastic bottles and containers for packaging foods and beverages and personal care products. This development has been supported by a range of international brands through their own recycling pledges, particularly through the joint Ellen MacArthur Foundation and UN Environment New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. Launched in October 2018, the Global Commitment now includes more than 400 organizations that share its vision of a circular economy for plastics. These include six of the world's top 10 fast-moving consumer goods producers (Nestlé, Pepsico, Unilever, The Coca-Cola Company, L’Oréal, and Mars), along with seven of the world's top 10 plastic packaging producers (Amcor, Sealed Air Corporation, ALPLA Group, Aptargroup Inc., Berry Global, RPC Group and Bemis). The 2018 ICIS study looked at the PET supply chain in Western Europe and is a collaborative effort by national authorities, compliance agencies, deposit return schemes and recyclers.
Missed collection targets The study found the PET bottle collection rate in Western Europe has risen from 58 percent in 2016 to 63 percent in 2018 and is projected to reach
65 percent in 2019. Under the SUP Directive the industry is required to reach recovery rates of 77 percent by 2025 and 90 percent by 2029. However, the collection volume growth rate is currently falling. ICIS estimates that the volume of collected material will need to increase by seven percent per annum if the 2029 target is to be met. “The rise in demand for RPET (recycled PET) began early on in 2018 as supply issues for virgin PET resin carried over from the end of 2017; this pushed up demand from sectors that could easily use either feedstock,” said Helen McGeough, ICIS senior analyst, plastics recycling.
Collection not keeping up “This in turn pushed up prices as supply was constrained, since collection activity did not increase in line with demand. The drive for food-grade RPET came later in 2018, once the SUP Directive was passed.” Despite the boost in demand for RPET, collection failed to match those growth rates, reaching 2.1 million tonnes in 2018 – just 2.4 percent growth on 2017 volumes. The report notes that nearly 40 percent of PET bottles are uncollected, with unconfirmed volumes going through end of life routes including incineration, landfill or escaping into the environment as litter. Tight supply saw PET bale prices rise 20 percent in 2018, compounded by the growth in reclamation capacity that expanded to meet the downstream demand for RPET products.
Reclamation utilization decreased however, partly as a result of decreasing yield in bales thanks to contamination. This was the result of the China ban causing lower quality bales to remain in the European market. “The reclamation industry increased production of RPET products by 17 percent to 1.4 million tonnes and packaging applications absorbed two-thirds of that total,” McGeough explained. “The capacity of food-grade RPET barely had time to build prior to the rush of supply inquiries following the signing of the SUP Directive.” As a result of the Directive, there was an increase of 13 percent in food grade RPET prices, which were generally accepted because they were only seven percent higher (on average) than virgin PET prices. However, this has changed considerably in 2019 with premiums of over 30 percent on average, peaking at nearly 50 percent so far this year. Looking ahead, collection volumes are projected to grow by less than four percent per annum from 2019 through 2020. If this growth rate is sustained in the longer term, the SUP Directive recovery targets will not be met.
Deposit return systems work The top seven highest collection rates in 2018 were found in countries with a deposit return scheme (DRS) in place for PET bottle collection, which the report suggests is evidence that such systems are needed to produce the sought-after outcomes in terms of quantity and quality improvements. Regulation is seen as the most effective way to drive investment in recycling the report notes, but “with cash-constrained governments and concerns about where we are in the recessionary cycle, this investment is unlikely to materialize from the public sector.” The survey was conducted in 28 Western European countries – 28 EU member states, without Malta and Cyprus, and with Norway and Switzerland – between May and July 2019. Fall 2019 15
Shades
OF Blue
Inside Ontario’s Blue Box: Some Reflections From Close Quarters By Michael Scott, former CEO of Waste Diversion Ontario/Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority
E
ver since the blue box was first introduced almost 40 years ago in Ontario, it has been the way most folks connect with protecting the environment. We feel we are doing our part as we take this container to the curb, full of paper, cans, plastic bottles, all sorts of plastic packaging and the occasional cracked casserole dish. All this stuff is magically transported away to recycling heaven. Or so it seems. Few people know what happens next, or how much it is costing them…and industry. I sure found out. For several years I had a ringside seat as CEO of Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO), the agency created 16 www.solidwastemag.com
by the Ontario government in 2002 to oversee the Blue Box Program, and which began operating in 2004. At WDO, I was also responsible for chairing the Municipal Industry Program Committee (MIPC). MIPC consisted of representatives from Ontario municipalities, the City of Toronto, WDO and Stewardship Ontario (SO), the industry organization created by the Waste Diversion Act. SO collects fees from industries – about 1,800 businesses – whose waste products and packaging can be placed in the blue box. These fees are then distributed by SO to some 240 municipality, recycling association or First Nation blue box programs.
