Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic hit North America, Recycling Today surveyed our readership to gauge the impact of the outbreak on their operations. An initial survey was sent out via SurveyMonkey to our readers March 24. A second survey was dispatched April 10. The results indicate significant changes to inbound material volumes. Some respondents also report that their companies have had to lay off staff as they adjust to the changes that have affected their operations and cash flow.

We received 255 responses to our initial survey and 83 responses to our second survey. Charts with the results are presented below, and the full results of the first survey can be accessed here, while those from the second survey can be accessed here. 

 

In the second survey, we also asked our readers to identify the primary material type they handled. The majority of respondents at 31.33 percent handle metals, while 16.87 percent handle plastic, 13.25 percent handle paper and 6.02 percent handle electronics. Nearly 33 percent of respondents say they handle materials other than these, indicating residential recyclables in most cases.

Regardless of sector served, many respondents mention the uncertainty that characterizes the current business environment. “Customer demand is chaotic and fluctuating wildly,” one respondent says. “Several major customers are doing temporary shutdowns with minimal notice. We expect more uncertainty over the next few weeks.”

“The biggest challenge we have is the unknown,” another respondent says. “Though we continue to operate on a reduced schedule, if any of the material supply chain breaks down, we will be severely impacted. As it is today, we are projecting our cash flow challenges will impact our business through 2021.”

Metals sector

A scrap metal broker whose business is based on exports indicates his company has not been actively trading since the pandemic was declared March 11. “[We are just trying to fulfill old orders, which also [is] a great risk in terms of market.” He mentioned the exposure that applies to goods en route to their destinations as his company is unsure of whether the buyers will honor their commitments and ‘dead slow’ payments.

A metals processor adds, “Not only has incoming scrap flow decreased, but inventory value has decreased considerably with metal prices tanking.”

Many scrap metal processors have closed their retail operations in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. One respondent says, “We have limited our retail operations no longer purchasing material from public but continue to support our industrial and commercial accounts that are still in operation. We have taken the CDC advice seriously limiting operations to be a safe distance, staggering employee lunches and breaks, providing latex gloves and N95 face masks, installing multiple hand sanitizer dispensers throughout the facility and providing drivers and scale operations with personal bottles of hand sanitizer. We believe in being honest in our communication with our employees and our customers will allow us to successfully navigate through these trying times.”

“The scrap business is significantly affected by COVID-19,” a respondent says. “Our export business is 60 percent down and expected to remain this way. Our suppliers and customers are all working on reduced hours, and it is very difficult for us to continue this way.”

“Steel mills aren't taking as many orders,” another respondent notes. “A normal month for us is to ship 20 to 30 100-ton railcar loads, and for April we have eight loads contracted. Nonferrous prices are down and shipments of those are reduced also.”

One respondent points to the need to close his company’s smelter, adding that half of the operation’s employees are working from home for minimal salary. He says that if things do not change before July, layoffs will be necessary.

An automotive recycler says, “Revenue is down 50 percent right now. Also, [it’s] very hard to buy cars with the price of steel so low.”

MRF sector

Some survey respondents have expressed concern for their employees’ potential to be exposed to the virus. “[The] virus is said to last three days on surfaces,” one respondent based in Hawaii says. “[We] will be sending instructional notice to customers to double-bag and tie any rubbish infected by the virus from people quarantining in their households or take it to the hospital for incineration.”

The respondent adds that his company is considered “critical” and has been asked to remain in operation while other businesses have been asked to shutter during Hawaii’s shelter-at-home period.

An operator of a dual-stream MRF comments, “Our containers line does not allow for 6 feet of separation between staff, so we have had to temporarily close that line. We will be able to run our fiber line once we have enough healthy staff to do so.”

Paper sector

“OCC (old corrugated containers) generation is down slightly and demand is increasing,” a respondent says. “SOP (sorted office paper) generation is down 70 percent, and demand is increasing. Residential generation is up modestly, demand for GW (groundwood) grades is off. Printing grades generation is steady, demand is up.”

Plastics sector

A plastics reprocessor points to decreased recycled resin sales because of the impact on retail sales. “Most injection molders and blow extrusion companies cut down their production,” she says, adding that some operations have even been closed.

Another respondent says his company continues to buy and ship bales of plastics at its normal rate. “As far as resin sales, we have seen decline in automotive grade resins, but our demand for household cleaning and personal care packaging has drastically increased.”

“The impact of falling resin prices has a cascading effect,” another respondent notes. “We see recycled materials projects delayed and companies focusing on priorities and delaying recycled content initiatives.”

More generally

Consumers and generators were making changes daily as of late March, a respondent says.

