The Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO) launched a Packaging Materials Flow Analysis report Feb. 28, developed in partnership with the Institute of Sustainable Futures. The report maps the current state of postconsumer packaging in Australia. 

According to an APCO news release, the report highlights a need to improve packaging recovery and recycling rates across Australia. In 2017-2018, the country generated about 4.4 million metric tons of total packaging waste, with 68 percent of this collected and 56 percent of the collection total recovered by recycling efforts. This ranged from 32 percent for plastics and up to 72 percent for paper streams, highlighting the significant opportunity to improve waste management practices to achieve higher recovery rates.

“To achieve the 2025 National Packaging Targets, we need to first understand the journey materials take along the entire supply chain and establish a baseline of data to measure change and interventions. This report, APCO Packaging Material Flow Analysis 2018, is the first step in this process,” says Brooke Donnelly, CEO of APCO.

The report outlines the current journey of Australia’s packaging waste from bin to landfill or reprocessing, identifies significant data and infrastructure challenges in the system and models five potential solutions for the future.

“There is great potential to step-up material recovery from the current overall recovery rate of 56 percent and at the same time increase demand for recycled materials to drive the transition to a circular economy for packaging,” says Nick Florin, research director at the Institute for Sustainable Futures and an author of the report. “APCO, as the central product stewardship organization, is well placed to support this coordinated transition that involves cooperation between consumers, designers, recyclers and packaging manufacturers.”

The Material Flow Analysis report also noted significant data and infrastructure gaps that need to be addressed before the 2025 Targets can be achieved. According to an APCO news release, these findings will be used to inform additional packaging and recycling research to develop a complete picture of the current system. 

Donnelly says, “We can’t implement effective and meaningful changes to the system if we don’t first have a complete and accurate picture. A collaborative approach will be critical to building this. The challenge ahead of us requires a complete transformation of the current system. Over the next 12 months APCO will be leading an ambitious agenda of projects to build on the findings of the MFA. We look forward to working closely with all stakeholders as we transition to a circular model for packaging in Australia.”

The Material Flow Analysis Report is one of several APCO initiatives being conducted during the Foundation Phase of the targets (2019-2020), the groundwork stage that focuses on research, engaging stakeholders and setting baselines and frameworks. Throughout 2018, APCO also facilitated a series of five, year-long industry working groups attended by more than 80 industry members from across the value chain and government to explore solutions to problematic packaging types (including glass, polymer coated paperboard (PCPB), soft plastics, biodegradable and compostable packaging, and expanded polystyrene). 

In 2019 APCO will be coordinating 22 new projects to build on the findings of the Material Flow Analysis and the 2018 Working Groups. These will include further detailed research into packaging consumption and recycling to establish baselines for the 2025 targets, developing targeted design resources to improve packaging recyclability, and developing strategies to address problematic packaging, including plastics. 

Manufacturing entrepreneur Chris Graff has announced the launch of the New York City Curb-To-Market Challenge (CTMC), a contest offering a $500,000 prize for the best idea and business plan to repurpose NYC’s recyclable material and manufacture a product to sell in the local NYC market.

The winning entry will demonstrate “the most efficient, sustainable and environmentally aware way to implement the entire process of sourcing and converting the recycled waste for use, manufacture a product locally in New York City and sell the product to the largest potential market.” The winning business plan will receive $500,000, split between $100,000 in cash and a $400,000 equity investment in the associated startup. The winning team or individual will also receive involved advising from CTMC founder Chris Graff, as well as access to a network of advisors and angel investors.

“As a manufacturing guy, I see opportunity everywhere I look,” Graff says. “In New York, we have tons of raw material, tons of manufacturing space and tons of hardworking, talented people. Putting all those things together is a winning combination, and that’s where I hope we’re headed. Manufacturing drives innovation more than any other sector in the U.S., and I’m certain there’s a brilliant idea out there to help us strive toward a more circular economy.” 

The application period will remain open through June 1, accepting proposals from applicants from New York City and beyond. A panel of judges will select finalists for in-person pitches. These finalists will be flown to New York City during the final two weeks of June to present in front of the judging panel. The winning business plan will be announced July 1.

The CTMC judging panel is made up of leaders with diverse backgrounds in the manufacturing, recycling and New York City regulatory spaces. In addition to Graff, judges include:

• Bridget Anderson, deputy commissioner for recycling and sustainability at  New York City Sanitation Department;
• Steve Brenneman, founder of Aluminum Trailer Co. (ATC Trailers);
• Tim Morrison, former CEO and chairman of plastics recycling company Advanced Environmental Recycling Technologies (AERT);
• David Smucker, assistant vice president at the New York City Economic Development Corp.; and
• Gina Lee, founder of Circular CoLab and author of The State of the Circular Economy in America.

“The NYC Curb-To-Market Challenge comes at a critical moment as New York City drives towards a more circular, zero-waste future,” Anderson says. “In NYC, we have many recyclable materials that have not been effectively leveraged in the regional marketplace. The CTMC will help address this inefficiency while creating jobs for hard-working New Yorkers.”