Most importantly, MIPC recommended to WDO each year the amount SO must pay to help support the program. This funding was approximately 50 percent of the program’s total annual cost. WDO’s Board would review MIPC’s recommendation and make a final determination of the amount to be distributed. I would not inflict on my worst enemy the complex method MIPC used each year to determine its recommendation. It came down to an agreement on the annual ‘net’ cost – i.e. the total cost of the program across Ontario after deducting revenue generated from the sale of processed material, and taking into account
RECYCLING
– i.e. property taxpayers – have paid more than 50 percent of the annual costs for the program, for several years. They argue the shortfall they have covered amounts to about $220 million over the period 2004 to 2014. Total gross costs of the program in 2019 alone were over $300 million (not including the revenue that processors generated).
Trouble brewing
other factors and calculations. MIPC relied significantly on the huge amount of data each municipality in Ontario operating a blue box program must submit to WDO annually. MIPC also incorporated other factors such as cost containment and best practice models in determining annual ‘net’ costs. We are not talking about chump change. Industry has paid more than $1.3 billion since 2004. They have paid to help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the program. Between 2008 and 2018 a total of more than $70 million was provided to municipalities for this purpose. Municipalities point out that they
Following the development of a new Blue Box Program Plan in 2011, and even though costs were increasing, MIPC, with WDO’s facilitation, was still able to come to an agreement on industry’s share of the cost. But trouble started brewing around the time of my arrival at WDO in 2011. I like to think I had nothing to do with this – cold comfort, as it turned out. At this time costs that had already been increasing each year began moving up more significantly, while results continued to flatline. Most followers of the program will know the reasons. At the heart lie the most challenging – increasing volumes of difficult-to-process, lightweight plastic packaging, and contamination rates affected by confusion over what can and cannot be put in the blue box. Negotiations on MIPC became even more difficult. Tensions between the members rose. For me, MIPC meetings felt like visiting the dentist…not that there is anything wrong with dentists! But you get my drift. We (WDO) tried everything: bringing in a professional mediator to work with the parties (it failed); providing separate rooms for each side to ‘caucus’ (easy); extending the deadline as far as we could for determining each year’s annual cost (risky); and taking a good look at a so-called ‘dispute resolution process’ established in the early years of the program (useless). Eventually, negotiations broke down completely. It came to a head when attempting to agree on the 2014 blue box program net costs. There was a gap
of about $20 million between the parties concerning industry’s share of the cost. After many attempts to mediate an agreement, WDO finally referred the parties to a binding arbitration process led by Justice Robert Armstrong, QC (retired). After five months of hearings, the submission of 700 documents and combined legal costs well over $1 million for the parties, Justice Armstrong determined in his 119-page decision that industry’s costs for the program year in question would be about $115 million. Stewardship Ontario had asserted the amount should be about $95 million. Justice Armstrong concluded that SO had not provided sufficient data and information as evidence to support their position.
Industry responsbility Fast forward to 2016 through to today. Much has changed. Too much hasn’t. In 2016, the long-awaited and muchneeded Waste-Free Ontario Act was approved, replacing the 2002 Waste Diversion Act. It has altered the landscape significantly. Industry will now be directly responsible for looking after and paying the full cost of recycling its waste packaging in the blue box, rather than being required under law to contract with Stewardship Ontario to manage their obligation. It will be up to each business to determine how they will meet their obligation, either by operating programs on their own, or by contracting with a service provider. The Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) was created, replacing WDO, and will monitor, and where necessary enforce, targets and other requirements that will be set out in new regulations to be established by the Ontario government. Sounds good, right? Who can quarrel with the savings this will produce for municipal taxpayers? Who could possibly object to the ‘producers pay’ principle, now called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)? Fall 2019 17
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"Should have happened long ago", most would agree, although few consumers really know what ‘EPR’ means. But here’s the rub. Transitioning 240 blue box programs is going to be a complex, lengthy, expensive and controversial process. It’s a real head-scratcher. Recognizing how difficult this will be, the government recently appointed a Special Advisor on Recycling and Plastic Waste – David Lindsay – to recommend a transition process. After extensive consultations with stakeholders, his report was recently submitted to the government. The report has correctly put its finger on the challenges, and provides the government and stakeholders with many recommendations, particularly on a phased-in approach to the transition.