“Everyone we’re talking to, both upstream and downstream vendors/customers, are in panic mode,” according to a respondent. “Material inflow is stagnant as companies shut down, and downstream outlets are drying up as vendors seek to conserve cash. Gridlock is going to get worse. Nothing [is] coming in and [there is] nowhere to get fair value for what you have.”

“We expect the financial impacts of the [coronavirus] pandemic to worsen across all aspects of our company the longer businesses are closed due to the virus,” a survey respondent says.

“We believe this will take many months to recover as we anticipate consumer confidence to start spending will take at minimum a strong economic quarter to recover,” one respondent says. “As a result, the lack of material in the supply chain will linger into the third and potentially the fourth quarter of 2020.”

A manufacturer who supplies equipment to the industry says, “[S]ome purchases from customers are on hold, but we are still working, and we are still [generating] new quotes and having sales take place. It seems to be causing a slowdown more than anything.”

One respondent chooses to look at the opportunities the outbreak provides, saying, “It’s a terrible event, however, it did give us the opportunity to step back and assess our business plan and goals. We also had some downtime to focus on cleanup and organization.”

U.K.-based RECOUP (RECycling of Used Plastics Ltd.) has released its updated Recyclability by Design publication to include guidelines for recyclability of plastic film. The publication includes RecyClass’ recyclability tables in order to help address the challenge of designing plastic film packaging to give it the greatest chance of being recycled.

According to a news release from RECOUP, the updated guidance includes the importance of separation of materials, avoidance of laminates and the greater recyclability credentials of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) film when compared with other materials. The publication also features contributions from RECOUP members, including Coca-Cola, Faerch, Garçon Wines, KP Films, Krehalon, Borealis and Tomra Sorting Solutions.

RECOUP’s decision to include film comes as the U.K. continues to work toward its recycling ambitions for 2025, RECOUP states. While it is estimated that almost 400,000 metric tons of plastic film are produced in the U.K. each year, RECOUP’s annual U.K. Household Plastics Collection Survey reported in 2019 that only 16 percent of U.K. local authorities listed film as being collected in curbside recycling. RECOUP reports that this low service rate is, in part, due to the challenges this material causes collection and sorting machinery, its lightweight nature, transportation issues, the low value as well as the high contamination rates for this type of material. 

The updated guidelines aim to support making plastic film packaging more suitable for collection, RECOUP reports. They also aim to reduce contamination levels and the weight and quantity of films in non-circular waste routes.

“At times of increasingly challenging recycling targets both in the U.K. and across Europe, there is an ever-increasing importance in finding sources of plastics to recycle rather than go to noncircular end destinations such as landfill and incineration,” says Paul East, RECOUP’s packaging sustainability manager. “RECOUP’s Recyclability by Design publication helps to address this at the first stage by advising users and designers of plastic packaging of the best way to ensure that their packaging has the best chance of being recycled, or, failing that, have minimal impact in terms of what cannot be recycled.”

The Recyclability by Design document is available to download for free on the RECOUP website, at http://www.recoup.org/p/173/download-centre. 

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) Recycling Program has provided $665,630 in recycling business development grants to 20 North Carolina-based recycling companies. The grants are projected to create 61 jobs and generate more than $2 million in new, private business investments while reducing the state’s dependence on landfill disposal.

“Recycling businesses are valuable contributors to North Carolina’s long-term economic development while working toward a cleaner, more sustainable environment,” says Jamie Ragan, director of the division of environmental assistance and customer service at the DEQ in Raleigh, North Carolina. “The projects funded by these grants will create jobs and redirect recyclables back into the economy, thereby diverting materials from the waste stream.”

According to a news release from the North Carolina DEQ, the recycling business grantees are from 16 counties, representing both large and small companies. Types of grant projects awarded include upgrades to material recovery facilities (MRFs), expanding end-product manufacturing capacity for mixed paper and plastics, and increasing recycling processing for a variety of other materials.

For the third year in a row, the division gave priority to projects that improve North Carolina’s capacity to domestically process and use mixed paper and nonbottle plastics in an effort to decrease reliance on foreign buyers for these materials, the North Carolina DEQ states. 

The following North Carolina businesses received grants from the North Carolina DEQ:

• Aeiplus Inc. – The business received a $40,000 grant to purchase wash line equipment to clean contaminated agricultural plastics as part of the plastic film recycling process.

• American Recycling – The business received a $60,000 grant to purchase a new baler to reduce costs and increase efficiency at the MRF.

• Bromley Plastics – The business received a $60,000 grant to purchase a plastic shredding system to increase capacity at the facility.

• Carolina Concrete – The business received a $25,000 grant to purchase a permanent office building to expand the company’s client base for concrete recycling.