Dear Editor,

Contrary to what the report featured in “Advocacy groups take issue with tissue” (published 2/25/2019 on RecyclingToday.com) suggests, tissue products are a sustainable choice.

Whether made from responsibly sourced wood fiber, paper recovered for recycling or a combination of the two, U.S. tissue manufacturers ensure that the resources used to make them are appropriate to meet customer needs and will be plentiful for generations to come. North American forests are among the most sustainably managed forests in the world.

A fact that is lost in the article is that tissue manufacturers actually drive demand for recycled fiber, consuming 4.4 million tons of recovered paper in 2017 to make new products. In 2016, 90 percent of the 76 U.S. mills that produce tissue paper used some recovered paper to make new tissue products. Seventeen of these mills used only recovered paper.

Recycled content in tissue products varies according to the suitability of the fiber for use in the end product. Not all fibers can deliver the same attributes as softness, strength and absorbency that a diverse consumer base demands, which is why a wide array of consumer tissue products are available today.

Tissue products provide convenience, improve hygiene and deliver benefits in reducing the spread of germs and diseases that cannot be matched by alternatives. Consumers should not be dissuaded from using these sustainable and beneficial products that improve the quality of people’s lives every day.

Mark Pitts

Executive Director, Printing-Writing, Pulp and Tissue

American Forest & Paper Association

1101 K Street NW, Suite 700

Washington, DC 20005

202-463-2764 

The mixed paper grade has been an increasing concern among recyclers in recent months. The average value of this grade has been exceptionally low throughout all of 2018 and into 2019. According to Fastmarkets RISI’s PPW Yellow Sheet report on Feb. 5, average prices were -$3 for mixed paper.

Bill Moore, president of Atlanta-based Moore & Associates, and Dan Gee, senior associate at Moore & Associates, presented on this topic of increasing concern during the Southeast Recycling Conference (SERC) Feb. 24-26 in Orlando, Florida. 

Moore reported that the primary stumbling block to the demand for mixed paper are the high levels of nonpaper contaminants in mixed paper bales. Moore added that mixed paper “won’t always be no cost,” but he said it could take years before the market for mixed paper is robust again.

Looking at history

Historically, paperboard mills have always used some level of mixed paper as a low-cost source of fiber, such as recycled paperboard mills, containerboard mills, roofing felt mills and brown toweling mills. Yet beginning with the rise in the collection of residential mixed paper in the mid-1990s, the quality of the grade began to deteriorate, and domestic mills did not upgrade their stock preparation system, Moore reported at SERC. However, China had built mills that could use U.S. mixed paper. Ultimately, the result was that very little mixed paper could be used by U.S. mills, with the exception of Pratt. 

By the early 2000s, China’s new paper mills offered new technology that could efficiently process lower grades of mixed paper, Moore added. Also, China’s growth and demand were both strong, which increased the prices of mixed paper even though the quality of the commodity was declining. Thus, U.S. containerboard mills could not compete, for the most part, with Pratt excluded. 

As a result, China had changed the mixed paper dynamics rapidly in that era.

Today, China has closed its doors on importing most recovered fiber commodities—particularly mixed paper. So, mixed paper bales have much less demand than usual. Moore estimates that at least 500,000 metric tons of baled mixed paper collected for recycling in the U.S. were landfilled in 2018. 

Outlook for mixed paper today

While demand for the mixed paper grade is low, some countries are increasing their imports of mixed paper. Moore reported that countries such as India, the Philippines and Indonesia are importing mixed paper. Also, he said more capacity is expected to be built to consume mixed paper in Southeast Asia, specifically Laos and Cambodia.

Domestically, the consumption market is beginning to see some activity for the mixed paper grade as well. Moore reported that all new board mill projects under construction in the U.S. are planning to use mixed paper at about the 10 to 50 percent level. He noted that many of these projects were originally planning on only consuming old corrugated containers (OCC). 

Some domestic mill projects that offer optimism for U.S. recyclers include:

• Pratt Industries’ construction of a new mill in Ohio that could consume upwards of 200,000 tons per year of mixed paper;

• Green Bay Packaging’s plans to replace its mill in Wisconsin with one that will consume higher qualities of mixed paper;

• Cascades’ announcement to place a mixed paper system in its plans for converting its Ashland, Virginia, newsprint mill to a containerboard mill;

• Bio Pappel’s plans to install a mixed paper system in its conversions of the Port Angeles mill; and

• Copamex’s plans to place a mixed paper system in its conversion project.

Moore added that many other mills are considering ways to consume mixed paper. He said these projects require major capital expenditures, but the additional detrashing equipment is relatively low cost. 

Although the demand for mixed paper is low today, Moore concluded that he anticipates the U.S. mixed paper market will recover over the next two to three years as a result of mill conversions, export market growth, recycled pulp investment, improved supply quality and long-term OCC demand.