Blue box blues How will all of this play out? From my ‘close quarters’ experience of overseeing the blue box program over six years, I see more trouble ahead, even though everyone agrees things must change. First comes a real blow. More than a year ago, China decided to ban the importation of highly contaminated albeit ‘processed’ mixed plastic material. For years, the China market was the backstop for many Ontario blue box processors. No more. This could drive costs up significantly, as processors struggle to find new markets for their material. Second is the report's proposed sixyear timeline to complete the full transition of all of the programs. Admirable as it is, I very much doubt it will be met. Mind you, it is encouraging that the government has responded quickly to the report. In August 2019 it announced it will consult with stakeholders over the next year on the regulations that will support the blue box ‘producer pay’ principle. It has accepted the report’s recommendation that the transition occur in phases. It also has directed Stewardship Ontario to consult on and submit a
detailed plan to RPRA by June 2020 concerning the funding for the blue box program while it is transitioning to full producer responsibility. So at last, things are beginning to move forward. But a herculean task lies ahead. It will involve many powerful organizations – the municipal sector, industry, private processors and haulers, environment organizations and Indigenous communities. Hundreds of millions of dollars in capital investments are at stake. Smart lawyers could easily find numerous rabbit holes to go down. And municipal and provincial elections will be held in the midst of the transition process.
Ambitious timeline Can it all be completed by 2025? I seriously doubt it. Finding consensus on the big issues will not happen easily and soon, if at all. Broken relationships in and between these sectors speak to the need, in my view, for fresh faces and new thinking on the front lines, supported by the experience of many that stretches back more than 30 years in some cases. A core problem in the blue box is the many forms of lightweight plastics that are very difficult to process. As a result, diversion rates have flatlined at about 60 percent, with rates for some materials as low as 10 percent. About 10,000 tonnes of plastic are discarded each year into our Great Lakes alone. The focus is on looking for solutions downstream, at ‘the end of the pipe.’ This is all well and good – in fact, venture capitalists are working on some promising mixed plastics process technologies that have the potential to help, if and when such technology can scale up to the level required. Banning plastic straws, cutlery and bags achieves almost nothing.
Look upstream Why are we not also looking upstream, to the oil and chemical industries who
manufacture plastic resin, and the converters who then make plastic packaging from resins almost impossible to separate into compatible recycling streams? So far, the plastics industry has not come to the table in any substantial way. This is a great opportunity for the industry to step forward and apply the same genius that invented plastics, to solving the problem of recycling them. They should. If they don’t, they may well find they must, to avoid potential regulations. Finally, the high-profile nature of the residential blue box program masks other, far more serious problems. For example, the capture of recyclable material in condo and apartment towers is a real problem. There are approximately 1.5 million people in Ontario living in more than 600,000 condo/ apartment units. And these numbers are growing. Many do not have access to effective diversion and separation of recyclables. This represents a staggering amount of packaging. We don’t know for sure where it all goes. In addition, even though the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors operate under separate regulations in Ontario, verifiable data on waste generation and where it goes are unclear, to say the least. Ontario produces about one tonne of waste per person each year. About 75 percent is still going to landfills. Or so we think.
Final reflections The blue box is iconic. It is embedded in our culture. This little box has been replicated in over 150 countries worldwide. Over 90 percent of Ontario households have access to it. But will it survive in its present form? Not likely. Once industry is paying the total bill, things will change, as they must. But few politicians would dare take our little blue box from us. It is simply too big to fail. Fall 2019 19
VESSEL RECYCLING
Facing Headwinds Ship recycling is catching up to sustainable thinking By Treena Hein and Emily Atkins
A partially dismantled ship at a recycling yard in Belgium.
O
n July 21, 2019, cargo ship Eda left port for the last time, from Montreal to an eco-friendly recycling facility in Turkey. Canada Steamship Lines (CSL) owned the Eda for the last 17 years of its 60-year life, and it’s the 15th vessel the firm has recycled since launching its ship-recycling policy in 2009. CSL only selects yards that are Hong Kong Convention-certified, ISO 14001, OHSAS 18001, ISO 30001, and that are vetted by the company's independent third-party ship recycling partners. But most vessels do not receive such careful stewardship. Globally in 2018, 744 large marine ships were scrapped, and 518 of those by the hazardous beaching method in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. In terms of gross 20 www.solidwastemag.com
tonnage, this amount – 90.4 percent of the gross ship tonnage dismantled globally – breaks a record, says Nicola Mulinaris, communications and policy officer at non-governmental organization Ship Breaking Platform (SBP). “In Turkey, India and Bangladesh, where the great majority of the world’s obsolete ships are recycled, ships are beached bow first, with the stern of the ship unsecured and still containing liquid wastes, oils and various chemicals,” says Marine Recycling Corporation (MRC) director of administration and HR Jim Morgan. MRC recycles Great Lakes vessels in Port Colborne, Ontario and mostly warships in Sydney, Nova Scotia. “The stern contains most of the environmental and worker safety hazards and is left until the end of the process
in these yards.” Further, Morgan notes, very few of the world’s active ship recycling yards, including Turkey, are set up for proper decontamination because they have no ‘alongside docks', which enable removal of toxic substances before any dismantling starts, eliminating the risk of spills and greatly reducing safety issues.
