The American Progressive Bag Alliance, Washington, has been renamed the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance (ARPBA). The U.S. plastic bag manufacturers and recyclers that comprise the group also have signed a sustainability commitment that includes reusing or recycling 95 percent of plastic retail bags by 2025.

“Our alliance was founded by U.S. manufacturers who saw the benefits in plastic bag recycling and invested heavily in the infrastructure and education needed to make it a reality,” says Gary Alstott, chairman of the ARPBA and senior vice president at Novolex, a plastic bag manufacturer. “Our members now recycle hundreds of millions of pounds of bags and plastic films each year, and each of us are undertaking many other efforts to promote sustainable bag use.”

Matt Seaholm, executive director of the ARPBA, adds, “As a result of our industry’s efforts to build recycling infrastructure, nearly all Americans can now conveniently bring plastic bags and other plastic films back to the grocery store to be recycled into new products. We are proud of the progress we have made and energized to do even more. The change to the American Recyclable Plastic Bag Alliance best reflects our members’ efforts as a coalition and helps us continue to share the success story of plastic bag recycling.”

The ARPBA claims the current reuse rate of plastic grocery bags is about 78 percent, while the recycling rate is nearly 12 percent, for a total reuse and recycling rate of nearly 90 percent. In addition to efforts that encourage consumers to reuse bags and working with retailers to place consistent recycling language on all U.S.-made bags, ARPBA members say they will increase the amount of recycled content in their products to achieve today’s pledge of a 95 percent reuse and recycle rate by 2025.

ARPBA members committed to achieving tiered increases in minimum recycled content in plastic retail bags. All bags will have 10 percent recycled content by 2021, which will increase to 15 percent by 2023 and to 20 percent by 2025.  

The full ARPBA Sustainability Commitment, with more details about other environmental and education efforts, plus participation in programs to find new end markets for plastic bags, is available at https://bagalliance.org/sustainability-commitment.

According to that commitment, the ARPBA says it works with retailers to reduce the number of bags leaving the store by addressing double bagging and other unnecessary bag use.

“As an alternative to per-bag fees or a ban on plastic bags, we have offered a fee-per-transaction model,” the organization says. “Policies that ban plastic bags or charge a fee for each bag dramatically increase the cost to consumers and business without reducing overall litter or waste. A transaction fee would be much less regressive and serve as discouragement for using one bag for one item in a convenience shopping scenario.”

SMR Worldwide, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based information technology asset disposition (ITAD) and electronics recycling company, has announced the opening of a new facility near Boston. The expansion is intended to better service what the company says is its growing Northeast customer base.

At the new Boston facility, SMR will provide a range of software-driven disposition services for original equipment manufacturers, distributors and integrators and enterprise end users.

Alex Cummings, SMR Worldwide marketing specialist, says the Boston plant measures 44,000 square feet and is strategically located near I-95 and I-84. "Currently, our facility will have four dock doors with two complete ITAD processing lines with the capability to add a half dozen more lines if necessary," he says.  

The area also gives the company access to a highly educated and skilled workforce. SMR will employ a dozen people between the office and warehouse in Boston, Cummings says.

"We are 100 percent committed to data security and delivering operational excellence," says Sena Yuret, vice president of global site operations at SMR. "Our customers in the Boston area care about the same things, and we intend to root even deeper partnerships together with our move here."

With the addition of the Boston facility, SMR says it now has four total processing facilities across the United States in addition to partnerships that span the globe. In addition to the Boston location, its U.S. operations are in Statesville, North Carolina; Woodland, California; and Dallas. These established facilities are Responsible Recycling Practices (R2), ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certified. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a cleanup plan to address groundwater and mine water contamination at the Ringwood Mines/Landfill Superfund site in Ringwood, New Jersey. The site, which was once used to dispose of waste materials from Ford’s automobile assembly plant in Mahwah, New Jersey, was restored to the Superfund list in 2006 because of additional contaminated materials being discovered.

The EPA’s proposed plan would address contaminants in groundwater at the site by providing for the installation of wells near the Peters Mine Pit and Peters Mine Pit Airshaft, perpendicular to the direction of groundwater flow, to introduce an oxygen-releasing compound into the aquifer to enhance the breakdown of contaminants.

“EPA has been closely engaged with the community through public information sessions and the community advisory group meetings. These critical engagements with community stakeholders have provided EPA with significant insight into the concerns of the local community, which will be considered by EPA as we work to select a final remedy for the site,” says Pete Lopez, EPA regional administrator. “While EPA believes this remedy is the best in terms of being protective and feasible, we seek and welcome input from impacted communities throughout the Superfund cleanup process, and I encourage people to give us input on this proposed plan.”

To treat mine water contaminants in the Peters Mine Pit Airshaft, the EPA has proposed to add granular activated carbon and resin to the airshaft.

With these combined actions, the EPA says it expects to address an ongoing source of groundwater contamination and help the aquifer to recover. This plan provides for long-term groundwater and surface water monitoring to ensure the protection of drinking water resources.

Throughout the cleanup, the EPA says it will monitor the progress and, after the remedy has been fully implemented, conduct a review of the cleanup at least every five years to ensure its effectiveness. Under the proposed plan, the estimated cost of cleanup is approximately $3.4 million.

Berry Global Group Inc., Evansville, Indiana, has announced that it has agreed to collaborate with Georgia-Pacific Recycling, which is based in Jericho, New York, to create a closed-loop system to recover, segregate and reprocess postconsumer resin (PCR). Georgia-Pacific Recycling is the exclusive supplier to Atlanta-based Georgia-Pacific.

Berry Global and Georgia-Pacific Recycling plan to harness their expertise in their respective disciplines to increase the domestic recovery of plastics in support of the transition toward a more circular economy, Berry Global reports in a news release on the partnership. Through the agreement, the companies will partner across multiple steps of the material supply chain to create a stream of PCR. Georgia-Pacific Recycling will use its network of recycled material suppliers and logistics providers to procure and transport the postconsumer plastic scrap to be recycled, while Berry Global will reprocess the plastic scrap to incorporate into its broad portfolio of polyethylene (PE) film and polypropylene (PP) products.

According to a news release from Berry Global, the companies intend to begin material collection in the first quarter of 2020 and will begin reprocessing in the second quarter of 2020.

“As the demand for PCR continues to increase, it is critical we find ways to supplement the market of recycled content through multiple methods, be it mechanical recycling, chemical recycling or other methods and processes,” says Tom Salmon, chairman and CEO of Berry Global. “We are excited to recover these PE films that we ourselves manufacture and give them a second life, providing not only a recycling solution for our customers but also a stream of recycled content for them.”

“With nearly 50 years of experience in the recycling industry, our business continues to grow and evolve as the market now rapidly changes,” says Marc Forman, president of Georgia-Pacific Recycling. “This partnership with Berry exemplifies our ability to provide nationwide recycling solutions for plastic, paper and metals. Partnering with suppliers and producers helps us collaboratively meet the growing demands of consumers and society for increased use of recycled material.”