• Cascades Moulded Pulp – The company received a $60,000 grant to purchase a detrasher and trommel system to separate debris from recyclable materials and improve efficiency for recycling mixed paper.

• Clear Path Recycling – The company received a $40,000 grant to purchase a system for reprocessing material bound for landfill to recover more recyclable plastics.

• Crown Town Compost – The business received a $32,130 grant to purchase a refrigerated walk-in trailer, curbside rollout bins, a compost mixer and a compost sifter to expand the company’s organic waste recycling services.

• East Coast Consolidated – The business received a $30,000 grant to purchase a split-body truck and recycling containers to expand its curbside recycling service.

• Gallins Family Farm – The farm received a $24,500 grant to purchase a front-end loader to increase equipment capacity and processing productivity at its handling site for recycling food and organic waste.

• Green Zone Recycling – The company received a $12,000 grant to purchase an automated baler and collection containers to help with textile collection and recycling.

• High Cube – The business received a $25,000 grant to purchase a foam densifier to expand the company’s postcommercial expanded polystyrene (EPS) and polyethylene (PE) recycling services.

• Industrial Commons – The company received a $30,000 grant to purchase a conveyor and baler to more efficiently process textile waste for recycling. 

• Ingram Woodyards – The company received a $15,000 grant to purchase an open-top chip van to expand the company’s wood debris recycling capacity.

• Orange Recycling Services – The company received a $10,000 grant to purchase additional collection containers to expand its cardboard collection service in the area.

• Pelican Packaging – The company received a $40,000 grant to rebuild a plastic shredder and purchase a horizontal baler and forklifts to expand its industrial plastics recycling capacity.

• Plastic Materials – The company received a $60,000 grant to purchase a larger building to increase its ability to recycle plastic film and rigid plastic scrap materials.

• RePolyTex LLC – The company received a $30,000 grant to purchase molding equipment to manufacture plastic plywood sheets from electronics plastic scrap and other mixed plastics.

• Resource Material Handling and Recycling – The company received a $12,000 grant to purchase a cyclone separation machine to improve the quality of plastic regrind.

• Simply Green Recycling – The company received a $30,000 grant to purchase a rear-loading compacting truck to collect residential and commercial recycling more efficiently. 

• Wellmark Plastics – The company received a $30,000 grant to purchase an optical sorter to separate and produce higher value recycled plastic resins.

The North Carolina DEQ offers these grants each year, depending on funding availability, to reduce the flow of solid waste into landfills and strengthen the state’s recycling economy. Recipients are required to provide a minimum cash match of 50 percent of the grant award; however, the level of private investment in 2020 is expected to more than triple the total grant funding. The combination of grant and private dollars will result in a more than $2.7 million investment in the state’s recycling infrastructure while supporting the local economy.

Republic Services Inc., Phoenix, announced the launch of its Committed to Serve initiative April 16. Through the initiative, the company is committing $20 million to support frontline employees and their families, as well as its small-business customers.

The initiative includes benefits designed to support Republic Services' employees, customers and local communities. Key elements over the next two months include a weekly meal for all frontline employees, weekly dinner for frontline employees and their families and biweekly $100 gift cards to all frontline employees (or $400 per employee in total). All meals will be purchased from local small businesses to help support the company's customers and the communities it serves, the company says. Additionally, Republic Services will donate $3 million to the Republic Services Charitable Foundation to fund its long-term nonprofit partners that operate locally and serve local communities and small businesses.

"Our frontline employees are doing an exceptional job taking care of our customers and communities. We're launching our $20 million Committed to Serve initiative to recognize our 28,000 frontline employees in the field serving our customers every day, while also helping to support our small-business customers across the nation. This initiative is targeted economic stimulus at the local level, designed to benefit our small-business customers as well as our employees, our company and our country," Donald Slager, CEO of Republic, says. "Republic Services has a stable, predictable and resilient business model, and through prudent planning and hard work, we are well-positioned to manage through this crisis, including providing stability to our employees and customers."

"We are proud to be a leader in our industry, and that means leading by example. Our first steps included safeguarding the health and well-being of our people and expanding benefits for all our employees," Jon Vander Ark, president of Republic, says. "We are now taking additional steps to honor the hard work and dedication of our frontline employees who are showing up day after day during this unprecedented time to serve our communities. We are excited to show our appreciation for our frontline team members while also helping to support our small-business customers when they need it most."

The company says it is taking enhanced measures to help ensure the well-being of its employees and communities in addition to closely following guidance from the CDC, and state and local public health agencies during the COVID-19 crisis. The company says it is also continuing to work closely with public health experts and other advisors to adhere to Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines regarding the safe handling of waste and recycling.