Dirty weather It's a dirty side of the ocean shipping business. And there is little to stop it from happening. The 2009 Hong Kong Convention, an international responsible ship-breaking agreement, has not yet been fully ratified although this year it’s been ratified by seven nations, including Turkey, the Netherlands, Germany and Japan. Canada
Final voyage In the meantime towing old Canadian ships overseas continues. “The potentially riskiest part of ship recycling is towing dead ships to recycling yards,” Morgan explains. “Ironically, this is the part of the process least considered for the most part…Some vessels such as Great Lakes freighters are not built to cross oceans and are certainly less sound to do so after decades of use and various levels of steel corrosion.” Not only are ships often towed uninsured with seaworthiness unconfirmed, says Morgan, the proper precautions and preparations are not
MRC Photo
has yet to ratify. Its aim is to ensure that ships, when being recycled after reaching the end of their operational lives, do not pose any unnecessary risk to human health and safety or to the environment. In early 2019 Canada enacted new legislation, the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act. It increases owner responsibility and liability for vessels and addresses irresponsible vessel management, including enabling the Cost Guard to address all vessels and wrecks, including those that pose, or may pose, a hazard in all Canadian waters and in the exclusive economic zone of Canada. It also makes vessel owners strictly liable for the costs of removing wrecks, if it’s determined that they pose a hazard to the environment, local economy, safety of navigation or Canada’s coastlines. It does so by requiring owners of vessels 300 gross tonnes and above to maintain and carry proof of insurance capable of covering the potential costs related to wreck removal, as well as any losses that might be claimed as a result of the wreck. Not complying with the Act now can result in penalties of up to $50,000 for individuals and $250,000 for companies or corporations, while regulatory offence prosecution could result in a maximum fine of $1 million for individuals and $6 million for corporations.
A section of hull being removed at the Marine Recycling Corporation yard.
undertaken, which need to account for the most extreme weather conditions that could occur during the time of year towing occurs. “MRC would like to see our Canadian policies strictly enforced,” say Morgan. “That is, insurance coverage from insurers registered in Canada and verified from departure to arrival, with naval architect reports verifying a ship’s condition for the intended tow voyage, and so on.” He points to a ship called the MV Miner that ran aground near Cape Breton in 2011 while being towed from Montreal to Turkey for scrapping. In that case, the towline snapped, and Morgan figures dealing with the situation cost Canadian taxpayers $20 million dollars. MRC has a stake in keeping ships in Canada, of course. Costs are “100 percent” why North American companies also tow old vessels overseas for scrapping, Morgan says. “Canadian ship owners have exported more than one million man-hours of work to Turkey in the past four years alone.” The cost of towing European ships
to Canada for scrapping is prohibitive and so are Canadian wages in comparison to those offered in Turkey, so the traffic is not flowing west from Europe. Mulinaris agrees that profit is at the heart of where companies choose to recycle ships. SBP reports that over the last decade, an average of 65 percent of ships and 85 percent of gross total global tonnage have been beached and scrapped in a dangerous way. “The numbers clearly do not show any positive change,” Mulinaris says. “If [shipping companies] were to sell ships to a clean and safe yard, they would still make a profit, but they would earn a couple of million dollars less per ship.”
Recycling About 90 percent of a ship is steel, with some iron and nonferrous metals also usually present. Furniture, machinery parts and more can also be sold. “We make tables from portholes and keep other artefacts we think have value as well,” Morgan explains, “but truthfully, it is all about the metal content in a ship.” While the price of scrap steel can be good, since January in Ontario, Morgan Fall 2019 21
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The stacks from a ship awaiting recycling at MRC.
MRC Photo
says it’s decreased by over $150/ton. “For a 7,500-ton vessel, that’s over $1.1 million less revenue,” he says, explaining there’s “a market risk for every vessel given the fact that it’s months after a vessel is acquired before the steel scrap is sold and shipped.” Disposal of dangerous materials like PCBs, oils, chemicals and paint, is heavily regulated. “MRC has a certified group of facilities it employs for waste and hazardous wastes,” Morgan notes, “including our sister company Raw Materials Company.” MRC does a thorough round of sampling and testing before they take a ship, so all hazards are identified and quantified. However, asbestos abatement costs on one recent project to recycle the Princess of Acadia exceeded $1.75 million, costing seven times more than any asbestos abatement project in MRC’s 60 year history in the business. This Transport Canada owned Ro-Ro ferry contained 428% more asbestos insulation than was reported on the Hazardous Materials Inventory provided to bidders.
MRC Photo
VESSEL RECYCLING
Smooth sailing ahead Increasing numbers of ships will be dismantled at facilities that are best for workers and the planet, however. For example, SBP annually identifies who owns which ships destined for scrap and where they send them, and this is used by major banks and investors to decide which shipping firms warrant an investment. Mulinaris notes that in 2018, two Scandinavian pension funds divested from four shipping firms due to their beaching practices. And last year, for the first time, a ship owner was held criminally liable for having sold ships for hazardous breaking. The Ship Recycling Transparency Initiative (SRTI) is similar; it’s an online platform launched early last year for cargo owners such as BMW and other stakeholders to inform themselves about the approaches to ship recycling of various shipping companies. The European Union has passed
The deck of a ship in mid-dismantling at MRC.
legislation that exceeds the Hong Kong Convention’s requirements, and has a list of compliant recycling facilities in Europe, the USA and Turkey. Bangladesh and India have legislation on ship recycling currently under consultation. “We see the narrative on responsible and sustainable ship recycling slowly changing,” says SRTI head of communications and development Nicole Rencoret. “In addition to the increased number of states ratifying the Hong Kong Convention, we are seeing more shipowners becoming more
transparent in disclosing their respective approaches to ship recycling, and welcoming initiatives such as the SRTI. We have also found an increasing movement to contextualizing the decommissioning of ships within the broader circular economy agenda, looking at the entire ship lifecycle, from ship design and building to operations and reselling, and finally, recycling.” Reinforcing that opinion, MRC reports it has a backlog of work. The firm is planning to expand its Ontario facility and is considering building a new one on the West Coast. Fall 2019 23
.ca Your INSIDE track to Canada’s Supply Chain
FORMERLY
C A N A DA’S S U P P LY C HAI N M AG AZI NE
MATERIALS MANAGEMENT & DISTRIBUTION
VESSEL RECYCLING
From boats to blades The fibreglass challenge Wind turbine blades are cut into shorter pieces before shredding.
By Emily Atkins
T
ransport Canada is funding research by Jeosal Materials Research Corporation into the development of a fibreglass recycling process. Jeosal is a Kingston, Ontario-based company created to develop next generation polymer composite systems. It collaborates with researchers at Kingston’s Queen’s University. Jeosal will receive $118,625 to develop fibreglass recycling techniques. The end result could turn transformed materials into sporting goods, electronics and automotive applications. Over six million pleasure craft are in use in Canada and a large percentage of them are constructed using fibreglass – which is glass-fibre reinforced plastic. A study on Canada's ship recycling capacity estimates over 43,000 vessels in this country, including those built with fibreglass, reach end-of-life each year. There are few options for recycling and disposing boats made of fibreglass. As a result, most of these boats end up in a landfill, or worse, abandoned on land or in the water. As part of the Canadian Plastics Innovation Challenge Transport Canada asked Canadian small and medium-sized businesses to develop environmentally sustainable, energy efficient methods for recycling or reusing glass fibre-reinforced plastic in order to recover as much material as possible. Businesses may receive up to $150,000,
under phase one, to develop a proof of concept, proving the scientific and technical feasibility and commercial potential of a novel idea. They may then be eligible to receive funding for up to $1 million to develop a working prototype under phase two. "Plastic pollution poses a serious threat to the environment, said transport minister Marc Garneau. “By supporting innovative research and developing environmentally responsible recycling options, we are taking concrete steps to protect our planet."
Big blades Meanwhile, Jeosal is not the only enterprise working on the fibreglass challenge. On January 8, 2019, the Global Fiberglass Solutions (GFS) recycling and manufacturing plant in Sweetwater, Texas began commercial production of a manufacturing-grade pellet made from recycled wind turbine blades. The pellets for sale – under the brand name EcoPoly Pellets – are a thermoplastic fibreglass pellet usable in injection mold and extrusion manufacturing processes. Made from a customized blend of wind turbine blade material, EcoPoly Pellets are made to order for customers based on the requirements of the customer’s own manufacturing process. The pellets have been tested in the manufacturing of decking boards, warehouse pallets, and parking bollards,
among other products. Completing the circular cycle, GFS can recycle products manufactured with its material after it has reached its end use. The construction and automotive industries are taking a strong interest in the products, the company says. In the last four years GFS has diverted over 48,000,000 pounds of wind turbine blade material from landfill. Working with the turbine owners, GFS developed its own digital technology to support blade recycling. The patented software provides real-time data, specs and the location of each blade. It allows GFS to track the composite structure of each blade, making the material science and recycling process easier and more efficient. Blades are tracked from point of collection all the way through manufacturing. All new products carry a “Certificate of Manufacturing”, which identifies the recycled blades used in production. OEM and wind farm operators can receive a “Certificate of Decommissioning” and certify the full environmental sustainability of their re-powering projects. GFS’s Texas plant will be adding a high-volume panel press this year to begin producing recycled fibreglass construction panels. Possible applications include walkways for wind energy installations, walls and substrate flooring in construction, and floor panels for trailers in the automotive sector. Fall 2019 25
CASE STUDY
just heating, cooling, and energy costs – and that means we must develop a complete picture of the environmental and financial impacts of a building. Recycling waste food is a great example of where we can make a big difference.” That’s why O’Brien was determined to make a difference at Royal Winchester House, a development of 338 apartments constructed on the site of 3M’s historic Winchester House in Bracknell. An iconic building in its day, with 21 stories and a bold, monolithic look, the original Winchester House was an area landmark. In 2015, after remaining derelict for some years, it was finally demolished. In its place, Comer Homes conceived a completely new building that includes apartments, along with a development that includes retail stores. Dubbed Royal Winchester House, the new residential high-rise was completed earlier this year and sits at the centre of a $397 million redevelopment of Bracknell town centre.
Two options for food waste
Built In
New high-rise puts food recycling on site By Iain Milnes
W
aste management at multi-unit residential apartment buildings is an expensive headache, and among the different waste streams created by occupants, food waste is a particular challenge. This is what faced Jack O’Brien, as he oversaw the development of an apartment building in Bracknell, about 25 km west of London in the UK. A master mason by trade and with experience restoring listed buildings, 26 www.solidwastemag.com
O’Brien is dedicated to ensuring Comer Homes’ developments exceed government-mandated standards for sustainability and efficiency. “Waste management is not just about the direct costs associated with its disposal. At Comer Homes, we take a more holistic view to understand the burden it places on infrastructure, energy consumption, and carbon emissions,” said O’Brien. “I believe we are on the brink of massive changes to this sector that go beyond considering
In the UK residents in most multiunit buildings are typically given two options: add waste food to their general garbage bin or grind it up in an in-sink waste disposal unit. From an environmental perspective, neither is a good solution. Organic waste that ends up in a landfill generates harmful methane (with 84 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide), while food added to the sewer through waste disposal units adds a significant load to wastewater treatment plants — again with greenhouse gas implications. Reducing household food waste is a priority in the UK, which is a global leader in measuring food waste and supporting international food waste prevention projects. The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) works with Britain’s governments, businesses, and communities to deliver practical solutions to improve resource efficiency. WRAP’s “Courtauld Commitment 2025” program brings together
organizations across the food system to make food and drink production and consumption more sustainable. At its heart is a commitment to identify priorities, develop solutions, and implement changes to reduce the carbon, water and waste associated with food and drink by at least one-fifth in 10 years.
Local action At the local level, WRAP provides local authorities with information on the collection of household food waste as a means of diverting material from landfill or other residual waste treatment. Food waste management has been a hot potato at local city meetings, where council members have been held to account for the region’s poor appearance in UK recycling performance rankings. Despite the high startup costs for residential curbside pickup, local authorities have made progress toward offering residential waste food collection. This is planned for several communities near Bracknell. In June 2019, Wokingham Borough Council announced it had already collected 1,000 tonnes of food waste since introducing the scheme in April, which picks up 23-litre curbside food waste containers and processes their contents at a local composting facility. Clearly, there’s an appetite for dedicated curbside collection of waste food.
Self-motivation Bracknell Forest Council does not currently offer residential waste food pickup, which meant Royal Winchester House food waste was destined for the landfill. O’Brien’s design team was eager to find a sustainable approach to waste food management that would lower the overall carbon footprint of the Bracknell development and reduce the burden on local landfills. They quickly ruled out in-sink waste disposal. “While waste disposal units would divert organic waste from the local tipping sites, they added costly
complications to the mechanical and electrical network in the building,” O’Brien said. “In addition to the costs of acquisition and installation, a regular maintenance plan would be needed. Further, there are costs associated with misuse and damage to the individual units and the building infrastructure. Instead, we decided to look for a longterm solution that would also support our sustainability goals.”
On-site digestion Instead of installing disposals in each apartment, the design team explored the idea of centralized organic waste collection. If the food waste could be diverted from the landfill and recycled locally, this would address Comer’s sustainability objectives. To avoid dependence on municipal composting facilities, O’Brien and his team developed an approach that would process all waste food on site. This resulted in a residential recycling plan consisting of colour-coded waste caddies for each apartment, a communal waste collection point, and two Power Knot LFC biodigesters. The LFC biodigester is a practical alternative to municipal waste food recycling. It employs a series of natural processes by which micro¬organisms break down biodegradable material in the presence of oxygen. The LFC environment accelerates the digestion of most food products within 24 hours by using a proprietary mixture of microbes and enzymes. The two stainless steel LFC biodigesters installed in the concierge area of the Royal Winchester House reduce the expense, inconvenience, and mess of storing residential waste food by completely digesting residents’ waste food – continually. Almost all waste food from the apartments, including fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, cheese, bread, rice, and pasta can go into the LFC biodigesters – and the machines can compost both raw and cooked foods. Residents bring their caddies down to the communal concierge area, where they are emptied into the LFC
Almost all food waste can be handled by the two digesters.
biodigester, in exchange for clean caddies. Each of the LFC biodigesters silently and hygienically processes up to 400 kg of waste food per day, transforming it into grey water that is then sent to the local wastewater treatment facilities. A screen inside each unit ensures it conforms with local wastewater discharge regulations. Each biodigester reports the amount of waste ingested on a touch screen and also sends that data to the cloud. Detailed information about usage and other statistics can be accessed anywhere, enabling the sustainability team to monitor waste outputs, and how much greenhouse gas has been negated.
Leadership Comer Homes's vision for zero organic waste has come alive at Royal Winchester House. The Bracknell project may well serve as a blueprint for other developers in the UK and North America. Meanwhile, a landfill near Bracknell can breathe a huge sigh of relief – methane free. Iain Milnes is president of PowerKnot. Fall 2019 27
WASTE COLLECTION
Seabins float at water level and suck floating garbage in over the top.
R E N A CLE MA
RINA
A solution for waterborne pollution By Dean Campbell
R
arely do founders of a company set out to make their own product obsolete, but that’s the core vision for Seabins, makers of a waste bin that filters garbage from the waters in marinas, ports, and yacht clubs. Founders Andrew Turton and Pete Ceglinski established SeaBins in 2014 with the goal of finding a way to clean up the ocean. More than a year later, the pair launched a crowdfunding campaign, earning US$276,000 for their SeaBin design. They quickly formed a partnership to handle production and distribution and Seabins established pilot partnerships around the world to help aid the development process. As of August 2019, more than 700 Seabins were working to clean waters 28 www.solidwastemag.com
in 50 countries, and the pair launched the Seabin Foundation to help educate future generations on the importance of clean waterways, and to establish better research data to aid in decision making. The Seabin itself looks very much like a garbage can that is mounted with the top rim just about at water level. Fitted with a pump, an internal bin liner made of fine mesh moves up and down, slowly drawing in water and waste from above. Clean water is pumped out from the bottom, and the waste collects in the mesh liner, which can be easily removed and emptied. Each bin runs on electricity, tapping into the existing system in a marina, and is tethered in locations where wind and water tend to naturally push waste.
Each day, waste collected in Seabins worldwide comes to nearly 2,000 kilograms. Since the project launched, almost 115,000 kg of waste has been removed from the water. Toronto’s Outer Harbour Marina has installed three Seabins as a pilot, and management has been impressed by the results. Each bin is capable of pulling in about four kilos of waste per day, saving marina staff the time consuming work of collecting trash manually. “Someone in our office spotted the Seabins a few years ago, when the company was still in the crowdfunding phase,” said Mike Dwyer, marina manager for the Outer Harbour Marina for Ports Toronto. “We have two bins in place already, with a third on the way,” Dwyer said, explaining the scope of the pilot project. “In the past, we’d have a staff person spend a big part of each day collecting garbage manually in the harbour. It’s a time-consuming process. With the Seabins, we just empty
The Seabins plug in to the electrical grid that's available at most marinas.
Seabins co-founder Pete Ceglinski.
the bins once a day.” The savings in labour easily outpaces the $1 per day operating cost of the Seabins, quickly recovering the cost of each bin. Dwyer also serves as a rep on the Ports Toronto sustainability committee and hopes not only to get another seven bins into the Outer Harbour Marina, but also throughout Toronto’s inner harbour. “It’s early in the talks right now, but Seabins are really promising,” he said. Though much of the conversation around plastic and waste in water
focusses on oceans, the same problem occurs in fresh water as well. “The ocean is what brings attention to the issue,” said Chelsea Rochman, an aquatic ecologist and assistant professor with the department of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto. “But a lot of ocean plastic flows from rivers and watersheds.” The result is that microplastics – pieces smaller than 5 mm across – have much higher concentration in lakes and rivers than in the ocean. “When we sample fish in the ocean, we find that perhaps one in ten has
ingested microplastics. In lakes and rivers, virtually every fish we check has microplastics inside.” Rochman works closely with Ports Toronto to help evaluate the effectiveness of the Seabins. Each day, the bins will collect over 1,000 pieces of plastics from the waters in the harbour. “They work beautifully,” said Rochman. The question she’s now working to answer is whether Seabins are enough to solve the problem. The bins collect waste after it has entered the aquatic system, but are too far downstream of the source to stop the problem at the root. However, as part of a suite of tools, they have great potential. “There are tools that can stop plastics from entering sewers, or filter plastics from river flows, but the Seabin is alone in terms of collecting plastics and waste from marina and harbour environments,” said Rochman. “We just need to figure out how many are needed to address the problem.” Visit www.seabinproject.com to learn more about Seabins and the Seabin Foundation. Fall 2019 29
INNOVATIONS
PLASTIC PLASTICITY New applications for “single-use” plastics By Emily Atkins It’s not a new idea to turn plastic bottles into something else after they’re empty. Recycled PET has long been an ingredient in products like clothing, carpets, insulation and filling for quilts and pillows. But with the growing global ban on single use items, it seems a lot more creativity and innovation is being poured into making these old bottles live again.
Bottles to kayaks
Black plastic to wire
Researchers at Queen’s University Belfast’s Polymer Processing Research Centre (PPRC) have discovered new ways to convert single-use plastic waste into rotationally moulded products such as storage tanks, and sporting goods such as kayaks. The process starts with flakes of waste plastics being separated and compounded into pellets using the patented technologies of Impact Laboratories and Impact Recycling. Then the researchers grind the pellets into a fine powder, which is blended with a proportion of new plastic (polyethylene), heated to over 200ºC and cooled within a mould to transform it into the shape of a new product. “Our research involves testing to find the optimum combination of blending the plastics and processing conditions so that eventually Harlequin Manufacturing will be able to introduce a range of new rotomoulded products made largely from post-consumer waste,” said Peter Martin, from the Queen’s School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. “It is expected waste plastic could replace around 30 percent of the new plastic required.” “The rotational moulding process is used to manufacture large products that typically use very large volumes of plastics,” said Mark Kearns, moulding research manager at PPRC. “This new process will therefore have significant environmental benefits. The ability to condense and transform large volumes of recycled plastics into products designed to last many years will result in a substantial reduction in the amount of post-consumer waste. At present, the UK rotational moulding industry alone consumes more than 38,000 tonnes of new plastic, of which more than 11,000 tonnes could be saved. Rotocycle is a £500,000 project funded by Innovate UK, which began in January 2019 and will last for two years. The researchers are working in collaboration with Impact Laboratories Ltd in Scotland, Impact Recycling Ltd in England and Harlequin Plastics Ltd in Northern Ireland.
Researchers at the Energy Safety Research Institute (ESRI) at Swansea University in the UK have found a use for black plastics that until now have not been recyclable. The research focuses on chemical recycling which uses the constituent elements of the plastic to make new materials. Plastics can be broken down into their elements and then bonded in different arrangements to make high value materials such as carbon nanotubes. “Carbon nanotubes are tiny molecules with incredible physical properties. The structure of a carbon nanotube looks a piece of chicken wire wrapped into a cylinder and when carbon is arranged like this it can conduct both heat and electricity,” said Dr. Alvin Orbaek White, a Sêr Cymru II Fellow at ESRI. During the study, the research team tested plastics, in particular black plastics, which are commonly used as packaging in supermarkets, but can’t be easily recycled. They removed the carbon and then constructed nanotube molecules and used the nanotubes to transmit electricity to a light bulb in a demonstration. Now they plan to make high purity carbon electrical cables using waste plastic materials and to improve the nanotube material’s electrical performance and increase the output to be ready for large-scale deployment in the next three years. The carbon nanotubes can be used to solve the problem of electricity cables overheating and failing, which is responsible for the eight percent of electricity that is lost in transmission and distribution globally. “This may not seem like much, but it is low because electricity cables are short, which means that power stations have to be close to the location where electricity is used, otherwise the energy is lost in transmission,” Orbaek White said. “Many long range cables, which are made of metals, can’t operate at full capacity because they would overheat and melt. This presents a real problem for a renewable energy future using wind or solar, because the best sites are far from where people live.”
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